The New York Yankees can’t seem to shake off the drought—and this has been the story since 2009, hasn’t it? Plenty of playoff appearances, but rings? None. And this time, it’s even worse, given there is even a doubt as to whether they can even make it to October, let alone play in the World Series! And honestly, time is not their friend, given that just a little over a month is left in the regular season.

Also, 15 teams are fighting for the 12 spots, and the Yankees are falling flat. The player miscues, the front office errors—everything seems to be a mess. The Boston Red Sox series they played—that’s proof. They lost three games on their home turf, and that last win of the four games feels more like a consolation prize.

What makes it worse is that the Yanks had momentum when Boston came to play them. They were riding on a five-win boat, and Boston was cruising on a three-loss record. But by the end of 12-1, the Yanks’ embarrassment, they had Alex Cora making puns on how he loved coming to play the Yankees in their stadium. Ouch. Sure, now the Yanks are beating their way with the Washington Nationals—but not everyone is convinced.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic, in his piece, said, “The Yankees have had stretches where they look like the team that reached the World Series last year, but at other times, they’ve played like they’re not worthy of a playoff spot.” And he gave his reasons, the first being injuries. See, Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Gil, Aaron Judge, and even Giancarlo Stanton have struggled with injuries this season. And that does wreck the momentum of the team. But this is not the only thing Bowden pointed out. The defense is a major issue with the team.

And of course, one cannot talk about the wreck the defense is without Anthony Volpe’s struggles. Last year’s Gold Glove winner is the talk of the Bronx, and all for the wrong reasons. Today, all he gets is the tag of liability. He was apparently out on a “reset,” according to his savior, Aaron Boone, but he is now back into the mix. And it’s not just him. In the left field, even Jasson Dominguez has had his own issues. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is only catching on fire, and catcher Austin Wells is still making mistakes. Like he recently dropped a routine pop-up against Bregman—it’s a rookie mistake. Isn’t it? And fans are not being kind to these errors, not with playoff hope slipping away.

For now, the front office tried to patch things by getting Ryan McMahon at the trade deadline. But while he has helped, the thing is that for the team to make it deep into the postseason, they need more than a handful of players. The maddening part is that the New York Yankees have fire, and they lead the majors in home runs and rank third in runs scored, and with David Bednar there, the bullpen is stronger. And their rookie Cam Schlitter has been a surprise with his 2.76 ERA in eight starts! But if they don’t amp up their defense, then Judge and Co. could lose all edge.

The New York Yankees’ captain, not the real MVP?

There is no doubt that Aaron Judge is the face of the New York Yankees. However, lately, it’s honestly someone else who has been carrying the Bronx boat—Giancarlo Stanton. What he is doing right now looks a whole lot like MVP-level production. Like Aaron Judge, from the time he returned from that flexor strain injury, he has not been himself. In 83 plate appearances, he is slashing. 200/.373/.385. Also with three home runs and eight RBIs. It’s not bad, but when it comes to Aaron Judge and his performance, this is a slump.

But then enters Stanton, and he, over the same stretch, has been flat-out a star. He mashed seven homers, 18 RBIs, and an eye-watering .459/.535/1.108 line in just 43 plate appearances. His every swing feels like the electricity that the Yankees would need to catch fire, heading into the playoffs now. And the Nationals series has been stellar for him. With bases loaded, a 3-2 count, and two outs in the third inning, Giancarlo Stanton ripped a MacKenzie Gore curveball for a double. It is a pitch that even the better hitters can’t do much with. Then the next at bat? Another full count and another missile, a 451-foot hit off Orlando Robalta. The speed—112.7 MPH—from his bat. And you bet the crows went crazy as they stared at the masterpiece of a play.

Aaron Boone, who himself is under much scrutiny and his seat is getting hot, couldn’t help but admit Stanton had a five-RBI night. “This, I feel like—and it’s saying a lot—is maybe as good as I’ve seen him. Consistency of at-bat after at-bat… I feel like he is controlling the zone probably as well as I’ve ever seen him.” And he isn’t wrong. Stanton has 17 homers in less than 200 plate appearances—a feat only a few hitters can even do.

So now, while Judge may be wearing the C tag, it’s Stanton who is keeping the Yankee dreams afloat.