As the 2025 regular season winds down, the New York Yankees appear to be a solid team that has one major issue: a wildly unstable bullpen. Acquiring a two-time former National League Reliever of the Year, Devin Williams, in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers last December, this bullpen looked to be even more formidable than it was during New York’s run to the World Series last October. However, this has not been the case; not only has the Williams trade seemingly backfired, but most of the moves that the team has made in the ‘pen have been disastrous.
At the trade deadline, New York acquired three relievers in an attempt to patch up the ‘pen. Right-handed reliever David Bednar, whom they acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates, has stepped into the closer role and has performed fairly well. Their other acquisitions, Jake Bird and Camilo Doval, have been completely different pitchers since coming to the Bronx (and it’s not a good kind of different).
Yankees Bullpen is Their Biggest Question Mark Heading into October
Captain Un-Clutch
The easy target to point to for the Yankees’ lack of success in closing out games is obviously Williams, and it’s true that his 5.12 ERA and -0.5 brWAR have cost the Yankees at least a few wins. Williams does not deserve all the blame, though. Their collective bullpen ERA of 4.55 is tied with the Athletics for the 7th-worst in baseball, and they have 41 saves to 21 blown saves. Williams has four blown saves, but so do Luke Weaver and Mark Leiter Jr. Bednar and Jonathan Loáisiga aren’t far behind either, with three each. On the bright side, Williams’ solid eighth inning in Sunday’s win over the Baltimore Orioles is hopefully a sign of good things to come.
Dominant eighth inning by Devin Williams! pic.twitter.com/xvQbWCz71L
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 21, 2025
Staff Problem
Clearly, the issue isn’t just on a couple of pitchers: the whole staff has faltered at one point or another, and they tend to do it as a group. It wasn’t always like this, though; the Yankees arguably had one of the better bullpens in the league until June, when they went through yet another mid-summer skid. The issue also isn’t necessarily the pitchers themselves; the Yankees are notably great at turning average pitchers into bullpen studs.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that this bullpen is not only underperforming but extremely fatigued. It almost always happens to every single team at some point in the season, and it just happens to come at a terrible time for the Yankees. Practically everyone is underperforming, and there is just a week of games to go before October.
These Three Must Step Up
The Yankees have three particular pitchers who have been mostly successful this season, but have recently hit a wall. Williams, who actually performed very well in May and June, has again become extremely unreliable; Fernando Cruz, who has been consistent all season, has an ERA of 9.00 in September; and Doval, one of the biggest assets they brought in at the deadline, has given up 14 runs (10 earned) in 16 2/3 innings as a Yankee.
These three arms will be extremely important in the postseason. Boone has used these pitchers (and Luke Weaver) as his primary setup men in close games. Weaver has also not been his usual self, but is generally more reliable. Bednar has arguably been New York’s best reliever in the second half.
If the Yankees want to advance past the Wild Card round, they will need their setup men to be at the top of their games. Of course, the entire bullpen will have to step up and pitch like they did earlier in the year, but there is nothing more important for a ball club than to have its top relievers at their best in the postseason.
Main Photo Credit: Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images
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