Five Fewer Blown Saves

With two weeks left in the MLB regular season, the Yankees have the best record in the American League.  That's truly remarkable when you consider how, for a six-week stretch in the middle of the season, they were just an awful baseball team.  Actually, outside of April and May, when they were ridiculously good, they've been essentially a .500 team.

The race for the AL East will come down to the wire.  As will the battle for the No. 1 seed between the Yankees, Orioles and Guardians.  It's also crazy to think that, for as bad as the Yankees were in June and July, those races really don't need to be that close.  If not for Aaron Boone sticking with Clay Holmes despite him being terrible at his job, they'd have a much bigger lead both in the division and in the AL as a whole.  And, if they do end up playing in the Wild Card Series, all of those blown saves will become even more glaring.  Because they literally would've cost them the division!

This may be hard to believe, but Clay Holmes was an All*Star this season.  That's because he was actually good in April and May.  Since then?  Not so much!  Holmes has set a franchise record for blown saves.  Even Mariano Rivera blew the occasional save, so I'm not saying fans expected him to be perfect.  But the sheer number of saves he's blown is simply unacceptable.  And, frankly, he should've lost the closer role long before he actually did.

Holmes is an equal-opportunity save blower.  It doesn't matter the inning.  He doesn't just blow them in the ninth!  He blew one in the seventh against the Royals the other day!  And they didn't all necessarily result in Yankees losses.  But still, his failures at the end of games are the reason why the division race is closer than it should be.  Let's take a look at five of his most glaring blown saves and how they've impacted the race.

June 13 at Kansas City: After taking a 3-2 lead in the eighth, the Yankees were three outs away from a four-game sweep of the Royals.  Holmes got the first out of the ninth, then Kansas City put the tying run on base with an infield single (that was a dribbler to first where the play should've been made).  A two-out single put runners on first and third before Maikel Franco's walk-off two-run double.

Had Holmes not blown the save, the Yankees would've completed the four-game sweep and improved to 50-21 on the season.  Instead, this was the game that started the stretch where they were truly awful for the next six weeks.  They were 49-22 after this loss.  They would go 11-22 over their next 33 games.

July 5 vs Boston: I was at this game.  It was George Costanza Bobblehead Night at Yankee Stadium.  And it was perhaps the most frustrating Holmes blown save of the season.  The Yankees led 2-0 with nobody on and two out in the ninth.  Holmes still managed to blow the save!

Mets legend Dom Smith hit a pinch-hit double.  OK, no big deal.  Then Holmes threw EIGHT CONSECUTIVE 3-2 sinkers to Masataka Yoshida!  Yoshida fouled off the first seven.  The eighth he hit into Monument Park.  Holmes admitted afterwards that he might've gone to the well one too many times.  Ya think?!  Anyway, it was Tommy Kahnle who actually took the loss in this one after giving up a leadoff homer in the 10th.  But the game never should've gone to the 10th in the first place.  This one is squarely on Holmes.

July 14 at Baltimore: In the final game before the All*Star break, the Yankees suffered another brutal walk-off loss courtesy of a Holmes blown save.  This was after they scored three in the top of the ninth to take a 5-3 lead, too.  The defense didn't help by any means.  Anthony Volpe booted a ground ball that would've ended the game, and Alex Verdugo terribly misplayed a fly ball that resulted in a two-run, walk-off double.  However, let's not forget that the only reason Baltimore was even in a position to win was because Holmes loaded the bases on a single and two walks.

A Yankees win here would've capped a three-game sweep and given them a one-game division lead at the All*Star break.  Instead, it was the Orioles who had the one-game lead.  This one is particularly glaring because it was against Baltimore, the team they're fighting for the division title, and that was a two-game swing which could end up being significant.

August 18 vs Detroit: Another bad one in the Little League Classic.  The Yankees had a 1-0 lead going to the bottom of the ninth.  Holmes had no margin for error.  That's obviously not the best situation for a closer who's struggling.  Detroit put the tying run on base with a one-out double, then Jace Jung's single to left scored Colt Keith.  Mark Leiter Jr. played the role of Tommy Kahnle here, taking the loss in an extra inning that wouldn't have been necessary had Holmes done his job.

While this walk-off loss wasn't as devastating as some of the others, it was already clear by this point that Clay Holmes needed to be relieved of his closer duties.  How many blown saves could they continue to put up with when every game was so important in the pennant race?  Well, as it turns out, one more.  Which would be the most egregious of them all.

September 3 at Texas: Finally, the breaking point.  A walk-off grand slam was the last straw that finally got Aaron Boone to say they were "weighing all options" with regard to the closer position.  All it took was an MLB-leading 11 blown saves (up to that point) for it to happen--much later than it should've.  Boone's continued confidence in Holmes was nonsensical.  The fans' only confidence in Holmes, meanwhile, was confidence that he'll find a way to blow the save.

Carlos Rodon was outstanding in this game, striking out 11 in six innings.  Texas scored two in the bottom of the eighth to make it 4-3.  Then it all unraveled in the ninth.  Holmes got then first out, then single, walk, walk to load the bases.  Rookie Wyatt Langford unloaded them with a walk-off grand slam to left that was such a no-doubt-about-it shot that Verdugo didn't even move.  Final score: 7-4 Rangers.

Even if every other result had been exactly the same, flipping the winner of those five games alone is enough to prove the following point.  The Yankees are 87-63.  Holmes doesn't blow those five saves, they're 92-58.  Suddenly, the record is a lot more impressive and they have a lot more breathing room.  They have a three-game lead over the second-place Orioles.  They win those five games, it's a nine-game lead (since one was against the Orioles, Baltimore would have an extra loss).  And their one-game lead over Cleveland for the best record would be six games.  They'd even be ahead of the Phillies and Dodgers for the best record in all of baseball, which would mean World Series home field.

All of this could end up being moot, of course.  They're in a position to win the division despite how bad Clay Holmes was as the closer (also, don't forget that they fired Aroldis Chapman, an actual closer, because Holmes did well filling in while Chapman was injured in 2022, because I sure haven't).  If they don't win the division, however, it's not hard to pinpoint why.  Holmes hasn't just cost the Yankees a bunch of games this season.  He could potentially end up costing them a division title.