Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical story to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
NEW YORK — Over the worst six weeks of baseball the franchise has seen in 27 years, the Yankees have tried everything they could think of between the lines. They have tried hitting better. They have tried pitching better. They have tried fielding better. Nothing has worked. They are 14–25 since July 8, and their lead in the American League East has shrunk from 15.5 to 8.5 games.
So they have moved outside the lines—in some cases, well outside them. Ace Gerrit Cole experimented with his outfits: undershirt, no undershirt. (Loss, loss.) Catcher Kyle Higashioka rotated through all three pairs of his spikes. (Loss, loss, loss.) Third baseman Josh Donaldson burned a bundle of sage in the clubhouse. (Loss.)
