The New York Yankees have lost 3 out of the last 4 games, and the fans are starting to worry. The problem for fans is that the Yankees are losing games they should be winning easily, especially with a strong bullpen. But it looks like the bullpen is becoming the problem.
After his recent struggles against the Athletics, Yankees closer David Bednar had fans concerned about the dip in his velocity. But Bednar put those concerns to bed and said, “It’s early in the season… It’s nothing to panic about.” But the numbers tell a completely different story.
The Yankees lost 3-2 against the Athletics, and it exposed the growing concerns about David Bednar’s velocity. In that game, he allowed the go-ahead sac-fly in the 9th inning when he was brought on to close the game for the Yankees. After this game, Bednar has given 3 runs in his last 4 outings, and it might be because of his pitch velocity.
According to reports, his fastball has dropped from 97.1 MPH during the 2025 season to 95.6 MPH.
But despite this, manager Aaron Boone is not worried about the dip in velocity and form. Boone said, “He’s been consistently in the mid-90s and thrown a lot of pitches recently.” And Boone is right because Bednar has thrown 73 pitches before he entered the game against the Athletics.
Bednar also commented, saying “the weather [is cold],” deflecting the concerns about his velocity. But what worries the fans is that the opponents are batting with a .375 average against him this season, with a .625 slugging percentage. Bednar did take accountability and admitted that he “got ahead of guys but couldn’t put them away.”
But the Yankees will have to try to get Bednar back on track if they want to go deep in the postseason and hopefully get the World Series after 19 years.
In 2025, David Bednar had a great season when he moved to the Yankees. He posted a 2.19 ERA with 10 saves in 24.2 innings. He also had a 36.1% strikeout rate, and he converted 27 out of his 30 save chances. Even in the postseason, he allowed just 1 run across 6 innings.
This is what made him the closer for the New York Yankees for the 2026 season, and they will need him big time this season.
The Yankees have more problems in their offense than in their pitching
If you think David Bednar’s velocity was a problem, then you are not looking at the bigger picture.
Ryan McMahon entered the Thursday game against the Athletics with 2 hits and 2 RBIs in 33 plate appearances. That means he is averaging .077 to start the season and basically has made no impact with his bat. While batting 9th in the order for the Yankees, McMahon went 0-3 and struck out for the 14th time this season.
Even though he has been decent with his glove, he has not been able to make up for the lapses with his bat. But McMahon is not the only problem, and things run deeper.
Across the Athletics series, the Yankees scored 7 runs, and 5 of them came in a single game. That means for the next two games, they scored just 2 runs and had 5 hits. They also got a shutout in the last game of the series, and lost the game 1-0, and lost the series.
McMahon went 0-for-6 in the series, while Randal Grichuk and J. C. Escarra finished hitless. Ben Rice recorded 2 hits in 10 at-bats, striking out 5 times. Jazz Chisholm Jr., who wanted to be a part of the 50-50 club this season, had just 1 hit and struck out 3 times.
And the top-dollar stars are not showing up either.
Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton combined had just 2 hits combined in the full series. And if u think that is bad, their top signing of the offseason, Cody Bellinger, has only 2 hits. All three of them have struck out 7 times in 31 at-bats.
Team metrics show that the Yankees last season had left 15.45 runners on base, which has gone up to 20.6 at home this season. With runners in scoring position, they hit .227, leaving 4.00 runners stranded per game.
But there is very little time for the New York Yankees to rest, as they have the Rays up next. The Rays have not had a good start ot the season and are 5-7 and got whopped by the Cubs in their recent series. The Cubs hit 19 runs across the 3 game against the Rays.
With the Rays running low on confidence, this might be the perfect time for the offense to rack up some hits and get runs under their belt.
