After a three year playoff hiatus, the New York Yankees are in a great position heading into the postseason. With a record of 83-68, the 27-time World Series champions hold the top spot in the American League wild card race by four games. A team comprised of young stars and wily veterans, the Yankees have gelled together as one unit.
Despite the Toronto Blue Jays’ scorching hot summer, the Yankees still have a slim chance at winning the AL East, but even their manager isn’t hopeful of that.
“It is difficult,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, via ESPN.com. “It is not mathematically impossible, but it is difficult.”
On July 28, the Yankees were sitting pretty atop the AL East with an  eight-game lead over the Blue Jays. But key trade deadline acquisitions like superstars David Price and Troy Tulowitzki led to an unbelievable summer for Toronto and a commanding four game lead with just nine regular season games remaining.
Toronto also strengthened its bullpen at the deadline by acquiring Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins. Clearly the Blue Jays knew moves needed to be made if they were serious about a playoff run.
Conversely, the Yankees have played as consistent as any team the past couple months with very little roster movement.
Alex Rodriguez has put all his distractions aside this season and has been a true leader, both on and off the field. In truly a record-breaking season, A-Rod became fourth all time in home runs, smacked his 3,000th hit and just the other night he scored his 2,000th run. Taking over the DH role this season, Rodriguez leads the team in home runs (32) and OBP (.355).
Other Yankees veterans have been making their mark this year as well. Catcher Brian McCann leads the club in RBI with 91 and right fielder Carlos Beltran leads with a .279 batting average. With a combined 2015 salary of $53 million, Yankees fans hoped that these three would step up and lead the team, and they haven’t disappointed.
Pinstripe youngsters are also contributing significantly like Chase Headley, who leads the team with 144 hits. Amsterdam native and shortstop Didi Gregorius has filled in nicely for departing Derek Jeter, posting a .684 OPS and only striking out 79 times in nearly 500 at bats. A pitching staff that once leaned on CC Sabathia is relying on Masahiro Tanaka and 26 year-old Michael Pineda, who have a combined 277 strike outs.
The combination of consistently producing veterans and youngsters has put the Yankees in a terrific spot entering October. Other MLB teams with a nice mesh of young and old have dropped the ball this year like the Washington Nationals, but New York has excelled.
What does that mean? It is a sign of a baseball organization playing together as a team to accomplish one goal. Team baseball is what leads to historic postseason runs, which the Yankees are poised to achieve in 2015.
The Yankees have three more regular-season series with subpar teams — the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles. Unless the Blue Jays collapse, the Yankees will most likely play host to either the Texas Rangers or Houston Astros in the one-game wild card playoff.
If they can win that toss-up of a contest, then New York has what it takes to make a deep playoff run — or more.