October Clouded the Truth About the Yankees’ 2025 Offense

Talking about the Yankees’ offense in 2025 has somehow become a controversial topic. With rumors circulating around the baseball world that the Yankees’ primary free-agent target is to re-sign outfielder Cody Bellinger, it has sparked a loud and ongoing debate among Yankees fans.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen numerous talking points and narratives about the Yankees’ 2025 offense circulate across Yankees Twitter, podcasts, and comment sections. Many of them are either misleading or outright wrong, so I’m here to debunk the most common arguments surrounding this lineup.

Was the Yankees’ 2025 offense actually good?

Let me make the case that it wasn’t just good, it was elite.

Was the 2025 Yankees Offense Actually Good?

Here’s how the Yankees ranked in several key offensive categories during the 2025 regular season:

• Batting Average: .251 (T-8th with ARI & TB)

• Home Runs: 274 (1st; 2nd was LAD with 244)

• Stolen Bases: 134 (T-8th with TEX)

• On-Base Percentage: .333 (T-2nd with MIL; just behind TOR at .334)

• Slugging Percentage: .455 (1st; 2nd was LAD at .441)

• wOBA: .338 (1st)

• xwOBA: .339 (1st)

• wRC+: 119 (1st; 2nd was LAD & SEA at 113)

• Position Player WAR: 34.3 (1st; 2nd was TOR at 32.6)

The takeaway here is simple: The Yankees finished top-8 (or better) in nearly every meaningful offensive category.

That is not the profile of a mediocre offense, it’s the profile of one of the best lineups in baseball.

“They Only Beat Up on Bad Pitching”

Another popular narrative is that the Yankees’ offense padded its numbers against weak competition and disappeared against playoff-caliber teams.

A graphic posted by Ryan Garcia of Empire Sports Media directly challenges that claim.

Against playoff teams, the Yankees ranked:

• 3rd in runs scored

• 2nd in OPS

• 2nd in wRC+

A lineup that performs that well against postseason teams isn’t just “good” — it’s elite.

“If They Run It Back, the Offense Will Be Bad in 2026”

For this exercise, let’s assume the Yankees do re-sign Cody Bellinger, since that seems to be the fear driving much of this discourse.

Using Steamer projections for a projected 2026 starting lineup, here’s how the Yankees stack up in wRC+ and WAR:

• Aaron Judge (RF): 172 wRC+, 6.8 WAR

• Ben Rice (1B): 125 wRC+, 2.3 WAR

• Cody Bellinger (OF): 116 wRC+, 3.0 WAR

• Giancarlo Stanton (DH): 115 wRC+, 0.8 WAR

• Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2B): 113 wRC+, 3.1 WAR

• Trent Grisham (CF): 110 wRC+, 2.3 WAR

• Austin Wells (C): 102 wRC+, 3.1 WAR

• Anthony Volpe (SS): 96 wRC+, 2.3 WAR

• Ryan McMahon (3B): 92 wRC+, 1.4 WAR

That group projects to roughly:

• ~116 team wRC+ (rough estimate for transparency)

• 25.1 total position player WAR

For context, during the 2025 season, that level of production would have:

• Ranked 1st in MLB in wRC+

• Finished just outside the top 10 in position-player WAR (BOS was 10th with 25.2)

That’s hardly a recipe for an offensive collapse.

“The Yankees’ Offense Was Terrible in the Postseason”

Was the Yankees’ offense as dominant in the postseason as it was during the regular season? No, and that’s true for almost every team.

The average MLB OPS dropped from .719 in the regular season to just .692 in the postseason, illustrating how dramatically the run environment changes.

Here’s where the Yankees ranked offensively in the postseason:

• Batting Average: .251 (2nd behind TOR)

• Home Runs: 6 (T-6th with DET)

• Stolen Bases: 1 (T-9th with BOS & CIN)

• On-Base Percentage: .314 (3rd behind TOR & LAD)

• Slugging Percentage: .379 (5th)

• wOBA: .300 (4th)

• xwOBA: .307 (T-3rd with CHC & PHI; behind TOR & LAD)

• wRC+: 94 (4th)

Was that enough to win a World Series? No absolutely not.

Ironically, for those who emphasize batting average, the Yankees’ biggest issue wasn’t contact, it was slugging. They simply didn’t do enough damage when it mattered most.

Final Thoughts:

The criticism of the Yankees’ 2025 offense is driven far more by recency bias and a misunderstanding of postseason run environments than by actual performance.

Am I thrilled about the idea of fully running it back in 2026? Not particularly, especially when a potential upgrade like Kyle Tucker may be available at a relatively modest cost difference compared to Cody Bellinger, based on early reports.

That said, if the Yankees do re-sign Bellinger and largely bring back the same lineup, this offense still projects as very good, with clear top-5 potential.

Add a player like Tucker? Now you’re talking about an offense with top-2, elite upside.

Let me know your thoughts, and follow me on X for more Yankees content:

👉 @JosephEsposito0