Have the Yankees gone from a great franchise to merely a good one?

IIt’s one of the biggest questions in baseball heading into the All-Star break: Who are these New York Yankees? Are they the team that exploded out of the gate, posting 50 wins and just 22 losses? A team that, despite missing its reigning AL Cy Young Award-winning ace Gerrit Cole for most of the season, boasted one of the best rotations and bullpens in baseball? A club that rode a surprise rookie package in Luis Gil, who posted a 2.03 ERA in his first 14 starts, more or less out of nowhere? Are they the team with an offense that resembles something from Yankee history, with Juan Soto, acquired in a blockbuster deal from San Diego in December, feeling right at home and putting up MVP numbers as the Bombers offense surged, even as Aaron Judge took some time to get going. Judge did eventually heat up, by the way, to levels approaching the heat of the sun, and put up some of the most gaudy first-half numbers in recent memory: 34 home runs, 24 doubles, and a Ruthian OPS, but I digress. Are the Yankees a team that has finally taken the pressure off of manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman, who were under intense scrutiny before signing Soto but who had finally assembled a roster capable of doing something the Yanks haven’t done since 2009: reach a World Series.

Or is it the club’s recent form – the Yankees have won just eight of their last 26 games – that has them Real Are they worse than the worst teams in baseball? The Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, Oakland A’s and Colorado Rockies, all of whom have won more games than the Yankees in that span. Are they a team whose offense begins and ends with Soto, Judge and Stanton, their oft-injured DH who has slugged 18 home runs in limited play. At this point, at least, it appears that those dominant Yankees of April and May have succumbed to the suddenly paper-thin roster that deserted them in June and July. Outside of the Big Three, there isn’t a single New York bat in the lineup with an OPS above .700 — the mark of an average hitter — with the exception of Ben Rice, a little-known rookie who has slugged six home runs in 24 games. Let’s just say it’s being kind to call their lineup “unbalanced.”

Meanwhile, the pitching staff is taking on water. All-Star closer Clay Holmes, so strong in his first 30 appearances, has given up 12 runs in 9 ⅔ innings. Gil has rebounded in his last two starts after the rookie went through a stretch in which he allowed 16 runs in just 9.2 innings. Marcus Stroman is a pitcher built to pitch anywhere but Yankee Stadium, and Carlos Rodon has a 7-plus ERA since June. Gulp.

This rough patch for New York ended fittingly Sunday as the team limped into halftime in Baltimore. Holmes squandered a two-run lead in the ninth inning and his sixth save of the season as shortstop Anthony Volpe missed a game-ending ground ball and left fielder Alex Verdugo misjudged a fly ball that allowed the winning run to score.

So let’s ask it again: Who are the Yankees? The 50-22 team? Or the 8-18 club? As always, the answer is usually somewhere in between, which means that once again, there are multiple teams better than New York, and that New York will finally break their World Series drought seems pretty unlikely. What it also means is that at age 32, Judge is about to waste another season. Judge is, and this seems a little crazy to write, probably the best homegrown Yankee bat since Mickey Mantle. Not only has Judge not won a World Series, he’s never been to one. That puts him alongside Don Mattingly in the lonely category of all-time great Yankees without titles. Perhaps more accurately, it puts him in a tie with Mike Trout, one of the greatest hitters in history who has played in just one season of playoff baseball. Even the addition of Shohei Ohtaini couldn’t bring poor Mike Trout more October baseball.

What can the Yankees do to help Judge reach the Fall Classic? Well, there are too many issues on the roster to address at the trade deadline, and while the team might get a boost from promoting prospects, there are bigger problems in the Bronx, even if the team is just one game behind the AL East-leading Orioles.

That’s because the Yankees have a culture problem. I’m not talking about Boone, the ultimate player manager, for not taking his team to task for its lack of effort or the mental lapses that plagued his nine players during the stretch. I’m not even talking about the job Cashman has done, including abandoning the Yankees’ foundational offensive formula that helped them win 27 championships—left-handed power—until he eventually traded Soto. Cashman can’t fire himself. No, this is an owner’s era.

If the Yankees fail to return to the World Series this season, it will mean that the Yankees under Hal Steinbrenner will have endured their longest stretch without reaching the World Series since 1903-1920, a stretch that began when the team was known as the Highlanders and ended with the club sharing the Polo Grounds with the Giants, when the “House That Ruth Built” hadn’t even been built yet.

Does Steinbrenner spend money? Yes, the Yankees are second only to their city compatriots, the Mets, on the payroll this season. Is he willing to do absolutely anything to win, like his father George? No. Hal seems more interested in the business than the business of winning championships. After being eliminated from the playoffs last year, Steinbrenner echoed Giannis Antetokounmpo’s post-playoff elimination comments: “It’s not a failure. It’s steps toward success” by refusing to call the season a failure. Fine for Giannis. Fine for most teams. Not fine for the Yankees. Cashman hasn’t delivered the results and rings that are the ultimate success in the Yankee universe. Yet Steinbrenner doesn’t hold Cashman accountable, even after a quarter century as GM.

Some suspect New York struck a deal with Soto this offseason, pushing the salary above $300 million. However, this only happened when the brand and the business were rightfully threatened by the franchise’s lack of urgency.

Then in May, while the Yankees were rolling, Steinbrenner said: “I’ll be honest, salaries at the level we’re at now are just not sustainable for us financially. It wouldn’t be sustainable for the vast majority of owners [groups]considering the luxury tax we have to pay.”

Maybe it’s unsustainable, but with the team on a roll, it was an odd moment to set expectations for the fan base not to fall in love with Soto, as his re-signing after the season is far from a foregone conclusion. He also said the roster is “championship caliber,” something New York’s recent results don’t support. This Yankees team looks like more of the same: good enough to make the playoffs, not good enough to reach or win the World Series. There’s every reason to believe that Cashman, regardless of results, would avoid the sack again. Such is the current culture in the Bronx, a culture that is happy with being good but not great, something that directly undermines the foundation on which the franchise stands. And so, a Championship 28 may still be a long way off.