This is just who they are.

Sep 9, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Aaron Judge (99) reacts after striking out during the third inning against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Sep 9, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Aaron Judge (99) reacts after striking out during the third inning against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The vibes surrounding the New York Yankees simply cannot change until there’s a discernible shift in performance. And there hasn’t been. A couple of high-scoring affairs and dominant pitching performances shouldn’t alter the perception if the performance is not consistent.

It’s important to remind everybody that this team is 34-41 since starting the season 49-21. They squandered their only opportunity to take a commanding AL East lead in August when their schedule was soft and the Orioles were spiraling. And they’re doing more of the same in September.

They followed up an energizing 10-4 win over the Royals on Monday night with a 5-0 loss on Tuesday night, in a game that featured a potential debut of their postseason lineup. They registered three hits. They didn’t walk once. They struck out 14 times. Yes, Seth Lugo is very good, but he is not prime Pedro Martinez.

As Aaron Boone loves to say, it’s important to not get too high or too low during the 162-game grind. That’s exactly why fans will remain right where they’ve been for the past three months: apathetic and wondering when it’s going to stop.

Aaron Judge is about to hit a career-high home run drought. Juan Soto is hitting .207 with a .774 OPS over his last 24 games. Anthony Volpe hasn’t improved offensively. Yankees fans have finally reached the “acceptance” stage with Giancarlo Stanton, who is hitting .189 with a .714 OPS over his last month. This team staked their faith in Anthony Rizzo, who hasn’t been a real baseball player since the first two months of 2023. The result? An historic loss.

Yankees’ Tuesday loss to Royals proves exactly why they cannot be trusted

The Yankees never run with momentum when the games matter. We’ve seen that dating back to 2020, and even as early as 2018 and 2019 when the offense disappeared in the postseason and/or shelled up against their rivals/biggest competition.

Sure, they could still win this series on Wednesday and keep chugging along, but every series has some sort of deflating loss baked into it. They refuse to lose in normal fashion. Even after taking down the Cubs this past weekend, they managed to not sweep a three-game set where the opponent scored TWO total runs (none of which were earned!).

Every Yankees fan’s biggest fear is the offense going radio silent against a formidable opponent in October. And it’s shaping up to be yet another repeat of that. We get our one dose of Yankees electricity, and then the power goes out the very next night.

The Yankees are totally fine with taking the opener and then languishing through the rest of the series. Had the Cubs not been historically bad over a three-game stretch, they unquestionably lose that series, which would’ve been their fourth series loss in a row.

On Tuesday, the Yankees knew they had to do some damage on Lugo to reach a weak Royals bullpen that proved to be the team’s Achilles heel on Monday. Instead, he went seven spotless innings, never saw any trouble, and ended up with an all-time outing at Yankee Stadium.

If you believe in this team to catch lightning in a bottle when October arrives, your optimism is revered. But as long as New York continues to play with zero urgency — even when the manager finally gives us what we want with a Jasson Dominguez start and a near-flawless lineup! — they can’t be trusted to make it out of the first round of the postseason.