Daily Report – 7/14/26
Yankees
For the first time since 2004, the Yankees entered the All-Star break with four straight wins. Each of their last three victories arrived in comeback fashion as they swept the Washington Nationals, who have the highest-scoring offense in the Majors.
After facing the Yankees this weekend, the Nationals’ bullpen ERA dropped to 5.22, which ranks 28th in baseball. Meanwhile, the Yankees’ bullpen has a 3.03 ERA, which leads the Majors. In each game this weekend, the Yankees came back in the eighth inning or later against a Nationals team that has blown 27 of 54 save opportunities.
The Yankees’ success against Washington’s battered bullpen was remarkable. On Friday, Jazz Chisholm Jr. delivered a ninth-inning two-run shot, and Austin Wells backed him up. On Saturday, Ryan McMahon, Trent Grisham, and Paul Goldschmidt each homered in the eighth inning. And on Sunday, Ben Rice scored two runs with an eighth-inning triple.
As he rounded first base, Rice wasn’t sure his hit cleared the left-field fence. “I didn’t think I got it quite right,” said Rice, who extended his hitting streak to eight games on the eve of his Home Run Derby appearance. “But I saw it kept going, so I think the wind must have been helping it just enough to make it a tough wall ball play. I was happy that it didn’t get caught.”
Since Rice overcame his two-week slump last Monday, the Yankees have won four of their last seven games. In that span, Rice is 11-for-26 (.423) with four walks, five home runs, 12 RBI, and a 1.577 OPS. In his previous seven games (since June 28), he held a .138 batting average.
“I feel like our first real taste of adversity was in that 10-game stretch where I think we went 1-9,” said manager Aaron Boone. “To go onto a road trip and finish this one off 5-2, staring at that adversity, is a good response. But that’s all it is. We’re in July. We’ve got a long way to go in this.
“We’ve put ourselves in position to have a really special season. That’s all to this point. We’ll use this time to rest and recover, and come ready to play for everything in the second half.”
Rice, the All-Star, ranks second in the American League with 29 home runs, 68 RBI, a .599 slugging percentage, and a .971 OPS. He has been the cornerstone of the Yankees’ success without Aaron Judge, whose rib injury will be reevaluated this week.
High-leverage comeback wins are beautiful, but they don’t happen without excellent pitching. Cam Schlittler wasn’t his best self on Saturday, but he overcame two first-inning solo home runs with 5 2/3 scoreless innings.
Schlittler’s ERA sits at 2.05, which should have made him the clear favorite to start the All-Star Game for the American League tonight. But John Schneider, who will manage the AL, had other plans. Nevertheless, Schlittler put his team first and decided it would be best not to pitch in the All-Star Game at all.
“After the game [on Saturday], I just thought about it, and my priorities are to the team and how I can help this team win a championship,” Schlittler said. “I wasn’t comfortable enough that I was going to recover 100 percent to try to go out there for an inning and throw as hard as I can.”
Had Schlittler decided to pitch tonight, he would have had to disrupt his routine. Also, because Schlittler isn’t pitching tonight, the Yankees can return him to the helm of their rotation in time for their series against the Dodgers on Friday.
Schlittler’s performance on Saturday helped the Yankees win the first two games of a weekend series for the first time since May 1-2. They did it on the road for the first time since April 24-25. Besides Rice, several key players broke out of their slumps in Washington, DC, this weekend, including Goldschmidt (3-for-10), Wells (2-for-8), and Cody Bellinger (5-for-11).
Clearly, an offensive turnaround was the key to the Yankees returning to their winning ways, and it only took one player. Once Rice found his groove, his teammates followed, and the Yankees are now within three games of the Tampa Bay Rays for first place.
Two weeks ago, Judge said his team’s struggles were due to a lack of focus. It’s unclear what exactly sparked the Yankees to turn their slump around. Maybe it was their captain’s speech. Maybe it was what Chisholm said in Thursday’s team meeting. Perhaps it was McMahon’s 12-pitch at-bat on Thursday.
Regardless, the Yankees have positioned themselves for an excellent second half. This team is talented enough to contend for a championship. The only question is whether they can click as a unit. A couple of deadline moves and the return of several key players could propel this team through the rest of the season, into October, and beyond.
Tonight, at 8 PM, the National League will host the American League as Major League Baseball’s titans clash in the 96th annual Midsummer Classic (FOX, FOX One). Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice will hit sixth and seventh in the AL’s starting lineup. Along with Cam Schlittler, they will represent the Yankees in the 2026 All-Star Game, which will be played at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Here are tonight’s starting lineups:
American League:
CF Mike Trout (LAA)
DH Yordan Alvarez (HOU)
C Shea Langeliers (ATH)
3B Junior Caminero (TB)
SS Bobby Witt Jr. (KC)
RF Cody Bellinger (NYY)
1B Ben Rice (NYY)
LF Riley Greene (DET)
2B Ernie Clement (TOR)
SP: RHP Dylan Cease (TOR) (6-4, 2.56 ERA)
National League:
DH Kyle Schwarber (PHI)
LF Juan Soto (NYM)
1B Freddie Freeman (LAD)
SS CJ Abrams (WSH)
3B Max Muncy (LAD)
2B Ozzie Albies (ATL)
RF Brandon Marsh (PHI)
CF Andy Pages (LAD)
C Drake Baldwin (ATL)
SP: LHP Christopher Sánchez (PHI) (11-4, 2.62 ERA)
Schedule
2026 MLB All-Star Game – American League All-Stars at National League All-Stars; FOX, FOX One; SP: RHP Dylan Cease (TOR) (6-4, 2.56 ERA) vs. LHP Christopher Sánchez (PHI) (11-4, 2.62 ERA)
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Yankees
