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Scorching Yankees About to Get Hotter With Return of Bruised Bombers

Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.

In their last game before the All-Star Break, the Yankees watched glumly as the Astros walked them off to keep them at eight games out of first place. Since that day, even with half of its roster on the injured list, New York is 20–9, best in the sport. Over that span, the team has increased its playoff odds, per FanGraphs, by 12 percentage points, to 53.7%. The Rays still probably own the division, but suddenly the Yankees are two games behind the A’s and the Red Sox in the wild-card race.