Edwin Encarnacion has been hitting clean up most of the time in the Yankees lineup. Since June 15 the Yankees are 24-9 and are 9.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays in first place of the AL East Division. In that same period of time, the Mariners are13-20.
The Mariners are 24 games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West. Had the Mariners had kept Encarnacion I expect there would not be much difference in the standings.
Encarnacion, on Thursday night, hit his ninth home run while driving in 23 runs. He now has 30 home runs on the season while having 72 RBIs.