The New York Yankees have come crashing back to earth since playing at a record-setting pace for the first half of the 2022 MLB season. Not only have the Yankees lost their spot as the World Series favorites, but they are no longer the best team in the Big Apple.

A 1-0 loss in 13 innings against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday marked the Yankees' seventh defeat in nine games. The loss put the Yankees one game behind the New York Mets in the overall MLB standings, and they are now tied with the Houston Astros for the best record in the American League.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a comfortable five-game lead on the Mets for the best record in baseball. Los Angeles leads all teams with +350 odds at BetMGM to win the 2022 World Series.

Ten days ago, the Yankees were favorites with +325 odds to win this year's championship. The Yankees' odds moved to +350 at the trade deadline and now stand at +375. The Astros are right behind the Yankees at +400. The Mets have +500 odds to win their first World Series since 1986.

The Yankees' issues have been apparent for much longer than a week. New York is 10-15 over its last 25 games.

The Yankees' 4.15 ERA during that span ranks 23rd in MLB. Ace starter Gerrit Cole has surrendered at least five runs in three of his last seven starts. In his first start after joining the Yankees at the trade deadline, Frankie Montas allowed six runs in three innings.

Only the Dodgers have scored more runs than the Yankees in the last month, but the Yankees' offense has been inconsistent in the second half of the season. In 19 games since the All-Star break, the Yankees have scored three runs or fewer nine times, including a pair of shutouts. With Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo nursing injuries, the Yankees' lineup outside of Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu has been full of easy outs.

The Yankees are still cruising to an AL East title. New York has a 10.5-game lead on the second-place Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees are 13 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins, who are tied for first place in the AL Central.

There are reasons to be optimistic about the Yankees' World Series hopes. New York is almost certainly going to get a bye in the wild-card round of the playoffs. Judge has been MLB's best player with 44 home runs and a 1.068 OPS. Stanton and Rizzo will be back in the lineup soon enough, and Luis Severino is expected to be back in the rotation for the playoffs.

The path to the Yankees' first World Series in 13 years, however, is much more difficult than it appeared to be just a few weeks ago.