David Lennon columns

Starting Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice seemed to right the wrongs of the manager's Game 1 blunders...at least for one night.

From Garrett Crochet's masterful performance to Aaron Boone's decision to pull Max Fried, Tuesday wasn't the night the Yankees had in mind.

It will require lots more to win back a betrayed fan base

Elimination by a thousand paper cuts after having best record in June.

The tightest race on the board is for AL MVP and Lennon's award goes... you'll have to read to find out.

The rookie not only has above-average stuff but seems able to handle the pressure.

Aside from Raleigh playing the sport's most demanding position and leading the majors in homers, he still doesn't stack up to Judge.

Here are a few of those things the Yankees seemingly have figured out, just in time for October.

The Yankees aren't just out-slugging opponents, they're suffocating them, too (as long as the temperamental bullpen can hold up).

Three months of terrible baseball have left the Mets at the point that nothing they do the rest of the way will get them into the playoffs without some help.

Several divisional races along with the wild-card races still have not been decided.

Thursday was the Mets' dream scenario, and the type of game we should have seen way more often from this $340 million team.

The whole process in 2025 hasn't looked very fun, sort of like baseball's version of coal mining since mid-June.

"I think when you're sitting where we were in mid-June, we would not have expected to be in this spot," Stearns said Tuesday.

The Mets' former manager was at Citi Field to promote the Alumni Classic Game and offered his thoughts on the Mets' current crisis.

Former Mets double-Cy Young Award winner continued his fine form in 2025.

Aaron Judge blasted a pair of home runs in his first two at-bats to tie him with Joe DiMaggio for fourth place on the franchise homer list (361).

The bullpen is becoming the Yankees' Achilles hee, despite the best efforts by general manager Brian Cashman to strengthen it.

You could say the Yankees are exactly where they want to be... among the glass half-full crowd anyway.

They virtually ignored the Anthony Volpe problem for five months, and now they're stuck with it at the worst possible time.

The Brewers, thanks to the untouchable nature of Freddy Peralta, hold on to the top spot.

The Mets shouldn't need those DIY projects to hold off the Reds or Giants, especially in their current states.

Sean Manaea was hammered for eight hits and five runs, including a pair of long homers.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said the righty was "non-competitive," and with the team competing for a playoff berth, it seems as if it's time for someone to replace him in the rotation.

Cam Schlittler, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong: Many of these top-rated youngsters are fine being thrown into the deep end of the pool.

They hit .568 (21-for-37) with runners in scoring position in this three-game series, and are batting an MLB-best .390 with RISP in August.

"This went fast for Jonah," David Stearns said. "But to his credit, he really conquered everything we put in front of him."

They prove spirited enough to possibly flip script on Phillies.

President of baseball ops David Stearns' decision not to bolster the team's starting pitching at the trade deadline means the supposed leaders of the staff need to be that down the stretch.

"It's been fun — I'm not gonna hide it," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said before Sunday night's series finale.

They've lost eight in a row to rival Red Sox and fell to 1-8 against Boston this season.

Nearly a month removed from the MLB trade deadline, it's a good time to see which players are making and impact, and which are not.

The baseball gods came through to deliver a late-season showdown between the Red Sox and Yankees.

Favorable projections, but realistic? To anyone who's watched both teams lately, October feels more like a coin flip.

For one afternoon, you could actually see the Mets smile, like they were having fun on a baseball field again.

The Mets' loss to Atlanta on Thursday night was the kind of demoralizing loss that stirs doubt in the minds of a team on the playoff bubble.

Since June 13, the Mets' rotation had pitched the fewest innings (227) in the majors, averaging 4.45 per start over that 51-game span.

GM Brian Cashman opted for the leap of faith the situation called for, and Schlitter had shown enough by motoring through two minor-league levels this season, followed by mowing hitters down in the Bronx.

THe Yankees' relentless plunge since June 13 matches up with Judge's own bout with being human.

A look at where all 30 teams stand as the playoff chase continues.

No one — not Boone, not Fried, not Judge — has provided one ounce of evidence that the Yankees are just going to magically turn this pinstriped debacle around.

Somehow, by the end of Saturday's 5-4 victory over the Astros, as much as the Yankees tried to give away the game, they still wound up shaking hands.

For a while, the lack of production was puzzling, if not concerning. But, after being swept for the second time in a week, the season may be starting to sink due to hollow lumber.

With 49 games left, the Mets need their lineup to deliver on a more consistent basis.

Major League Baseball again got what it wanted in the hours leading up to Thursday's trade deadline: the frenzied activity that owns the sporting world's attention like no other time of the year.

Since Frankie Montas' late June return, the Mets' rotation has thrown the second-fewest innings (148 1/3) in the majors, averaging 4.49 innings per start.

Both teams vastly improved their bullpens and made some other helpful moves.

The price tag on top-shelf relievers over these final 24 hours is soaring, and likely going up from here, thanks to the arms race that rapidly developed in the NL East.

With Thursday's trade deadline looming, and Aaron Judge's indefinite absence haunting them, this is turning into a matter of survival for the Yankees.

The way this crazy mess of a night got there was unlike anything I've experienced in this business — before or after.