Time and time again, the Yankees have had the chance to make a statement by wrapping up a potentially season-defining sweep. Time and time again, they’ve taken that chance and flushed it down the toilet. One notable exception was when they swept the White Sox in May as part of a six-game winning streak after Corey Kluber’s no-hitter. Kluber got hurt immediately after that, and that team has gone 25-29 since then.
That run includes a three-game sweep of the middling Blue Jays in Buffalo in mid-June, but that went nowhere, as well. Opportunities against the Astros, Mariners, and Rays have fallen by the wayside.