When injured outfielder Harrison Bader walked into the Yankees' clubhouse for the first time on Aug. 3, he couldn't help but wonder what his new teammates were thinking.

"I'm sure everybody in here was like, 'We just traded for this guy in a boot?'" said Bader, who despite dealing with plantar fasciitis was acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals at the deadline. "'Are you serious?'"

That sense of unease is the mood in the Yankees' clubhouse these days. The Yankees still sit comfortably atop the American League East standings, but dark clouds loom over the Bronx — and urgency is growing.

A month and a half ago, it was hard to find anyone in the locker room without a smile on his face. Aaron Judge was hitting moonshots at a record-breaking pace. Clay Holmes and Michael King were the best reliever duo in baseball. Matt Carpenter was putting together a comeback campaign for the record books. Giancarlo Stanton was hitting lasers into the Yankee Stadium bleachers. Nestor Cortes and Jose Trevino were breaking out with All-Star campaigns. New York's hot start made it the third-fastest team in franchise history to win 50 games in a season, recalibrating expectations for the 2022 Yankees to not just win a World Series, but do it in historic fashion.

Then those expectations crashed, hard. The Yankees are 4-11 in their past 15 games and 17-24 since July 1, worse than the rebuilding Chicago Cubs and the last-place Oakland Athletics over the same stretch. New York is looking up at the Houston Astros, who now have the best record in the American League heading into the stretch run.

In six short weeks, the good vibes have vanished. And Gerrit Cole knows it.

"We need a spark," Cole said after the Yankees' series-opening loss to the second-place Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.

Two nights later, they hope they found one. Maybe Josh Donaldson's walk-off grand slam Wednesday could ignite a flame. Whatever it is, they'll need it as the team begins a critical four-game series against the division rival Blue Jays on Thursday followed by the home half of the Subway Series against the Mets.

Around the clubhouse, players are focusing more attention on details in recent weeks, trying to find solutions for the team's sudden inability to score runs, but also causing some players to press at the plate.