In a world filled with so much doubt and uncertainty, it’s comforting to know that some things truly do stay the same. While death and taxes are a bit of a drag, the Yankees’ continued domination of the AL Central is something that never fails to bring me immense joy.

For the second time this season, the Yanks ended a stretch of mediocre play by beating the brakes off the pitiful Kansas City Royals. Wednesday Night’s 7-0 victory marks 14 straight wins against Kansas City. This most recent dismantling officially capped off the season series in which New York outscored this “opponent” 50-10.

Seeing “KC” on a baseball schedule represents so much more than a regular three-game stretch. It personifies the term “get-right series”, in which wins are guaranteed to be added, and stats are guaranteed to be padded. No matter how good or bad the Yanks are playing, you just know that in 72 short hours, the “Chase for 28” will be back on.

They should let the dorky dudes on one of those Queer Eye makeover Shows take BP against Bailey Falter and the boys to instill some much-needed confidence. Perhaps we should consider allowing sick children the opportunity to pitch against the bottom of the Royals lineup in order to give them the strength and belief needed to overcome their terminal illnesses.

If the sensation of beating the Royals could be taken in pill form, I fear there would be a global epidemic.

Much of this applies not just to Kansas City, but to the entirety of the AL Central. Since 2006, the Yankees are 450-254 against this joke of a division. That equates to .639 winning percentage, good enough for a ~103-win pace over this 20-year stretch.

The downside of this complete and utter domination is that we oftentimes leave these series thinking the team is better than it actually is. Unfortunately, the real World Series contenders don’t play near cornfields. While these wins are important in putting together a strong season, they are not necessarily indicative of postseason success.

That is of course unless the Yankees are fortunate enough to play one of these squads come October. Since 2017, the Yankees have faced off against an AL Central foe seven times in the postseason. The Yankees have won all seven series.

If you really want to put on your doomer glasses, you could say that pretty much any success this team has had over the past decade is at the expense of this band of mediocre baseball teams.

The model of beating up on bad teams and praying we draw an AL Central opponent in October keeps the fan base engaged but unfortunately has only led to one piece of hardware in the form of an AL Pennant. This path to the 2024 World Series was of course made up exclusively of central foes.

While I constantly find myself ping-ponging between overconfident and overly cynical after these series, it’s hard to argue with the immediate impact. The Yankees have climbed to within 1.5 games of Tampa Bay. After this weekend’s edition of “A’s after Dark”, 6 of the team’s next 10 series are against this punching bag of a division.

This should prevent the infamous “June Swoon” and allow the Yanks to reclaim the division lead by the All-Star Break. Will this solve all of the team’s problems? Of course not, but getting in position to skip the 3-game crapshoot wildcard round and hopefully match up against one of these putzes in the DS should remain the goal.

So let’s try our best to not get too high or too skeptical over this next month. Enjoy the warm weather, hot dogs, and paper mache victories over our Middle-American friends. Because regardless of the opposition, not all success needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

After all, that Gerrit Cole guy looked pretty good, huh?

Nothing Heals the Yankees Like the AL Central