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

The Yankees have swung between brilliant and bumbling so far this season. A 64-game sprint will determine who these Bronx Bombers really are

It's one of baseball's biggest questions heading out of the All-Star break: just who are these New York Yankees? Are they the team that shot out of the gate, streaking to 50 wins against just 22 losses? A team that despite missing its reigning AL Cy Young Award winning ace, Gerrit Cole, for most of the season, had one of the best rotations and bullpens in baseball? A club riding a rookie surprise package, Luis Gil, who posted a 2.03 ERA through his first 14 starts, more or less out of nowhere? Are they the team with an offense resembling something out of the Yankee past, with Juan Soto, acquired in a blockbuster deal with San Diego in December, immediately making himself at home, posting MVP numbers as the Bomber offense soared even while Aaron Judge took time to heat up. Judge did eventually hot up, by the way, to levels approaching the heat of the sun, putting up some of the gaudiest first-half numbers in recent memory: 34 home runs, 24 doubles and a Ruthian OPS, but I digress. Are the Yankees a team that finally took the pressure off manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman, who under tremendous scrutiny prior to acquiring Soto, had seemingly finally put together a roster capable of doing something the Yanks haven't done since 2009: reach a World Series.

Or, is the club's recent form - the Yankees have won just eight of their last 26 games - who they really are. Are they worse than the worst teams in baseball? The Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, Oakland A's and Colorado Rockies, who all won more games than the Yankees in that stretch. Are they a team whose offense begins and ends with Soto, Judge and Stanton, their oft-injured DH who has put up 18 homers in limited play. Right now at least, it looks like those dominant Yankees of April and May have succumbed to the suddenly razor thin roster that let them down in June and July. Beyond the big three, there isn't a single New York bat in the lineup with an OPS over .700 - the mark of an average hitter - with the exception of Ben Rice, a little-known rookie who has hit six home runs in 24 games. Let's just say that calling their lineup unbalanced" is kind.