The Yankees welcomed one of the hottest teams in the majors to The Bronx on Friday night in the Braves.
The hottest team has been flying into their rearview mirror in the division, and is just as close as it appears.
What once might have seemed laughable six weeks ago — that the Red Sox, after firing Alex Cora in late April and later diving 14 games under .500, would soon be breathing down the Yankees’ neck — is no longer a laughing matter.
After a ridiculous 13-inning win on Thursday night, the Red Sox entered Friday just a half-game back of the Yankees for second place in the AL East, on torrid stretches of 26-3 and 31-5 that suddenly put Aaron Boone’s club at risk of falling into third place and the second AL wild card with less than two months left in the regular season.
“They’re right on our ass. We got to pick it up,” Cam Schlittler told The Post on Friday afternoon. “I don’t know how that doesn’t motivate us a little bit, just with the position Tampa’s in [leading the division by 4 ¹/₂ games], Boston’s right there. I think [we] got to play better baseball if [we] want to solidify ourselves for a playoff spot and try to go win the division.
“We got to get our s–t together a little bit if we want to — things were comfortable for a little bit, now they’re not. Things have been up and down. We got to play better, consistent baseball and obviously when I’m out there, that starts with me on the mound.”
The last time the Yankees saw their archrivals in person, they arrived at Fenway Park on June 25 in first place at 48-31, leading the Rays by three games and the Red Sox by 15 ¹/₂.
The Red Sox were 32-46, seemingly an afterthought in the basement of the AL with the second-worst record in the majors.
Schlittler took the mound for the series opener against his hometown team and gave up four unearned runs, the start of what became a four-game sweep by the Red Sox that breathed life back into their season.
Since the start of that series, the Red Sox entered Friday 31-5. The Yankees were 16-20.
“What a run, man,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I was in that camp even when they were struggling, going, ‘That’s a really good team.’ But anytime you got on 26-3, 31-5, that’s some pretty amazing baseball, doing it against some really good teams, too. Impressive. They’ve obviously put themselves right in the middle of the playoff picture now.”
The Red Sox are not dissimilar to the Yankees, in that their pitching staff has been the backbone of their success.
But while the Yankees have struggled mightily offensively in Aaron Judge’s absence, the Red Sox have found a way to thrive with a gritty lineup that is not exactly loaded with big names or contracts.
Soon, they will also add Adley Rutschman to the mix after out-bidding the Yankees and acquiring the All-Star catcher (currently on the injured list with wrist inflammation) from the Orioles at the trade deadline.
“When he comes back, I expect them to probably be in an even better position,” said Schlittler, who got to know Rutschman a bit at the All-Star Game. “They got a great team, I’ve been saying that all season. They just had to find their rhythm a little bit and I knew once they did, they’d get clicking. So I’m really happy for the guys over there that I know. So yeah, now they’re in a position to talk.”
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The Yankees will see the Red Sox again near the end of August for four games in three days in The Bronx.
Perhaps they will have one or both of Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton back by then, though the Red Sox are surviving their respective key injuries in Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony.
But before they can worry about beating them head-to-head — they are 4-5 against them this season — the Yankees are desperately trying to find a way to snap out of their own funk and get hot themselves.
“We talk about all year long, a lot of smart people overreact all season,” Boone said. “You realize how long of a season it is. It’s just a forever season, and you make these assumptions on teams and write teams off or crown teams or crown players, ‘This guy’s the MVP after three weeks.’ It’s so long, and the beauty of that long season is it does weed out good from great and good from OK.”
