Handing out grades for every full-time Cup driver: From four A’s to a painful F
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Neil Paine
NASCAR’s All-Star Race festivities are in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina this weekend — a track where the stars always came out to shine in an earlier era of Cup Series history. And just like in any other sport, All-Star time represents a chance to take stock of what has happened in the 2025 season so far, recognizing the drivers who have excelled and the ones who haven’t quite met their expectations.
To do that, I’ve graded every full-time Cup Series driver through a weighted combination of key performance indicators — not only using wins or standings points, but a more complete picture of how each driver is performing and, just as importantly, whether they’re meeting preseason expectations.
The formula included a variety of components, each standardized in order to compare drivers on an even scale. In rough order of importance, they were:
• Adjusted points+ index (a measure of performance where Cup average is always 100)
• Total wins
• Standings rank
• Average driver rating per race
• Average finish (indexed relative to average)
• Performance vs. preseason expectations (based on a combination of team/car quality and a driver’s own previous track record)
• Head-to-head record vs. teammates (and the strength of those teammates)
• Rate of finishing races (indexed relative to average)
From there, I created a weighted “combo” score and assigned letter grades accordingly — reflecting not only raw results, but also context, consistency and surprise value. (Remember, this isn’t just a straight ranking of drivers — you can find that here. Instead, they’re being graded on a curve relative to not only the field, but also themselves and their team.)
With all of that in mind, here’s how the field stacks up ahead of Sunday’s All-Star Race (8 p.m. ET, FS1) and at the sport’s midseason:
Jump to a grade tier:
A | B | C | D | F
Grade A tier
No. 5 Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports: A+
2025 stats: 3 wins, 8 top-fives, 9 top-10s, 9.8 avg. finish
Standings rank: 1st
Adjusted pts+ index (100 = Cup avg.): 241
Avg. driver rating (70 = Cup avg.): 102.6
Another season, another elite drive for Larson — just business as usual for the No. 5 car. Larson found his way into Victory Lane at Homestead, Bristol and, most recently, Kansas, the latter two of which saw him record a pair of near-perfect driver ratings (149.6 and 149.7, respectively) in the span of four races. Further, he has been an immovable fixture up front with nine top-10s in 12 races.
According to pts+, Larson is tracking for his best season (241) since winning the Cup Series title in 2021 (244), and nobody in the series is capable of super-dominant runs quite like Larson. He’s the championship favorite for a reason.
2025 stats: 3 wins, 6 top-fives, 8 top-10s, 11.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 3rd
Adjusted pts+ index: 224
Avg. driver rating: 92.8
This would have been an A-plus when Bell was racking up three consecutive wins earlier in the season, but a recent run of “only” five top-10s in the past eight races drops Bell down to A-grade status. This has still been an impressive year for the 30-year-old Bell, who is having a career season, already matching his high for wins less than a third of the way into the schedule.
Denny Hamlin fans might not want to hear this, but Bell is the No. 1 driver at JGR now, with an 86-58 record against teammates head-to-head over the past two years.
No. 24 William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports: A
2025 stats: 1 win, 5 top-fives, 7 top-10s, 10.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 2nd
Adjusted pts+ index: 202
Avg. driver rating: 103.9
After a 2024 season that, while still good enough to make the Championship 4, wasn’t quite as statistically dominant as in 2023, Byron has possibly been the most consistently excellent driver in Cup this season. (Witness his series lead in average running position at 10.3.) Despite Larson’s near perfection at Kansas, Byron still leads the series in average driver rating, and his second straight win at the Daytona 500 in February solidified his place in the history of the Great American Race.
Even on the same team with fellow stars such as Larson and Chase Elliott, Byron has a 22-14 head-to-head record against his fellow Hendrick drivers.
No. 11 Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing: A-
2025 stats: 2 wins, 5 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 15.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 7th
Adjusted pts+ index: 178
Avg. driver rating: 87.6
Any notions that Hamlin’s on-track career would start to wind down as he aged (he’s 44) and took on other business ventures have proved to be wrong. If anything, Hamlin’s 2025 form — he has two wins, with his best pts+ index since 2021 — shows how hungry he is to shed the label of “NASCAR’s Greatest Driver Without A Cup Title.”
Will this finally be his year? He has seemed ready for that breakthrough many times before, only for the “black cat of death” to cross his path again and again. But there’s no doubt Hamlin will be squarely in the mix at the end of the season.
Grade B Tier
No. 12 Ryan Blaney, Team Penske: B+
2025 stats: 0 wins, 5 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 16.1 avg. finish
Standings rank: 5th
Adjusted pts+ index: 148
Avg. driver rating: 92.6
No star driver has been more snakebit this year than Blaney, who has no wins and nearly as many DNFs (four) as top-five finishes (five). But the overtaking speed is still there; Blaney has a 92.6 average driver rating — fifth best in Cup — and the best per-race pass differential (+13.5) for any driver with more than half of their passes taking place under green and among the top 15 cars in the field. With greater reliability, Blaney ought to contend for another championship by season’s end.
No. 9 Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports: B+
2025 stats: 0 wins, 3 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 11.7 avg. finish
Standings rank: 4th
Adjusted pts+ index: 143
Avg. driver rating: 84.6
There is a paradox to Elliott in recent seasons: Despite his popularity and superstar reputation — and in contrast with his championship form of 2020 — he seems to have traded dominance for increased consistency. In 2025, this has manifested itself in a fourth-place spot in the standings and consistently solid finishes, but no wins and a lack of real contention for them on a weekly basis.
That’s why he doesn’t grade higher; Elliott is well on track to make the playoffs and even advance in them, but at a certain point we need to see the Elliott of old again.
2025 stats: 0 wins, 3 top-fives, 4 top-10s, 13.7 avg. finish
Standings rank: 6th
Adjusted pts+ index: 138
Avg. driver rating: 93.4
Reddick has driven well enough to score an A, but it hasn’t manifested in a victory yet. Only Hendrick teammates Byron and Larson boast a higher average driver rating, and Reddick’s average running position of 10.6 ranks second to Byron this year.
He has come close to winning a few times, so it could happen eventually (he has won multiple races in each of the previous three seasons), though a recent streak of four finishes in 14th or worse isn’t ideal.
No. 21 Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing: B+
2025 stats: 1 win, 2 top-fives, 3 top-10s, 21.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 17th
Adjusted pts+ index: 103
Avg. driver rating: 80.5
This feel-good grade is all about outperforming expectations. While the iconic Wood Bros. No. 21 did win a race — and therefore appeared in the playoffs — with Harrison Burton at the wheel last season, that win came at the notoriously chaotic Daytona night race … after Burton already had learned he would not be returning to the team in 2025. Berry’s win this season in the 21, by comparison, came at Las Vegas — in theory, a much more predictable mile-and-a-half track (and therefore a place where it’s much tougher to fluke into a win).
Beyond just the victory, Berry is crushing what was expected in pts+ and driver rating, whether the comparison point was his own previous career or what the once-proud Wood Bros. team had gotten in recent years.
No. 22 Joey Logano, Team Penske: B
2025 stats: 1 win, 1 top-fives, 3 top-10s, 17.3 avg. finish
Standings rank: 9th
Adjusted pts+ index: 114
Avg. driver rating: 89.2
Confusingly, Logano’s 2025 season could warrant a higher or lower grade here. On the positive side, he does have a win, picking up the checkered flag at Texas a few weeks ago, and he has posted driver ratings of 89.2 or higher in eight of 12 races — including four in the triple-digits. But that win was his only top-five finish of the season, and he has only a pair of top-10s outside of it. Unlike his teammate Blaney, Logano can’t blame crashes or blown engines either; he has simply not been consistent in his finishes relative to his potential during those races. It’s something that will need to be cleaned up as the season progresses, but then again, nobody has a better track record of in-season improvement than the three-time champ.
2025 stats: 1 win, 1 top-fives, 3 top-10s, 17.3 avg. finish
Standings rank: 14th
Adjusted pts+ index: 114
Avg. driver rating: 82.8
Despite being a playoff driver in both 2022 and 2024, Cindric has often felt like the forgotten man at Penske, driving in the shadow of a couple of all-timers in Logano and Blaney. But this is shaping up to be a career year for the driver of the No. 2 car, tying his career best in pts+ while blowing away his previous norms in average driver rating.
Better yet, Cindric continues to refine his skills as an all-around driver; instead of a superspeedway specialist who is solid on road courses and subpar everywhere else, he has an 88.4 driver rating on ovals this season. (Compare that to his previous career high of 67.8 from 2022.)
No. 19 Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing: B
2025 stats: 0 wins, 4 top-fives, 5 top-10s, 15.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 13th
Adjusted pts+ index: 134
Avg. driver rating: 77.1
Taking over the No. 19 ride at JGR for retiring legend Martin Truex Jr., there was always the expectation that Briscoe would show great improvement from his previous years spent at the fading Stewart-Haas Racing. And that has been true this year, with Briscoe on pace for the best season of his career by far.
Although Briscoe doesn’t have a win yet, he has been a factor in a handful of races and his 19-17 head-to-head record against JGR teammates is better than both Hamlin this year (18-18) and Truex last year (49-59).
No. 48 Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports: B-
2025 stats: 0 wins, 2 top-fives, 7 top-10s, 16.9 avg. finish
Standings rank: 8th
Adjusted pts+ index: 134
Avg. driver rating: 83.1
After years as the fourth wheel at Hendrick — having to share a garage with Jimmie Johnson (whose No. 48 car he later inherited), Larson, Elliott and Byron at various times — Bowman won a race in 2024 (only his second of the Next-Gen car era) and began to close the gap against his prominent teammates.
But that progress has stalled some in 2025: Bowman’s pts+ is 61 points behind his teammate average, his driver rating lags by 13.9 points and he has his worst head-to-head record against teammates (12-24) since going 8-22 as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s injury replacement in the No. 88 car in 2016. At the same time, Bowman would comfortably make the playoffs on points if the season ended today, so it’s not all bad news for the 48.
No. 1 Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing: B-
2025 stats: 0 wins, 2 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 13.9 avg. finish
Standings rank: 11th
Adjusted pts+ index: 145
Avg. driver rating: 77.6
Chastain is sort of the opposite of Reddick — aside from a lack of wins, his steady finishes have been very good, reminiscent of his early breakout with Trackhouse in 2022 and 2023 … but the fundamentals are less impressive. Chastain’s driver rating and 16.8 average running position are OK, but nothing special, and certainly less than we would have expected from a driver who seemed as if he were on the cusp of stardom as recently as a few years ago.
It would help to see Chastain win a race when he wasn’t already eliminated from championship consideration for the first time since June 2023.
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 15.5 avg. finish
Standings rank: 12th
Adjusted pts+ index: 122
Avg. driver rating: 76.6
Buescher has quietly done his job and maintained playoff position in the standings, rising above the up-and-down performances of his RFK teammates. For that alone, he deserves a B-tier grade, but he is dragged down a bit simply by the standards he set in the past few seasons. In 2023 and 2024, Buescher won four races with a pts+ index of 143 and an average driver rating of 82.3, the best stretch of performances in his decade-long Cup career.
This year’s numbers are tracking for something a notch below what we’re used to from the No. 17 car, but that’s as much a statement on Buescher’s breakout in previous years as anything happening in 2025.
No. 60 Ryan Preece, RFK Racing: B-
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-fives, 4 top-10s, 19.8 avg. finish
Standings rank: 16th
Adjusted pts+ index: 97
Avg. driver rating: 80.2
Speaking of RFK drivers, Preece earns a spot here in his first season with the team, on the strength of his solid fundamentals: a driver rating well above the average for both the Cup Series and his teammates (who collectively sit at just 69.1), an average running position (15.8) that ranks 12th best among regular drivers and a .500 record (12-12) against teammates head-to-head.
Aside from a seventh-place run at Kansas, Preece’s finishes haven’t been as good as earlier in the year, but it’s still fair to say he is beating expectations for the No. 60 in its first year running a full schedule.
Grade C tier
2025 stats: 0 wins, 2 top-fives, 4 top-10s, 19.6 avg. finish
Standings rank: 10th
Adjusted pts+ index: 102
Avg. driver rating: 85.0
Wallace was tracking for a career year (and a much better grade) about a month ago, but it has been a struggle for the No. 23 lately. After a pair of top-five finishes at Homestead and Martinsville, Wallace has scored only one top-10 finish in the past five races, with three finishes outside the top 20 in that span, capped off by a pair of consecutive crashes at Texas and Kansas.
The slump has left him barely above average in pts+ and with a bad 11-14 record against his 23XI teammates — but there’s still reason to believe. His driver rating (eighth best) and average running position (sixth best) suggest he has been unlucky, but a ranking like this still has to assign some weight to actual results rather than potential ones.
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-fives, 4 top-10s, 18.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 19th
Adjusted pts+ index: 91
Avg. driver rating: 56.1
Nemechek earns a C-plus for now, in part because his near-average pts+ and top-20 standings placement represents a massive leap over what we saw out of the No. 42 car in any of the previous few seasons. But under the hood, predictive metrics such as driver rating are less sold on whether this form can continue.
No. 38 Zane Smith, Front Row Motorsports: C+
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 1 top-10, 18.8 avg. finish
Standings rank: 23rd
Adjusted Pts+ index: 80
Avg. Driver Rating: 64.1
Though his numbers won’t exactly wow you, Smith has improved in his second full Cup season — his typical finish is now better than the Cup average, he has a positive head-to-head record (13-11) against his teammates and a slightly better driver rating than teammate Todd Gilliland had in the No. 38 car last season. He also started on pole at Talladega and led some laps at Homestead as well.
No. 8 Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing: C
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-five, 4 top-10s, 18.1 avg. finish
Standings rank: 18th
Adjusted pts+ index: 96
Avg. driver rating: 75.8
The cases of Busch and Nemechek illustrate how important expectations are to consider when grading NASCAR drivers. Despite near-identical results, one man’s surprisingly half-decent start to the season can be a supremely frustrating year for another — as is the case with Busch, for whom an early run of three straight top-10s in the first four races is now a distant memory.
More recently, Busch has one top-10 in the past eight races, with five finishes of 20th or worse over that same stretch. The hope has been that Busch’s rare winless 2024 (the first time he hadn’t driven to Victory Lane in 20 years) was simply a down year for one of the greatest stock car drivers, but it’s looking more like an average performance is about what we can expect from the No. 8 car at this point.
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-five, 2 top-10s, 17.3 avg. finish
Standings rank: 15th
Adjusted pts+ index: 91
Avg. driver rating: 59.0
Stenhouse is difficult to grade, because it’s tough to say whether he’s driving well or not. On the one hand, he hasn’t finished worse than 25th in any race this year, with eight appearances among the top 20 in 12 starts (including two top-10s and a top-five at Atlanta — no surprise for the superspeedway master). On the other hand, he has been the opposite of dominant, even in most of those decent runs — his driver rating has broken 90 only once, 80 twice and 70 three times, with a dreadful 51.3 mark or worse in half of his races.
So while Stenhouse would sneak into the playoffs on points if the season ended today, it’s doubtful that will remain true (for many reasons), and he doesn’t have the form of a winning driver unless he can luck into a win at one of the two remaining drafting-style tracks before the playoff cut.
No. 3 Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing: C
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 3 top-10s, 18.4 avg. finish
Standings rank: 22nd
Adjusted pts+ index: 86
Avg. driver rating: 62.9
Dillon is the very definition of a C-grade driver this season. Having long since shed the expectations of being anything more than a mid-pack mainstay who can occasionally play spoiler with a chaotic win, Dillon is actually doing better this year than in either 2023 or 2024, when he ranked among the most disappointing drivers in the Cup Series.
In 2025, he has seven finishes of 18th or better, and his driver rating has strayed outside the 60s only five times in 12 races. He still might need to wreck the field to even think about making the playoffs, but Dillon has nonetheless been far from terrible.
No. 34 Todd Gilliland, Front Row Motorsports: C
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 2 top-10s, 18.8 avg. finish
Standings rank: 24th
Adjusted pts+ index: 82
Avg. driver rating: 62.1
Swapping to the No. 34 from former teammate Michael McDowell, Gilliland has held steady in his overall form as compared with a year ago. On the plus side, his average finish is now 4% better than the Cup average, versus 8% worse last season; on the minus, his driver rating is down from 64.3.
But while Gilliland’s first year as Front Row’s lead driver has had ups and downs, he’ll go into the All-Star Race coming off an 11th-place finish at Texas and a 12th-place finish at Kansas.
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 0 top-10s, 19.1 avg. finish
Standings rank: 21st
Adjusted pts+ index: 77
Avg. driver rating: 63.1
Like many drivers in this C-tier group, McDowell’s mark reflects a complicated picture of performance relative to many different expectations. After seven years driving for Bob Jenkins at Front Row, where he had experienced his greatest highs as a driver — winning the Daytona 500 — and transformed himself from a journeyman to a perennial playoff contender and race winner, McDowell moved to Spire for 2025, where he has beaten teammates head-to-head (15-9 record) and improved vastly on Zane Smith’s numbers behind the wheel of the No. 71 a year ago.
At the same time, he has no top-10s and uniformly subpar metrics relative to Cup average this season.
No. 77 Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports: C-
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-five, 2 top-10s, 22.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 20th
Adjusted pts+ index: 85
Avg. driver rating: 73.2
Hocevar, 22, has had his flashes of brilliance this season — including a pole at Texas, leading laps in half of his starts (he’s currently riding a streak of four straight races led), and three different races with a triple-digit driver rating. But Hocevar earns a C-minus because of what he has left to learn, from greater respect for his fellow racers to better racecraft to turn that above-average driver rating into something better than a 22.2 average finish.
Hocevar’s head-to-head record against teammates has gone from a incredible 51-21 last season to 10-14 this year, and though that reflects the improved talent of teammates McDowell and Justin Haley, they are still collectively below .500 against all other drivers — yet Hocevar can’t consistently finish ahead of them despite his speed.
No. 99 Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing: C-
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-five, 3 top-10s, 20.9 avg. finish
Standings rank: 27th
Adjusted pts+ index: 87
Avg. driver rating: 64.8
Coming off one of the best seasons of his career (with a memorable three-wide photo finish win at Atlanta and a second-round playoff run), Suarez was expected to further build on that success in 2025. Instead, it has been an uneven start to the season, with the No. 99 car finishing outside the top 30 more times (four) than it has been inside the top 10 (three).
The only things keeping Suarez’s grade from dipping into D territory are that his underlying performance hasn’t necessarily been much different — his driver rating is up from 64.6 — and that Trackhouse as a whole has been much worse in 2025. Rather than only Suarez losing ground, his average teammate pts+ has also dipped from 127 to 88. In part, that has been due to the addition of a third chartered car, but the net result has been Suarez carrying a far better head-to-head record (15-11) against teammates than the 13-23 mark he had a year ago.
Grade D tier
No. 54 Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing: D+
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-five, 2 top-10s, 20.6 avg. finish
Standings rank: 26th
Adjusted Pts+ index: 80
Avg. Driver Rating: 64.9
The Ty Gibbs breakout appeared to be upon us at various times last season, and though he fell off down the stretch of the 2024 schedule, expectations were high that the 22-year-old would win his first Cup race — at the very least, if not more — in 2025. But that hasn’t happened; if anything, Gibbs has taken a nosedive in practically all of his major indicators so far this year.
On a team with the equipment to contend in every race, it has been highly disappointing for Gibbs to remain winless with a single top-five, two top-10s and only four races with an above-average driver rating.
No. 10 Ty Dillon, Kaulig Racing: D+
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 0 top-10s, 22.3 avg. finish
Standings rank: 30th
Adjusted Pts+ index: 58
Avg. Driver Rating: 50.0
Dillon has improved his pts+ and driver rating from the last time we saw him as a full-time Cup entrant, with Spire in 2023, but he still ranks fifth-to-last in average driver rating among regular drivers this season.
No. 4 Noah Gragson, Front Row Motorsports: D
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-five, 2 top-10s, 22.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 31st
Adjusted pts+ index: 73
Avg. driver rating: 61.2
Gragson rescued his career in Stewart-Haas’ swan song last season, following a season from hell with Legacy Motor Club in 2023. But after moving on to Front Row for 2025, Gragson has taken a tumble backward again.
Granted, the fall hasn’t been as steep as it was in ’23, but he looks worse by every major indicator, and he has not kept pace with his new teammates — posting a 9-15 head-to-head record (a year after going a solid 60-48 against his SHR counterparts).
No. 43 Erik Jones, Legacy Motor Club: D
2025 stats: 0 wins, 1 top-five, 1 top-10, 22.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 29th
Adjusted pts+ index: 68
Avg. driver rating: 57.1
While Legacy teammate John Hunter Nemechek has improved this season, Jones has stayed roughly the same in his performance level as the past few years. A driver who once had the talent to secure a full-time ride at JGR, and then rose above his equipment with Richard Petty Motorsports, seems to have stalled out now.
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 3 top-10s, 22.5 avg. finish
Standings rank: 25th
Adjusted pts+ index: 72
Avg. driver rating: 62.9
Allmendinger’s celebrated return to a full-time Cup drive in 2025 has been hit or (mostly) miss. Though he has a trio of top-10s (at Las Vegas, Homestead and Bristol), his overall performance is quite a bit lower than it was in partial duty over the previous handful of seasons. Allmendinger is just 4-8 head-to-head against his Kaulig teammates this season, after going a combined 48-31 versus Kaulig competition from 2021 to 2024.
No. 7 Justin Haley, Spire Motorsports: D-
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-five, 1 top-10, 21.1 avg. finish
Standings rank: 28th
Adjusted pts+ index: 65
Avg. driver rating: 58.2
What began as a potentially promising 2025 season for Haley — being paired with Kevin Harvick’s former championship-winning crew chief, Rodney Childers — has already gone sideways, with the recent divorce between Childers and Spire only nine races into their partnership. Aside from that shake-up, Haley’s results are somewhat better than they were when split between Spire and Rick Ware Racing last season … though they are far from what Haley seemed he might be capable of in an earlier phase of his career.
No. 41 Cole Custer, Haas Factory Team: D-
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 0 top-10s, 25.6 avg. finish
Standings rank: 34th
Adjusted pts+ index: 42
Avg. driver rating: 45.5
The 2023 Xfinity Series champion made his return to Cup as the lone driver for the team formerly known as SHR (where Custer drove in 2020-22), and the results have been as much of a struggle as you might expect. Only two full-time drivers have a worse average driver rating.
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 0 top-10s, 24.7 avg. finish
Standings rank: 32nd
Adjusted pts+ index: 47
Avg. driver rating: 48.1
Despite having a good team behind him at 23XI, Herbst’s first full season at the Cup level has been trending in the wrong direction: After four top-20 finishes in his first five starts of the season, Herbst boasts one (a 14th-place run at Texas) in the seven races since. He has gone just 8-17 head-to-head against a combination of Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Corey Heim this year.
Grade F tier
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 1 top-10, 26.8 avg. finish
Standings rank: 35th
Adjusted pts+ index: 45
Avg. driver rating: 45.1
This is one of the most painful grades to hand out because Van Gisbergen had been such an exciting and promising driver in part-time action over the preceding two seasons. Though a decent amount of that came at his specialty in road courses — where he won his Cup debut at Chicago, and nearly won at The Glen before Buescher tracked him down with a final-lap pass — he also ran eight non-road course races in Cup last year, plus a full 33-race Xfinity schedule in which he appeared to acquit himself decently well on other track types.
All of which makes it more puzzling that SVG has such terrible numbers in 2025, including the second-worst average driver rating in the Cup Series. Though he led 23 laps and posted a 120.6 rating at COTA in March, that was his lone finish of better than 20th, and he carries an average rating below 50 at ovals (36.0), short tracks (28.3) and superspeedways (49.2) alike.
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 0 top-10s, 27.2 avg. finish
Standings rank: 33rd
Adjusted pts+ index: 41
Avg. driver rating: 61.5
The other real shocker on the grading sheet, Keselowski’s 2025 season has been completely out of character for the 2012 Cup Series champion. We thought his performance upon leaving Penske for RFK in 2022 (80 pts+, 67.9 driver rating) was what a bad Keselowski season looked like. We had no idea that a year this miserable was even possible for a driver of his historic caliber — but Keselowski has only three finishes better than 26th all year, an adjusted pts+ index 59% (!) worse than Cup average, and a stunning 42% of his races have been DNFs (including crashes in each of the past three weekends).
Maybe the All-Star Race will be a natural break in the schedule to try to salvage something going forward, because it’s hard to imagine a worse start to the season than what Keselowski has produced so far.
No. 51 Cody Ware, Rick Ware Racing: F
2025 stats: 0 wins, 0 top-fives, 0 top-10s, 30.8 avg. finish
Standings rank: 36th
Adjusted pts+ index: 22
Avg. driver rating: 32.4
Ware’s best finish of the year is 24th, he has been 30th or worse nine times in 12 races, and he hasn’t cracked a 50 driver rating all season. Enough said.
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David Schoenfield
A few days ago, we checked in on what to believe and what not to in the National League. Well, the American League is perhaps even more chaotic.
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are in the midst of a crucial four-game series at Yankee Stadium — with the final game on “Sunday Night Baseball” at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. Both teams will try to make a statement and inch closer to the Toronto Blue Jays at the top of the division while staying ahead in the wild-card race.
The Blue Jays had been hot — except they just lost a series to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. The Houston Astros were recently shut out three games in a row (and four out of five) but kept their slim hold on first place in the AL West because the Seattle Mariners went 2-7 on a recent road trip, including a brutal three-game wipeout in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers might be back on track, and the Kansas City Royals are suddenly surging.
Let’s check on the current states of overreaction in the AL and make some verdicts.
Overreaction: Judge! Bellinger! Stanton! The Yankees are back, baby!
Calm down there, tiger. The Yankees took two of three from Minnesota. They scored 24 runs in sweeping St. Louis, and then they bashed nine home runs in a win over Tampa Bay.
The middle of the order is leading the way. Aaron Judge is back off the injured list. Cody Bellinger has proven to be one of the most unheralded pickups of last offseason, on his way to his most home runs since his MVP season of 2019. The big shocker has been Giancarlo Stanton, though. He missed the first two-plus months of the season because of what was described as a double tennis elbow, as if he had spent the offseason working on his backhand slice, preparing for the French Open. In 46 games since returning in mid-June, he’s hitting .311/.389/..642, producing what is easily his highest OPS since his MVP season of 2017, and has been so hot that the Yankees played him a few games in right field to keep his bat in the lineup (allowing Judge to DH while working on returning to the field) even though Stanton is less mobile than the monuments in center field.
So, it has been a nice stretch after losing records in June and July. But there are still issues. Max Fried, who starts Friday night, is scuffling, with a 6.80 ERA over his past eight starts. He hasn’t had a quality start since June. The back of the bullpen is still sorting out things, as David Bednar has replaced Devin Williams as the closer (and blew the save Wednesday, although the Yankees won in extra innings), but Camilo Doval and Jake Bird, two other trade deadline acquisitions, haven’t made an impact. There could still be a terrific bullpen here, especially if Williams gets straightened out, but let’s hold off on declaring that.
And Judge still hasn’t played the outfield. Though manager Aaron Boone played Stanton in right field at Yankee Stadium, where there is less ground to cover, he hasn’t played Stanton in the field on the road, leaving him as a part-time player for now. Ryan McMahon, the team’s other big deadline move, has been getting on base but has one home run in 22 games with the Yankees.
VERDICT: OVERREACTION. You can make the argument that if everything was clicking for the Yankees, they have the most upside and deepest roster in the AL: a potential ace in Fried, a potential No. 2 in Carlos Rodon, a potential wipeout bullpen, the best hitter in the sport in Judge and power up and down the lineup. They haven’t played that well against the top teams in the AL, however, including a combined 4-13 record against the Red Sox and Blue Jays, and Fried’s current struggles are a big concern. Let’s not put the Yankees in the playoffs yet.
Overreaction: The Red Sox have to win this series against the Yankees
The likeliest scenario in a four-game series between two evenly matched teams is, of course, a split. That would leave the Red Sox where they started the series, one game behind the Yankees and in third place in the AL East, but potentially in a much tighter wild-card picture. Still, after winning their first five games in August, the Red Sox went 3-7 in their past 10 games entering the Yankees series, so that makes this series a little more pressure-packed even for a late-August Red Sox-Yankees showdown.
Most frustrating, the Red Sox lost two games in extra innings in that 3-7 stretch and also lost both games that Garrett Crochet started. He had one bad start against the Houston Astros, lasting four innings in his worst start of the season, and then the bullpen blew a 3-1 lead to the Miami Marlins as Greg Weissert and Steven Matz allowed ninth-inning home runs when Aroldis Chapman was unavailable to close. Chapman had pitched the previous games and had thrown only 14 pitches over the two outings, so it was a dubious decision by manager Alex Cora (Chapman had appeared in three consecutive games earlier in the season).
One key for the Red Sox down the stretch: How much will Cora push his top pitchers? Crochet is already past his innings total of 2024 and hasn’t pitched on four days’ rest since June 18, with rest periods of seven and nine days during that span. Chapman has had a dominant season but has pitched just 48 innings in 53 appearances and has rarely made even back-to-back outings. The Yankees series begins a stretch for Boston of 13 games in 13 days and 19 in 20, so Cora will have to make some decisions with his rotation.
VERDICT: OVERREACTION. Is there urgency to turn things around? Of course. Is this a do-or-die series? No, it’s still too early to make that claim, especially with the Red Sox still in a solid wild-card position (granted, chasing down the Blue Jays remains the ultimate goal). On the other hand, this eight-game road trip to New York and Baltimore looms large, given the Red Sox are just 28-34 on the road– and the Orioles have been playing better of late. A bad road trip could be disastrous. Check back next week.
Overreaction: The Blue Jays — not the Tigers — are now the best team in the AL
The Blue Jays have gone 48-26 since May 28 — the second-best record in the majors behind Milwaukee since that date. They have the highest OPS in the majors since then and only the Brewers are close to them in runs scored (Boston has scored the third-most runs and is 50 runs behind the Blue Jays since May 28). It hasn’t been just Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette either. George Springer and Addison Barger have mashed, Daulton Varsho has had a big August and role players such as Davis Schneider, Joey Loperfido, Ernie Clement and Tyler Heineman have been excellent. Toronto has a sneaky deep lineup.
Oh, and Max Scherzer has suddenly reeled off five straight quality starts.
On the other hand, the Tigers seem back on track after that stretch in July when they lost 11 of 12. They’ve won four series in a row, granted, three of those were against the Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox and diminished Minnesota Twins, but they also just swept the Astros, knocking around Framber Valdez in the series finale Wednesday and tossing shutouts in the other two wins. Charlie Morton has helped stabilize the rotation with three excellent starts in his four turns with the Tigers, and the bullpen — with added reinforcements from the trade deadline — has been much better in August after struggling in July. Kerry Carpenter has also been mashing since his return in late July.
VERDICT: OVERREACTION. If you’re buying Scherzer and Eric Lauer as frontline starters and all the surprising offensive performances, then it’s not unreasonable to suggest the Blue Jays are the team to beat. Some of those offensive numbers are skewed by that crazy series at Coors Field when they scored 45 runs in three games, however, and when considering the entire season, the Tigers still have the better run differential (as do the Yankees and Red Sox). The Jays’ bandwagon is gaining momentum, but the AL still feels like one big group of teams that will all finish 92-70.
Overreaction: The Astros can’t hit, and the Mariners can’t pitch
Does anyone want to win the AL West? It doesn’t seem like it (you can even throw in the Texas Rangers, who were tied with the Mariners on July 30 but have gone 6-13 since then in playing a difficult August schedule). The Astros are hitting just .226 in August with a .649 OPS. Carlos Correa has been their best hitter, so it’s hard to criticize that trade, but Jesus Sanchez has hit .150 with one RBI for Houston while rookie Cam Smith has fallen into a slump. Getting back Yordan Alvarez, who just began a rehab assignment, will be a big lift if he’s healthy.
As for the Mariners, they have their top five starters healthy for the first time, but this road trip exposed their secret: Their rotation is vastly overrated. The Mariners are 26th in rotation ERA on the road. Bryan Woo is the only starter of those five with an ERA under 5.00 on the road. Logan Gilbert has a 2.22 ERA at home and 6.00 on the road. Luis Castillo‘s road OPS is nearly 300 points higher than it is at home. They pitch well at home because T-Mobile Park is such a pitcher-friendly park. The Mariners still have two road trips remaining: a nine-game trip to Cleveland, Tampa and Atlanta, and then a six-game trip to Kansas City and Houston.
VERDICT: NOT AN OVERREACTION. Both concerns are legitimate. The Astros’ offense hasn’t been terrible this season, but it rates as middle of the pack, and Correa is replacing the injured Isaac Paredes, so he’s not an upgrade. Seattle’s rotation struggles on the road — and lack of bullpen depth — are perhaps an even bigger concern. The season series is tied 5-5. FanGraphs projects a dead heat for the division title. The teams will meet once more in Houston during the second-to-last weekend of the regular season — and that series might decide the AL West.
Overreaction: The Royals will make the playoffs
As the Red Sox, Astros and Mariners have stumbled over the past 10 games, it opened the door for the Royals, who won five in a row and seven of eight to inch closer in the wild-card race (with Cleveland right there, as well). Bobby Witt Jr. is raking in August, Vinnie Pasquantino has been crushing home runs and, further proof of the unpredictability of the trade deadline, Mike Yastrzemski and Adam Frazier, two seemingly minor pickups, have been outstanding.
The Royals are doing this without Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic, but Noah Cameron continues to pitch well and fellow rookie Ryan Bergert, who came over in the Freddy Fermin trade, has delivered three good starts. Just like last year’s team, the Royals have that spark of optimism rising at the right time.
VERDICT: NOT AN OVERREACTION. We’ll learn more about the Royals with this weekend’s series in Detroit and then the rematch next weekend in Kansas City. Otherwise, however, their schedule is pretty soft the rest of the way, including a season-ending road trip to Anaheim and Sacramento against two teams that will be playing out the string. The vibes are good. The Royals will sneak in as a wild-card team.
Sports
Overreactions to the dog days of August: Brewers’ dominance, Mets’ struggles and more from the NL
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David Schoenfield
Whew. That was some weekend. The Milwaukee Brewers kept winning — until they finally lost. The New York Mets kept losing — until they finally won. The Los Angeles Dodgers made a big statement, the Philadelphia Phillies suffered a crushing injury, and the Chicago Cubs managed to win a series even though their bats remain cold.
What’s going on with these National League contenders? With fan bases in euphoria or despair, let’s make some verdicts on those current states of overreaction.
Overreaction: The Brewers are unquestionably MLB’s best team
“Unquestionably” is a loaded word, especially since we’re writing this right after the Brewers reeled off 14 consecutive victories and won a remarkable 29 of 33 games. They became just the 11th team this century to win at least 14 in a row, and you don’t fluke your way to a 14-game winning streak: Each of the previous 10 teams to win that many in a row made the playoffs, and four won 100 games. Baseball being baseball, however, none won the World Series.
The Brewers were just the sixth team this century to win 29 of 33. Cleveland won 30 of 33 in 2017, riding a 22-game winning streak that began in late August. That team, which finished with 102 wins but lost the wild-card series to the New York Yankees, resembled these Brewers as a small-market, scrappy underdog. The Dodgers in 2017 and 2022 and the A’s in 2001 and 2002 also won 29 of 33. None of these teams won the World Series, either.
For the season, the Brewers have five more wins than the Detroit Tigers while easily leading the majors in run differential at plus-168, with the Cubs a distant second at plus-110. Those figures seem to suggest the Brewers are clearly the best team, with a nice balance of starting pitching (No. 1 in ERA), relief pitching (No. 10 in ERA and No. 8 in win probability added), offense (No. 1 in runs scored), defense (No. 7 in defensive runs saved) and baserunning (No. 2 in stolen bases). None of their position players were All-Stars, but other than shortstop Joey Ortiz the Brewers roll out a lineup that usually features eight average-or-better hitters, with Christian Yelich heating up and Andrew Vaughn on a tear since he joined the club.
On the other hand, via Clay Davenport’s third-order wins and losses, which project a team’s winning percentage based on underlying statistics adjusted for quality of opponents, the Brewers are neck-and-neck with the Cubs, with both teams a few projected wins behind the Yankees. Essentially, the Brewers have scored more runs and allowed fewer than might otherwise be expected based on statistics. Indeed, the Brewers lead the majors with a .288 average with runners in scoring position while holding their opponents to the third-lowest average with runners in scoring position.
Those underlying stats, though, include the first four games of the season, when the Brewers went 0-4 and allowed 47 runs. Several of those relievers who got pounded early on are no longer in the bullpen, and ever since the Brewers sorted out their relief arms, the pen has been outstanding: It’s sixth in ERA and third in lowest OPS allowed since May 1.
Then factor in that the Brewers now have Brandon Woodruff and Jacob Misiorowski in the rotation (although Misiorowski struggled in his last start following a two-week stint on the injured list). The Brewers are also the best baserunning team in the majors, which leads to a few extra runs above expectation.
VERDICT: NOT AN OVERREACTION. The Brewers look like the most well-rounded team in the majors, particularly if Yelich and Vaughn keep providing power in the middle of the order. They have played well against good teams: 6-0 against the Dodgers, 3-0 against the Phillies and Boston Red Sox, 4-2 against the New York Mets and 7-3 against the Cincinnati Reds. They’re 5-4 against the Cubs with four games left in the five-game series. None of this guarantees a World Series, but they’re on pace to win 100 games because they are the best team going right now.
Overreaction: Pete Crow-Armstrong‘s struggles are a big concern
On July 30, PCA went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs in a 10-3 victory for the Cubs over the Brewers. He was hitting .272/.309/.559, playing electrifying defense in center field, and was the leader in the NL MVP race with 5.7 fWAR, more than a win higher than Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shohei Ohtani. The Brewers had started to get hot, but the Cubs, after leading the NL Central most of the season, were just a game behind in the standings.
July 31 was an off day. Then the calendar flipped to August and Crow-Armstrong entered a slump that has featured no dying quails, no gorks, no ground balls with eyes. He’s 8-for-52 in August with no home runs, one RBI and two runs scored. The Cubs, averaging 5.3 runs per game through the end of July, are at just 2.75 runs per game in August and have seen the Brewers build a big lead in the division.
Crow-Armstrong’s slump isn’t necessarily a surprise. Analysts have been predicting regression for some time due to one obvious flaw in PCA’s game: He swings at everything. He has the fifth-highest chase rate among qualified batters, swinging at over 42% of pitches out of the strike zone. It seemed likely that it was only a matter of time before pitchers figured out how to exploit Crow-Armstrong’s aggressiveness.
Doubling down on the regression predictions, PCA has produced strong power numbers despite a below-average hard-hit rate (44th percentile) and average exit velocity (47th percentile). Although raw power isn’t always necessary to produce extra-base power — see Jose Altuve — those metrics were a red flag that PCA might have been overachieving.
VERDICT: NOT AN OVERREACTION. OK, here’s the odd thing: PCA’s chase rate has improved in August to just 28%, but that hasn’t translated to success. His hard-hit rate isn’t much lower than it was the rest of the season (although his average fly ball distance has dropped about 20 feet). His struggles against left-handers are real: After slugging .600 against them in April, he has hit .186 and slugged .390 against them since May 1. He’ll start hitting again at some point, but it’s reasonable to assume he’s not going to hit like he did from April through July.
It’s not all on PCA, however. Kyle Tucker has been just as bad in August (.148, no home runs, one RBI). Michael Busch is hitting .151. Seiya Suzuki has only one home run. Those four had carried the offense, and all are scuffling at once. For the Cubs to rebound, they need this entire group to get back on track. Put it this way: The Cubs have won just three of their past eight series — and those were against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox.
Overreaction: The Mets are doomed and will miss the playoffs
On July 27, the Mets completed a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants to improve to 62-44, holding a 1½-game lead over the Phillies in the NL East. According to FanGraphs, New York’s odds of winning the division stood at 55% and its chances of making the playoffs were nearly 97%. A few days later, the Mets reinforced the bullpen — the club’s biggest weakness — with Ryan Helsley and Tyler Rogers at the trade deadline (after already acquiring Gregory Soto).
It’s never that easy with the Mets though, is it? The San Diego Padres swept them. The Cleveland Guardians swept them. The Brewers swept them. Helsley lost three games and blew a lead in another outing. The rotation has a 6.22 ERA in August. The Mets lost 14 of 16 before finally taking the final two games against the Seattle Mariners this past weekend to temporarily ease the panic level from DEFCON 1 to DEFCON 2. The Phillies have a comfortable lead in the division and the Mets have dropped to the third wild-card position, just one game ahead of the Reds. The team with the highest payroll in the sport is in very real danger of missing the playoffs.
VERDICT: OVERREACTION. The bullpen issues are still a concern given Helsley’s struggles, and Rogers has fanned just one of the 42 batters he has faced since joining the Mets. Still, this team is loaded with talent, as reflected in FanGraphs’ playoffs odds, which gave the Mets an 86% chance of making the postseason entering Monday (with the Reds at 14%). One note, however: The Reds lead the season series 2 games to 1, which gives them the tiebreaker edge if the teams finish with the same record. A three-game set in Cincinnati in early September looms as one of the biggest series the rest of the season. Mets fans have certainly earned the right to brood over the team’s current state of play, but the team remains favored to at least squeak out a wild card.
Overreaction: Zack Wheeler’s absence is a big problem for the Phillies
The Phillies’ ace just went on the IL because of a blood clot near his right shoulder, with no timetable on a potential return. The injury is serious enough that his availability for the rest of the season is in jeopardy. Manager Rob Thomson said the team has enough rotation depth to battle on without Wheeler, but there are some other issues there as well:
• Ranger Suarez has a 5.86 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break.
• Aaron Nola was activated from the IL on Sunday to replace Wheeler for his first MLB start in three months and gave up six runs in 2⅓ innings, raising his season ERA to 6.92.
• Taijuan Walker has a 3.34 ERA but also a 4.73 FIP and probably isn’t someone you would feel comfortable starting in a playoff series.
• Even Jesus Luzardo has been inconsistent all season, with a 4.21 ERA.
Minus Wheeler, that arguably leaves Cristopher Sanchez as the team’s only sure-thing reliable starter at the moment. Though a trip to the playoffs certainly looks secure, all this opens the door for the Mets to make it a race for the division title.
VERDICT: NOT AN OVERREACTION. Making the playoffs is one thing, but it’s also about peaking at the right time, and given the scary nature of Wheeler’s injury, the Phillies might not end up peaking when they need to. Nola certainly can’t be counted on right now and Suarez has suddenly struggled a bit to miss bats. There’s time here for Nola and Suarez to fix things, and the bullpen has been strengthened with the additions of Jhoan Duran and David Robertson, but even with Wheeler, the Phillies are just 22-18 since the beginning of July. Indeed, their ultimate hopes might rest on an offense that has let them down the past two postseasons and hasn’t been great this season aside from Kyle Schwarber. If they don’t score runs, it won’t matter who is on the mound.
Overreaction: The Dodgers just buried the Padres with their three-game sweep
It was a statement series: The Dodgers, battled, bruised and slumping, had fallen a game behind the Padres in the NL West. But they swept the Padres at Dodger Stadium behind stellar outings from Clayton Kershaw and Blake Snell, and a clutch Mookie Betts home run to cap a rally from a 4-0 deficit. Still the kings of the NL West, right?
After all, the Dodgers are finally rolling out that dream rotation: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Snell and Kershaw are all healthy and at full strength for the first time this season. Only Roki Sasaki is missing. Yamamoto has been solid all season, Ohtani ramped up to 80 pitches in his last start, Glasnow has a 2.50 ERA since returning from the IL in July, Snell has reeled off back-to-back scoreless starts, and even Kershaw, while not racking up many strikeouts, has lowered his season ERA to 3.01. That group should carry the Dodgers to their 12th division title in the past 13 seasons.
VERDICT: OVERREACTION. Calm down. One great series does not mean the Dodgers are suddenly fixed or that the Padres will fade away. The Dodgers’ bullpen is still battling injuries, Betts still has a sub-.700 OPS and injuries have forced them to play Alex Freeland, Miguel Rojas and Buddy Kennedy in the infield. Check back after next weekend, when the Padres host the Dodgers for their final regular-season series of 2025.
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — The Yankees’ troublesome struggles against the Red Sox this season continued Saturday in an ugly 12-1 loss at Yankee Stadium that began with Cy Young candidate Garrett Crochet shutting them down over seven innings and ended with them hearing boos from the home crowd during a disastrous seven-run ninth inning.
It was the Yankees’ eighth straight defeat at the hands of their rivals this season. Overall, the Yankees are 1-8 against Boston this season. Add their 3-7 record against the first-place Toronto Blue Jays and the Yankees are 4-15 against the top two teams in the American League East.
“It’s not ideal,” Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton said. “It’s unacceptable. We all know that.”
The Yankees returned to the Bronx for this four-game series on a five-game winning streak, having won seven of their previous eight games against the Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays, a trio of foes that won’t partake in October baseball this season. They had an opportunity to build on their 1½-game lead on Boston for the top AL Wild Card Series spot. Instead, they’ll enter Sunday 1½ games behind the Red Sox, looking to avoid a four-game series sweep.
“We’re definitely — I can only speak for myself — [I’m] definitely angry,” said Yankees star Aaron Judge, who remains limited to designated hitter because of an elbow injury. “Especially against your rivals, don’t like the showing we’ve had here at home. So, just got to step up. That’s it. Got to step up.
“Everyone in this room’s got to play a little bit better. Pick it up a notch and go out there and take care of business tomorrow. There’s nothing we can do about the past 100-something games we played. We got to focus on what we can do now and that’s all you can do.”
New York’s problems this weekend begin with the offense. The Yankees have scored just five runs in the three games, a meager display after blasting a record 14 home runs in their two-game series sweep of the Rays.
On Friday, Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello held them without a run over seven innings before Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman — one of the best one-two bullpen punches in the majors — shut the door on a 1-0 victory. Crochet duplicated Bello’s output on Saturday, tossing seven scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts. He exited with a 2.38 ERA and 207 strikeouts in 26 starts this season, continuing his push to challenge Tarik Skubal for the AL Cy Young Award.
“We got to play better,” Judge said. “That’s what it comes down to. Coaches can’t fix that. Fans can’t fix that. Media can’t fix that. It’s the players in this room. We got to step up and that’s what it comes down to.”
On the other side, Will Warren, struggling to command his off-speed offerings, relied on his fastball. The Red Sox noticed and pounced, chasing the rookie after he surrendered five runs on seven hits over four-plus innings. The Yankees remained within striking distance, down 5-1, and stitched together their best threat in the eighth inning, but Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out to end the frame with runners on the corners.
“We’re not taking advantage when we got guys on base and can’t get some momentum,” Stanton said. “And putting the ball in play in general. [We’re not] playing crisp baseball.”
Any chance of a comeback was crushed when the Red Sox tallied seven runs off right-hander Paul Blackburn, who had thrown 2⅓ scoreless innings to begin his first outing in pinstripes. The outburst was aided by a throwing error from Anthony Volpe, who is 1-for-29 at the plate over his past eight games, and miscommunication that led to Blackburn balking in a run.
Blackburn, acquired on Thursday, was left in the game to wear it. He finally secured the third out on his 71st pitch, drawing sarcastic cheers from the Yankees fans who remained for the rout and another loss to the Red Sox.
“Sucks,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Feels really crappy. We got to get past it. I mean, we can sit here and dwell on it. We got to play better. We got to play better against these quality opponents in our division. But we can’t go erase what’s been a really crappy weekend so far for us other than putting our best foot forward tomorrow.”
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