The Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2009. Is this the year that drought ends? – The Boston Globe

The Yankees haven’t won the Series since 2009. They are 15 years into a drought that rivals the chaotic times of the 1980s and early ‘90s.

The championship window is always open with the Yankees, now more than ever with Soto sure to become a free agent after being traded to New York for the final year of his contract.

But manager Aaron Boone can’t think about it that way. His focus as the season winds down is to set his rotation, lineup, bullpen, and bench as advantageously as possible for the postseason.

“I haven’t even allowed myself to get ahead like that. And I don’t think anyone in that room is feeling that way, either,” he said. “I look at it as we have as good a chance as anyone right now to win this thing, and that’s where the focus is.

“I’ve talked about us getting more and more whole here over the last couple weeks. Our group is uber focused on finishing this season strong, hopefully going into the playoffs and doing something great.”

That’s certainly possible. The Yankees have the second-highest-scoring offense in the majors behind the Diamondbacks. Their starters have been one of the top units in the game.

The bullpen hasn’t been as dominant — their 8.98 strikeouts per nine innings are league average — but that could shift in the postseason.

Boone started his remake of the bullpen on Friday by moving Stroman into a relief role. He’ll be available on Sunday.

Nestor Cortes worked in long relief on Sept. 7, complained bitterly about it, and returned to the rotation. Boone could add another starter to the bullpen once the postseason starts, perhaps rookie righthander Luis Gil.

“I feel like we have a lot of good choices, and a lot of people that are very much in the conversation for different roles,” Boone said. “There may be some guys that end up with some multiple, different kind of roles, and let those kind of things play out.

“Try and make the best decisions we can, again, put guys in position to be successful.”

That’s what the final weeks of the season will be for as the Yankees jockey with the Guardians and Orioles for one of the two first-round byes into the Division Series.

“Every day seems more and more important,” Boone said.

The other issue was getting Judge back on track. That was seemingly taken care of on Friday when he was 2 for 3 with a walk and a winning grand slam against the Red Sox.

That ended a career-worst 16-game streak without a home run. The slump started after Judge collided with the outfield wall taking a home run away from Washington’s Andres Chaparro on Aug. 26 at Nationals Park.

There are no excuses for Judge and the rest of the stars on the roster.

“We all know why we’re here,” Cole said.

In case they need reminding, the walls just outside the clubhouse are decorated with paintings of Yankees players from World Series games in 2009 and during the team’s dynasty of four titles from 1996-2000.

In the Bronx, the ghosts of the past are everywhere.

NOT A WASTED SEASON

Hendriks hasn’t pitched but still met some goals

The 30 nominees for the Roberto Clemente Award included Liam Hendriks along with Mookie Betts, Chris Sale, and Kyle Schwarber.

It also was good to see that the Giants nominated Mike Yastrzemski. The winner will be announced at the World Series.

There are surely a large number of players who would be deserving of one of baseball’s most prestigious awards. With Hendriks, it has been apparent during his time with the Red Sox.

Hendriks has been out all season recovering from Tommy John surgery and could have skipped every road trip and done his rehab work at Fenway Park. But when Hendriks agreed to a two-year deal, an informal condition was that he be allowed to travel with the team.

After recovering from Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year, Hendriks wanted the opportunity to meet with cancer patients around the country who had reached out to him.

There were many days this season when Hendriks was spotted standing on the field during batting practice talking to families or small groups of people, a few times nearly all the way to first pitch as the grounds crew prepared the field around them.

These weren’t brief grip-and-grin meetings for a team photographer. These were long, private conversations done without publicity.

Hendriks politely dodged questions about what he was doing a few times early in the season.

He’s a talker but not about this.

Hendriks has supported animal shelters, first responders, anti-bullying causes, LBGTQ+ rights, and the Ronald McDonald House over the years with his different teams.

All worthy causes, no doubt. But seeing him with those cancer patients and their families before games seems to be what the Clemente Award is about, whether he wins it or not.

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

▪ Roman Anthony is the new No. 1 prospect as ranked by Baseball America and there was much joy among those who treat such lists as scripture.

But be cautious. The Sox have had two previous No. 1 prospects: Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2007 and Andrew Benintendi in 2017.

It was silly to consider Matsuzaka a prospect. He was 26 and had been wildly successful for eight years with the Seibu Lions. He also had a $52 million deal.

He ended up 56-43, 4.45 over eight seasons. But Matsuzaka did play a big role in winning the World Series his first year.

Benintendi finished a distant second in the 2017 Rookie of the Year voting to Aaron Judge, who was 90th on the prospect list.

Benintendi was a key player in helping the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series but has been a league-average journeyman since, playing for four teams.

Baseball America does a great job and Anthony looks every bit like a star. He has the skills and temperament to be a special player. But the hype around Anthony and the rest of the Big Four is a little much.

History suggests the Sox would be fortunate if two of the four proved to be long-term successful players.

▪ As Sale moves toward what would be his first Cy Young Award and Vaughn Grissom toils at Triple A Worcester, it’s easy to say the Sox made a mistake with that trade. Clearly, they did.

But there were no complaints when the deal was made in December. Sale was 17-18 with a 4.16 ERA from 2019-23 and missed roughly 84 starts because of injuries.

It felt like Craig Breslow had solved a problem by sending Sale to the Braves, even with the $17 million he kicked in to make the deal and get a better prospect in return.

The mistake was a poor evaluation of Grissom, who was found to have strength deficiencies that needed addressing in the minors. At 23, this season was a big step back for him, even though his hitting has improved over the last 10 days.

Whether it’s Kristian Campbell, Ceddanne Rafaela, or even Trevor Story, Grissom seems blocked at second base.

▪ Chris Martin, who is 38, is leaning toward playing again. His thought is to pitch one more season.

The righthander missed 41 games because of two stints on the injured list, one for anxiety and the other for elbow inflammation. He recently missed a few days after waking up with vertigo.

Martin has been effective. The velocity of his four-seam fastball has dropped a bit, but his strikeout rate has gone up and his walk rate has dipped.

The Sox haven’t discussed an extension as of yet. Martin said his hope is to join a contending team.

▪ Are Red Sox-Yankees games somehow not a thing anymore? The Yankees gave away a George Costanza bobblehead to lure fans to the July 5 game against the Sox.

On Sunday, the Yankees are giving away a Frank Sinatra singing bobblehead to lure more fans to the Stadium.

ETC.

Injuries working against Orioles

The Orioles went into the weekend 25-26 since the All-Star break but still holding down a playoff spot thanks to their sizzling first half.

The issue has been injuries. Lots of them.

Lefthanded reliever Danny Coulombe (elbow surgery to remove bone chips), outfielder Heston Kjerstad (concussion), first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (left wrist), righthander Grayson Rodriguez (shoulder strain), third baseman Ramón Urías (right ankle), righthanded reliever Jacob Webb (elbow), and infielder Jordan Westburg (right hand) are all on the injured list.

Righthanders Félix Bautista and Kyle Bradish are out for the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, as is lefthander John Means.

Shortstop Jorge Mateo also needed Tommy John surgery. Another starter, righthander Tyler Wells, avoided Tommy John but is out for the season after having ligament revision surgery.

That’s 12 players on the injured list.

“We’ve been hit hard,” manager Brandon Hyde said.

Rodriguez was 13-4 with a 3.86 ERA in 20 starts before being shut down in July. He’s close to facing hitters and building back up. Rodriguez could be a piggyback starter in October.

Westburg is throwing again and taking practice swings. He said in Boston this past week that he’s getting close to a return. With the Triple A season ending on Sept. 22, there should be a chance for some rehab games.

Mountcastle is roughly on the same schedule. Kjerstad is on a rehab assignment and could be back any day.

“A few of us could all come back at the same time,” Westburg said. “That would be huge.”

The challenge for Hyde will be working the injured players back into the mix as his team competes for a division title.

Mike Yastrzemski will be arbitration-eligible for the first time in his career, which could mean a $2 million jump from his $7.9 million salary. That could get into non-tender territory for the Giants. But Yastrzemski told the San Francisco Chronicle he’d be open to a two-year deal to lower the average annual value. Yastrzemski, 34, has been a valuable player over six seasons and values his relationship with the team . . . The Astros will pay Justin Verlander $43.3 million this season and at this stage might not be able to use him in the postseason. The 41-year-old righthander has made four starts since coming off the injured list and has allowed 19 runs on 27 hits over 17⅔ innings. He had only 12 strikeouts. His fastball was still in the mid-90s but has stayed over the plate with little movement. Verlander’s only career relief appearance in pro ball was against the Red Sox in Game 4 of the 2017 Division Series at Fenway. He replaced Charlie Morton in the fifth inning and allowed a tying homer by Andrew Benintendi but otherwise pitched well in a game the Astros won, 5-4, to clinch the series . . . White Sox general manager Chris Getz acknowledges that he will see what the market is for ace lefthander Garrett Crochet. At 25 and not eligible for free agency for two more seasons, Crochet could bring back a haul. “The reality of baseball and where we’re at as an organization, you need to look at the types of return you could potentially get in trades,” Getz said. “We need to weigh where we’re going to be in a year or two years, but we also know how talented he is, and he can certainly lead a rotation with the White Sox or anyone else. So we’re going to take advantage of what he’s capable of doing as a starter.” The Red Sox made a huge deal with the White Sox for Chris Sale in 2016, sending Chicago four prospects. Crochet is no Sale, but he is younger and much cheaper than Sale was at the time . . . Pirates rookie Paul Skenes had 151 strikeouts in his first 20 appearances. That’s more in 20 games than any pitcher since 1901 outside of Kerry Wood (179), Hideo Nomo (175), Dwight Gooden (162), and Mark Prior (154) . . . The Dodgers have turned Michael Kopech into a lockdown reliever by cutting down on his fastball usage and making it harder for hitters to sit on that pitch. Kopech allowed two runs on five hits over 18 innings in his first 18 games since being obtained from the White Sox and struck out 22. He averaged more strikeouts with Chicago but opposing hitters dropped from a .717 OPS to .297 . . . If the Braves miss the playoffs by a game, which very well could happen, losing two one-run games against the White Sox will sting. Sale took a 1-0 loss on June 27, giving up a first-inning homer by Luis Róbert then dominating. But his teammates managed only three hits . . . Through Friday, Baltimore’s Anthony Santander had 41 homers, the most for a switch-hitter since Lance Berkman had 45 for the Astros in 2006. Santander is only the eighth switch-hitter to hit 40 homers. Mickey Mantle (four times) and Berkman (twice) did it in multiple seasons . . . Congrats to Christian and Gabby Vázquez, who had their third son this past week. Wonder how many will be catchers . . . Credit to Mariners righthander Bryan Woo for his creativity. His new custom cleats have an image of wrestling legend Ric Flair on one side and his trademark “Wooo!” on the other . . . The late James Earl Jones had plenty of baseball on his résumé. He played a catcher in “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” in 1976. Then he was Terence Mann, the embittered but eloquent writer who disappeared into the cornfield in “Field of Dreams” in 1989. Jones then played Mr. Mertle a few years later in “The Sandlot.” His stage career including a Tony award for “Fences” when he played Troy, a former Negro Leagues player. Jones also recited the national anthem at the 1993 All-Star Game at Camden Yards. That was a Dr. Charles Steinberg production . . . Mo Vaughn opened up a state-of-the-art performance center at the Vaughn Sports Academy in Boca Raton, Fla., this past week. The facility is for strength training and recovery and includes a steam sauna, a cold plunge, and infrared therapy. The Hit Dog opened his academy in 2018. It serves baseball, softball, basketball, and soccer players . . . Happy birthday (Monday) to Mike Garman, who is 75. The righthander was the third pick of the 1967 draft by the Red Sox out of Caldwell (Idaho) High. He remains the only high school player from Idaho who was a first-round pick. Garman appeared in 20 games for the Sox from 1969-73, six of them starts. He was 2-2 with a 4.95 ERA then was traded to the Cardinals after the 1973 season in a six-player deal that brought Reggie Cleveland and Diego Seguí to Boston. Garman was an effective reliever with the Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, and Expos before leaving baseball after the 1979 season and returning to Idaho.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe.