MIAMI — By all accounts, the New York Yankees were one of the big winners at the MLB trade deadline. They added a third baseman, two utility infielders, a platoon partner for Jasson Domínguez and revamped the bullpen. The excitement in the Bronx this past Thursday was the highest it has been in over two months.

It all evaporated in Miami.

The Yankees were swept for the first time by the surging Miami Marlins, who have just one player making more than $3.5 million on their roster, and he didn’t even play (Sandy Alcantara). By comparison, the Yankees have 14 such players on their active roster. Payroll discrepancy isn’t everything to measure which teams should and shouldn’t be good, but it does provide general expectations for the franchises.

The Yankees are all in and have World Series aspirations. The Marlins hope to somehow sneak into the third wild-card spot in the National League.

But if you watched the three games in Miami, it appeared as if the teams’ expectations were reversed. The Yankees were sloppy, again; they made Little League mistakes; and their bats were quieted in the final two games. After getting swept, the Yankees are 4 1/2 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East and 1 1/2 games back of the Boston Red Sox for second place.

The  Yankees’ hold on a playoff spot is precarious. They are just half a game ahead of the Seattle Mariners for the final wild-card spot and 2 1/2 games in front of the Texas Rangers, who they start a three-game series with Monday.

“I wouldn’t say there’s concern, but I would say I think a little sense of urgency would be good for us,” Yankees catcher/first baseman Ben Rice said.

That would be the opposite of how the Yankees usually approach the game. They tend to operate with a laissez-faire attitude that starts with manager Aaron Boone. Since team captain Aaron Judge said they would hit a hot streak, they’re 4-6. Since the Yankees lost two of three to the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 1, they are 24-30, a worse record than the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and Athletics during this span.

“I think we have the makings of a very good club, but obviously we haven’t shown it consistently enough,” Boone said.

It is still possible the Yankees can turn their season around and make the playoffs with ease. They have 16 games remaining against the White Sox, Washington Nationals and Minnesota Twins. They have the best offense in baseball, with a 117 OPS+. They have an MVP contender in Judge. They have Cody Bellinger, who will be a down-ballot MVP contender. Their bullpen features numerous high-leverage arms. They should be better than this.

“Since I’ve been here, I feel like we have a chance to be as good as any team as we’ve had,” Boone said. “I really feel like that. That starts with me and helping them get it out, but we got to do it. And, again, I am very confident that we will. But, it has been a long enough stretch of ups and downs, lose a few, win a few. We got to do better than that.”

Talk is cheap for the Yankees. The Dodgers spent their offseason poking fun at the Yankees and how sloppy they were defensively, only for New York to regress. They dropped from 10th in outs above average last season to 21st in 2025. They came into spring training taking those comments from the Dodgers personally, but that fire to prove they were better than what they showed in the World Series has gone missing.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman called the post-deadline a sprint until the end of the season. There are 50 games remaining. The Yankees are slipping in the standings. And with them still struggling to find urgency within themselves, it’s fair to wonder if it’ll be impossible to find.

“I think everyone in this room, we have really high expectations, and we’re not meeting them right now,” Bellinger said.

(Photo of Luis Gil: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)