Do The Yankees Actually Have A Shot At Winning The Al East?

The Yankees are four games back, folks — but don’t panic just yet. Somehow, despite Anthony Volpe playing like he’s auditioning for “Worst Player in Baseball,” the Bronx Bombers are actually making this thing interesting. Winners of five straight, they’re suddenly playing good baseball, and Jazz Chisholm is out here speaking it into existence: Yankees. AL East champs. Book it.

And honestly? I kind of believe him.

“We want to win the division,” Chisholm said, per Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch. “We don’t just want to get to a Wild Card spot. … Right now, it’s just like, we’re going to go out there and win that, and then we’re going to go and win the World Series.”

That’s not quiet confidence — that’s Jazz confidence. The man just smacked his seventh homer of August in Thursday’s 10-4 win over the White Sox, tying his season high for any month. The Yankees are finally swinging the bats, pitching like their lives depend on it, and somehow making fans think, “Yeah… maybe this team isn’t dead yet.”

But here’s the catch: if New York wants to win the East, they can’t keep dragging around dead weight. And yes, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells — I’m looking directly at you. Harsh? Sure. But if these two keep flailing at the plate and booting balls in the field, they’re going to turn this playoff push into a slow-motion car crash.

Chisholm gets it. He’s not talking about backing into October baseball through some sad, participation-trophy Wild Card slot. He wants the crown. He wants the flag. He wants the damn parade.

“We’re never satisfied with second place,” he said. “We just lost the World Series last year. That’s second place, and we still weren’t satisfied. I don’t think we’re going to be satisfied coming in second or third in the division. That would be even more upsetting than losing the World Series. Right now, we’re going to go out there and win (the division) and then we’re going to go win the World Series.”

This is exactly the swagger the Yankees have been missing. None of this “just get in and see what happens” nonsense. Wild Cards are for teams that ran out of gas — not the Yankees. You win the division. You plant the flag.

Now all that’s left is for Volpe and Wells to… you know… remember how to play baseball.

Because if Jazz is right — and somehow, I think he is — October in the Bronx is going to feel like old times.