Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
During the All-Star break, we polled Yankees fans about how they thought the regular season would end for the ol’ Bronx Bombers. The majority didn’t think they would win the AL East, instead having to settle for a Wild Card—though 35 percent at least thought that they would be the home
team in a first-round best-of-three.
The immediate follow-up question must be asked though: How would the 2026 Yankees fare in the playoffs? So we of course obliged with our SB Nation Reacts question this week. Would the Yanks win it all and capture No. 28? Would they at least win their second AL pennant in three seasons after missing out last year at the hands (or talons) of the Blue Jays?
Yeah, optimism isn’t terribly high in the Bronx right now, even after a sweep to end the first half — one largely enabled by the lousy Nationals bullpen. Only a quarter of Yankees fans think that they’ll win the World Series. Although it was the most common answer in this poll, 25 percent is hardly a ringing endorsement. I’m sure that I’ve made this comp before, but it’s most similar to the “Ask the Audience” results on classic “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” when contestants would use the lifeline on a high-level question where the vast majority was just guessing.
Perhaps more concerning is the fact that the combined 55 percent don’t envision even a return to the Fall Classic. It’s one thing to be extremely worried about the juggernaut Dodgers in a potential World Series matchup. It’s another to not be terribly confident that they’ll win the pennant in an American League that currently looks even more underwhelming than it was in 2024, when the Yankees only had to dispatch the Royals and Guardians—hardly the powerhouse Astros or Red Sox of yesteryear—to secure their first World Series trip since 2009.
Ninety-six percent of fans at least see the Yankees returning to the playoffs. It’s just a matter of where they’ll bow out, though again, a quarter are keeping the faith! I might run this poll again after the Trade Deadline, just to get another pulse check.
These survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.
