As the New York Yankees’ schedule is closer to the final regular-season game, odds are favoring closer David Bednar and his teammates returning to postseason play, come October.
The Yankees, with 80 wins, are in second place in the American League East, just two games behind first-place Toronto Blue Jays. In his four full seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the most wins Bednar experienced was 76. In 2023, Bednar’s second consecutive all-star season, the Pirates finished in fourth place in the National League Central.
The Yankees’ three-game series started Tuesday in the Bronx against the Detroit Tigers. Next, they will spend three days this weekend in Boston, battling their rival Red Sox. These six games could set the postseason table on positioning in the American League. Bednar, 30, is firing on all pitching cylinders now. The club couldn’t be more ecstatic over his performance.
In this past Saturday’s game at Yankee Stadium between the Yankees and Blue Jays, Bednar earned a save, his 21st of the season, lowered his ERA to 2.52, and preserved a 3–1 victory. As the late, great Yankees’ Hall of Famer Yogi Berra was known to say, the next day in the Bronx, it was “deja vu all over again.”
Yankees’ skipper Aaron Boone made the call to the bullpen, in came Bednar, and the Mars, Pa., native shut down Toronto. The Yankees had the day off after collecting a 4–3 win. As the 9th inning came to a close, Bednar chalked up his 22nd save on the season (his fifth since joining the Yankees on July 31) and lowered his ERA, again, to 2.47. Plus Max Fried, who started the game for New York and went seven innings, earned his 16th win of the season.
Although Boone hasn’t etched in baseball stone who exactly the Yankees’ closer is at this time, Bednar appears to be getting more work in that role. Boone finds himself in a quagmire that other managers would gladly share. When it comes to bullpen resources, at this time, along with Bednar, Boone’s choices are Luke Weaver, Devin Williams, and Camilo Doval.
On any given save situation, however the baseball winds are blowing on that particular day, Boone decides the “closer of the day.” Right now, Bednar is making the most of the opportunities presented.
A change of scenery is proving to be just what Bednar needed to find his once-dominating 9th-inning entrances.
After the back-to-back All-Star Game appearances, last season Bednar’s pitching experienced hiccups. His ERA ballooned to 5.77. The 23 saves he earned in 2024 were 16 fewer than the previous season.
The year 2025 didn’t begin well, either for Bednar. After being the Pirates’ bullpen stud, one week into this season, Bednar was dispatched to Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate Indianapolis Indians to “get him right,” as then Pirates’ manager Derek Shelton proclaimed.
Being optioned, and so soon in the season, caught many by surprise, Bednar included. However, taking the demotion in stride, Bednar appeared in five minor league games. In five innings of work, allowing only one hit and racking up seven strikeouts against International League batters, Bednar returned to the Pirates roster.
Just as Shelton envisioned, after returning to the Pirates, Bednar’s pitching was “right again.”
Before being traded to New York, Bednar knotted 17 saves, and his ERA was a very respectable 2.37 after 42 appearances. The “old David” that batters feared and teammates cheered was back.
Then, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman came to the table, offering the Pirates three prospects for a trade with Bednar. Pirates’ general manager Ben Cherington didn’t balk at the offer. Now, Bednar is likely to get his first taste of MLB postseason play. Leaving a good club for a playoff contender has its rewards.
The folks in the Pirates’ organization knew the quality person and extraordinary pitcher New York was receiving would be difficult to replace. Arriving in Pittsburgh prior to the 2021 season from the San Diego Padres, Bednar quickly became popular in Pittsburgh’s clubhouse. Two seasons in with the Pirates, and Bednar was their bullpen stopper.
In 2023, along with current Yankees’ reliever and then San Francisco Giants closer Doval, Bednar led the National League in saves (39). Add up the two all-star appearances, and pitching for Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Bednar transformed into the model closer every MLB manager dreams of having.
Now, even though it’s going to take time to get used to Bednar wearing Yankees pinstripes, no longer in Pittsburgh gold and black, New York is one step closer to another World Series appearance after each game. Pitching before a home crowd of 43,266 last Sunday, and an even larger audience the previous day, Beadnar is acclimating well to life as a New York Yankee.
