The Yankees have won six of their past seven series, and they started this weekend's four-game set at the Baltimore Orioles with a 7-0 win in which Max Fried lived up to his ace billing.
He tied a career-high 13 strikeouts and showed what type of pitcher the team has as New York (86-67) trails the Toronto Blue Jays by three games in the AL East and owns the first wild card.
Fried's MLB-leading 18th win saw him throw 59 strikes on 87 pitches while allowing three hits and one walk in seven scoreless innings as the Yankees began the first of their final three series on a dominant note.
"Feel like he's in a really good spot, throwing the ball well," said New York manager Aaron Boone. "Went through a little lull there in the middle of the season or whenever that was and kind of dug himself out of that and, hopefully, going through stuff like that, you learn things and it allows you to make adjustments that you need to make and he's done that and I feel like he's obviously going out there with a lot of confidence right now."
Fried (18-5, 2.92 ERA) appears to be all the way back from struggling in parts of July and August, rounding into October form with a September where he is 4-0 in all four of his starts this month with a 2.05 ERA and 28 strikeouts to seven walks in 26.1 IP.
"We're playing some pretty good baseball right now, and that's when you want to really hit your stride," Fried said. "So, going into the last week or so, we're excited and want to go out there and finish strong — go into the playoffs strong. And for me, personally, wins are a team stat. So, I can't give my teammates enough credit for putting me in a position to be able to get there."
If the playoffs started today, the Yankees would face the Houston Astros (second in the wild card) for a best-of-three series with the winner advancing to the ALDS against the Blue Jays.
New York has a chance to catch Toronto (89-64) with three regular-season games remaining, but feels good about its situation regardless of where it ends up.
"We know how important pitching is in October and the whole year," said Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. "It's going to take a team effort, but to be able to do something like that, it's tough. All of these opponents are tough. They're going to be preparing for our pitchers, just like we're going to be preparing for them if we get that opportunity, and we'll be ready to go."
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