The Yankees’ bullpen has once again become the biggest question mark in a season filled with high expectations, specifically after Tuesday’s game. In that game, the Yankees won over the Twins with a 10-9 record. However, that game showed 2 sides of the story: a 10-1 lead provided by Trent Grisham’s bat almost disappeared when relievers gave eight runs in the final five innings. Ryan Yarbrough was responsible for four runs while registering just one out. And David Bednar, who was acquired at the trade deadline to stabilize the Yankees’ back end, gave up a late homer before barely hanging on.
For more context, we need to dive into the numbers. Since the All-Star break, the bullpen owns a 5.49 ERA, and the bullpen’s 4.61 mark on the season captures the eighth-worst rank in MLB. Though GM Brian Cashman has done some midseason reinforcements like Camilo Doval and Bednar, they failed to repeat their former dominance. Not only the failed reinforcements but also the injuries to Jonathan Loáisiga, Scott Effross, and Jake Cousins left Aaron Boone with fewer reliable options. Devin Williams, once predicted to be the answer at closer, has been inconsistent. Aaron Boone insists he still has “a lot of confidence in their ability and their stuff” however, concedes: “We haven’t done that consistently enough yet. Can we do it? We’re going to find out.”
On The New York Post Sports podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, Yankees reliever Luke Weaver did not hide anything and highlighted where the bullpen stands by highlighting the challenge of maintaining intensity during the grind of September. “Down the stretch… we just had a huge stretch and we got this stretch of games that look a little different,” he said, stressing that the urgency must not fade. The star admitted that not every game brings the environment of a Yankees–Red Sox clash. “Sometimes it’s not going to get supplied the same way as a Boston game might. But that’s not to take it for granted. You know, that was a message going into these games where we have to relentlessly take what’s ours and not leave any question. And as a bullpen, you know, we’re not at our best selves right now“, he added.
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The Yankees star did not hide his bad performance either. “Yeah. Yeah. And look, I’ll speak for myself… I know I’ve got to do an overall better job,” Weaver said. “It’s just finding a way to pitch the pitch, just win and own the mound and to be like, there’s no one in the world that’s going to take this from me. I’m going to win this moment. That’s for sure……. But, you know, at the end of the day, it’s just a mental battle“, he added.
Still, the star said that the distinctiveness between confidence and overextension is razor-thin. “There are moments where you have to push yourself and there’s a gray area sometimes where you know you want to be the guy that they depend on, but sometimes you just need them to say no. Like, hey, you need a day. Because as soon as we shut down that little bit of doubt of like, should I today or should I not today and then you have to pitch, you can imagine that there’s a little bit of that’s taking back off your 100% and that’s where bad outings creep in.”
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If Luke Weaver exposed the cracks in the bullpen, Devin Williams’ shaky season has become another concern for the team in whether the bullpen can steady itself when it matters most.
Devin Williams’ late surge gives the Yankees a fragile lifeline in the October push
For much of 2025, Devin Williams has incorporated the volatility perturbing the Yankees’ bullpen. Twice stripped of the closer’s role after high-profile meltdowns, he experienced stretches where his command halted and his ERA ballooned to 5.40. Those struggles ignited questions about whether he could handle New York’s pressure. Yet even amid the chaos, glims of supremacy appeared, including 13 scoreless outings in 15 appearances before the All-Star break. That inconsistency has kept him under the microscope, a continuous reminder of how thin the Yankees’ margin for error is when late leads are on the line.
However, lately, Williams has offered hope at exactly the right time. He has delivered five straight scoreless outings, solidifying the Yankees’ relief corps when others fail. Holding hitters to a .192 average with his signature changeup, he has exhibited signs of rediscovering the sharpness that made him a sought-after deadline acquisition. Still, the improvement comes with a warning: his strikeout rate remains at a career low, while hard-hit balls continue to steadily climb. For Aaron Boone, Williams’ turnaround could represent a vulnerable lifeline, the kind of short-term fix that could determine whether New York’s October sprint survives the first hailstorm.
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