The New York Yankees are slumping. Their once seemingly insurmountable American League East lead has shrunk considerably. The Tampa Bay Rays sit just 5 games back of the Yankees, while the Blue Jays are 7 games back as of this story’s publication. Their recent blowout loss against the Rays even caused manager Aaron Boone to say that the Yankees hit “rock bottom.” With all of this being said, the Yankees are still in a good position to win the division.

Let’s take a look at 3 reasons why the Yankees will win the AL East over the Rays and Blue Jays.

Yankees home run power

The Yankees have always been known for their home run prowess. They currently lead baseball in homers with a mark of 205. Aaron Judge has already smashed more than 50 home runs.

New York’s ability to consistently hit the long ball will serve them well. In past years, the Yankees hit a lot of solo shots. But in 2022, they rank fifth in OBP. If the Yankees can continue getting runners on base and then hitting home runs, their offense will be fine moving forward.

The lineup has gone through their share of struggles over the past few weeks. But keeping an offense consisting of superstars like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton down for long is a difficult task to accomplish.

New York’s pitching

The Yankees still feature a quality pitching rotation. Various injuries to pitchers such as Nestor Cortes and Jameson Taillon have led to recent concerns. But Taillon is expected to make his next scheduled start and Nestor Cortes doesn’t believe he will be on the injured list for long.