Yankees eager to prove mettle vs. AL's top clubs down the stretch

This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch's Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- This much is certain about the Yankees’ recent hot streak: pounding upon decidedly weaker competition has them puffing their chests, strutting into September as they donned Western wear for a themed flight to Houston after Sunday’s game, boots squeaking on the jetway.

It was during the club’s stay on the South Side that Jazz Chisholm Jr. voiced their ambitions -- not only do the Yankees expect to make the postseason, which has felt inevitable for weeks, but they see the American League East’s top spot within reach.

"We all know that this is a super team,” Chisholm said. “We’ve got four MVPs on this team. We’ve got a bunch of other superstars on this team too. And we’ve got a lot of up-and-coming stars as well, like Ben Rice and Will Warren. We know we’ve got to get to the playoffs, and we’re doing our best to do that.”

The Yankees’ 12 wins in 16 games since Aug. 15 represent the Majors’ best record over that span. But there’s a caveat: their seven-game winning streak came against the last-place Nationals and White Sox, and three of the losses were at home to the Red Sox.

"We think we have a really good team,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But we’ve got to continue to go prove it. We have that opportunity to prove it here in the final month of the season and hopefully beyond.”

If you’re buying Chisholm’s confidence, the case is simple: the Bronx Bombers are back. They belted 21 homers during their seven-game streak, putting up crooked numbers even with Aaron Judge having a quiet month.

"We’ve got to show up every single day and prove it,” Judge said. “It doesn’t matter what we did the past road trip; doesn’t matter if it was good or bad. We’ve got to show up every single day here. We’ve got something to prove, more to ourselves than anybody else. We’ve got a special team here and guys know the opportunity we’ve got ahead of us. The boys are fired up. We’re ready to go."

Skeptics would point to the fact that the 12-4 run came on the heels of the Yankees losing 22 of 38 games -- the second-worst record in the AL in that span behind the Rays (an MLB-worst 12-26) -- and they still haven’t convincingly proved they can handle better competition. They’re 37-37 against teams over .500, and 39-24 against everyone else.

“Unless you win 120, 130 games -- which is unlikely to happen -- you can pick apart the schedule and say, ‘You didn’t do well enough here,’” Boone said. “We want to win a world championship. I think a lot of guys in that room do. So if that’s proving it to [the media], to fans, to us -- we’re in it to win it.”

The schedule provides another opportunity to prove who they are. Their next four series are against current division leaders (Houston, Blue Jays, Tigers), plus Boston. It also features an opportunity to handle the Astros, the team that has ended their season four times since 2015.

"I like our chances, especially the way the boys have been swinging it, and the way our pitching staff and starters have been rolling,” Judge said. “Just keep it going.”

Realistically, after using their win streak to close the AL East gap from 6 1/2 games to three after Sunday’s game, the Yankees don’t need to run the table over their next dozen.

If they play to their season track record and split those games, they’ll still be in excellent playoff position with a softer landing on the other side. New York’s final 13 games are against the Twins, Orioles and White Sox.

"We have a very confident group that knows, when we play well, we’re capable of beating anyone,” Boone said. “And if we don’t, anyone can beat us. It’s that simple. It’s sports. We get to find out and write the story.”