Situational Struggles

The Yankees currently have the second most hits in the league, yet they can't seem to get a hit when it counts. Here are some stomach turning stats from baseball-reference.com:

Yankees RISP:
.223 Avg, .320 OBP (42 for 188, 55 RBI)


Yankees with runners on first and second:
.204 Avg, .315 OBP (11 for 54, 7 RBI)


Yankees with the bases loaded:
.071 Avg, .063 OBP (1 for 14, 5 RBI)

Now compare that to the hottest team in baseball:

Red Sox RISP:
.290 Avg, .419 OBP (51 for 176, 81 RBI)


Red Sox with runners on first and second:
.317 Avg, .414 OBP (19 for 60, 25 RBI)


Red Sox with the bases loaded:
.286 Avg, .464 OBP ( 8 for 28, 22 RBI)


The Yankees get runners past first base, and the offense shuts down. They hit .328 with a runner on first, but .221 when that runner is on second. The Yankees are hitting, but not when it counts most. Their individual averages look good, but the situational averages are terrible.

Look at Cano, he's having a great season hitting .380 on the year. However, if you break that down you'd see that he's hitting .192 with RISP (5 for 26). And when there is more than one runner on the bases, Cano is 1 for 15.

They don?t need to become the most clutch team in baseball, but an improvement has to happen in order for the Yankees to have a chance. Are they looking to hit home runs? Is it just good pitching? Is it just a phase in this long season? Who knows, but hopefully they break out of this pattern sooner rather than later.