History of Yankees losing seasons: Revisiting the last time New York finished below .500

There are always high expectations on the Yankees. That was no different coming into the 2023 season.

New York brought back Aaron Judge on a nine-year, $360 million deal. It signed top free agent Carlos Rodon to a six-year, $162 million contract. It was expected to receive a boost from rookies Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza.

But the 2023 campaign has not gone according to plan. After play on Wednesday, the Yankees sit at 60-61 and are last in the AL East. Injuries have wreaked havoc on a team that has already been plagued by major underperformances from key contributors.

Yankee fans aren't used to seeing their teams in this position. New York has only missed the playoffs four times dating back to 1995. It hasn't had a losing season since 1992, when it went 76-86, its fourth straight sub-.500 campaign.

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The Yankees still hovering around .500. But since reaching a season-best 11 games over .500 on May 30, the Yankees have gone just 26-38, and are currently riding a five-game losing streak.

What happened the last time New York failed to finish above .500? Here's what you need to know.

Last time Yankees finished under .500

The Yankees lost the 1981 World Series 4-2 to the Dodgers. And from there, it was downhill for a long time. The Yankees endured a losing season in 1982 and began a run of 12 straight years without making the playoffs.

The most tumultuous stretch of that run came from 1989 to 1992, as the team shuffled through four different managers with a number of veteran players cycling through the rosters. The team lacked major core players until Bernie Williams debuted in 1991.

Following the disappointing 1991 campaign, the Yankees fired manager Stump Merrill and brought in an inexperienced coach for his first managerial job: Buck Showalter.

A new manager was not expected to turn around the team's fortunes in 1992. The Yankees were given a preseason win total of 76.5, the fifth-lowest in the sport.

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New York brought in Melido Perez in a trade from the White Sox, and he wound up being the team's ace throughout the campaign. Perez pitched to a 2.87 ERA with 218 strikeouts in 247.2 innings of work. But much like the previous year, the rest of the rotation struggled, with Scott Kamieniecki being the only other rotation regular with a sub-4.50 ERA.

The bullpen wasn't much better. Closer Steve Farr had a standout campaign with an ERA of 1.56, and setup arms Rich Monteleone and Tim Burke each posted ERAs at or below 3.50. As a whole, however, New York had the third-worst ERA in the American League at 4.21 and was second-worst with 3.8 walks per nine innings.

As a whole, the offense wasn't terrible. New York tied for fourth in the American League in OPS (.733) and tied for third in OPS+ (106). Don Mattingly and Danny Tartabull each put up solid numbers as the team's best hitters, and all but two lineup regulars launched double-digit home runs. Williams was bouncing between the majors and minors in 1992, and saw the bulk of his playing time come when Tartabull spent time on the injured list.

But after getting off to a hot start in the season, with a win-loss record of 13-8 in April, the rest of the season rapidly went downhill. New York went 13-14 in May, followed by a dismal 11-17 in June and 11-15 in July. The Yankees were a game up in September, but by then, their season was well over.

The 1992 year was not entirely all for naught. During the summer, the Yankees had the sixth overall pick in the MLB Draft, and used it to select a shortstop from Kalamazoo, Mich., named Derek Jeter., who would go on to be one of the best players in franchise history.

History of Yankees' losing seasons

New York is not accustomed to losing. Dating back to the franchise's origins as the New York Highlanders in 1903, New York has had just 21 losing seasons. Only three times has the team's winning percentage been below the 1990 season's .414 winning percentage. By comparison, the 2023 Oakland Athletics have a winning percentage of .275, the second straight year it's been at .370 or below.

Here's a look at each year New York has had a losing season.