The New York Yankees’ pitching has been doing all the right things, but their offense continues to be a puzzle yet to be solved. And that was evident on Sunday after they wasted Cam Schlittler’s incredible start in a 2-1 extra-innings defeat. With the Yankees batting just .230, catcher Austin Wells offered a blunt assessment of what’s going wrong.

“I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job up and down having great at-bats,” the 27-year-old told YES Network during a postgame interview. “We’re just not getting the results, but our guys on the mound are keeping us in it.”

New York entered the third game against the Atlanta Braves after securing the series on Saturday, when the Yankees starter allowed just 3 hits and 1 run, recording 11 strikeouts over 7.0 innings. It was then the rest of the lineup’s turn to clinch a series sweep at home, but they failed to put anything on the board in the first 7 innings.

Then came Wells.

He hit a flyball that ended up being an out at center field, but the swing and the hit were enough to fire up the offense. Trent Grisham entered the batter’s box next and tied the game with a 392-foot home run on the first pitch. Unfortunately, that was all for the Pinstripes. 

They entered the 10th, and Michael Harris II made it 2-1 with an RBI single. The Yankees lost the game, and that was their sixth defeat in the last 13 games. 

The Bronx Bombers have the best rotation in MLB with a league-leading 3.30 ERA. But time and again, their lineup has bombed, and their 2.30 batting average, which puts them at 28th on the list, proves that.  

And it’s been so since June. Aaron Judge has been on the injured list since May 31, and analyst Stephen A. Smith criticized the team for suffering drastically in the absence of their captain. New York had a .243 batting average and .334 on-base percentage when Judge was playing, but they currently have a .309 OBP. The Yankees are also missing key players like Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton. This created a void in their offense. And while Austin Wells did enough to fire up the lineup on Sunday, he is still batting .175 with a .573 OPS. 

Moving on, Wells praised Schlittler for his spectacular start, but he failed to come up with an answer for their struggles at the plate. 

As of now, the Yankees are second in the AL East with a 66-52 record and are 7.0 games ahead in the Wild Card race. But most fans and Yankees players themselves aren’t worried about reaching the playoffs.

It’s the World Series they want. They haven’t won the ring since 2009. They came close in 2024, but were defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers. If the Pinstripes aren’t able to find a solution to their offensive slump, their postseason will be yet another cruel reality.