Yankees Put DJ LeMahieu on Injured List

Thankfully for the Yankees, who had 25 regular-season games remaining entering Thursday, some of those key players are working their way back to the field. Severino and Britton have been pitching in the minor leagues as they hope to return this month. (Bader might make his Yankees’ debut by then, too.) But it is hard not to compare the state of the Yankees now to their first half, when everything seemed to go right and they were, at one point, on pace to match a major league record for wins in the regular season.

On July 8, the Yankees held a 15½-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. Since then, they had gone 22-31 entering Thursday’s game. Their margin over the Rays fell to four games on Saturday. Four straight wins since, including three against the Twins, improved their lead to five games. With three more games left against the Rays this season, starting Friday, the Yankees are still in prime position to claim their first division crown since 2019. But what will their health look like come the playoffs?

When healthy, LeMahieu, 34, is a steadying force in the Yankees’ lineup. It is what earned him a six-year, $90 million contract with the Yankees before the 2021 season.

But he has been compromised by injuries the past two seasons. After hitting .336 with 36 home runs in 2019 and 2020, his first two years with the Yankees — the 2020 season was shortened to 60 games because of the pandemic — LeMahieu has hit .265 with 22 home runs since. And perhaps it’s no coincidence that the Yankees’ offense — with the exception of the star outfielder Aaron Judge — has struggled of late, too.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/sports/baseball/dj-lemahieu-yankees.html