The New York Yankees started off the 2022 season red hot. Led by slugging outfielder Aaron Judge, the Yankees looked like they were going to run away with the highly competitive AL East. Now, here we are in early September. The Yankees are ice cold and the Tampa Bay Rays are only five games back for the division lead. How did we get here? What lead to the collapse of the New York Yankees?

There are a lot of people to blame for this collapse, but Judge is not one of those people. Virtually everyone around Judge has had trouble in the past month. For example, Aroldis Chapman started out the season as cold as ice. He was then placed on the I.L., and struggled still upon returning. The man who replaced Chapman as the closer is Clay Holmes. Holmes was a big part of the Yankees success early in the season. Even breaking Yankees legendary closer Mariono Rivera’s record of 28 straight scoreless innings. In Holmes last 30 games, he is sporting a 4.13 ERA which is very inflated compared to his hot start. Even more concerning is when you look at Holmes last 15 games, where he has an enormous 7.13 ERA. Holmes will have to step back into his early season form if the Yankees are going to break the losing trend.

Another key part of the Yankees is catcher Jose Trevino, and he has had a steep decline in production. Trevino is hitting .245 with a .267 OBP and .367 slugging over his last 30 games. Former MVP Josh Donaldson has a very unproductive stat line that is very similar to Trevino’s over his last 30 games. Over the last month, the overall production from the Yankees lineup hasn’t been impressive (other than Judge of course).

The Yankees are still in first place with a semi-comfortable division lead of five games. They’ve recently won 3 out of 4 in a series against the Twins. They seem to be on the up climb lately. If the Yankees can get and stay hot heading into the playoffs they will be a tough team to beat. If they stay cold, it might be another early exit for the Bronx Bombers.