The New York Yankees have attained the first overall seed in the American League for the first time since 2012 with a record of 94-68. They had their ups and downs throughout the season, a bit more ups. Towards the middle of the season right after the All-Star break, there was a fear that the Yankees weren’t fit to make the postseason again. About a month later they finally turned it on, and in a big way. They clinched the AL East with about a week left in the season. In the postseason every pitch and every play matters. So, the Yankees need their pitching, hitting, and especially baserunning to be almost perfect and error-free.
Pitching:
I’m gonna keep this simple, the Yankees were the best team in baseball during the beginning of the season. This is because of their outstanding starting pitching. Luis Gil was the CY Young front-runner, Carlos Rodon was back to his former glory, and Clarke Schmidt was back to his consistent self. This was all without their CY Young and Ace Gerrit Cole. Their Bullpen was also lights out during this stretch. It seemed like if the Yankees could score more than two runs they were unbeatable. During the rough part of the season the Starters could barely get out of the third inning, and the bullpen was amazing. Those two things don’t work together no matter how you put it. Towards the end of the season, the Yankees replaced Holmes with Weaver in their closer role, and he was absolutely amazing. All in all, the starters need to be consistent, and go far into games and the Bullpen has to be almost perfect throughout the postseason.
Hitting:
There is no surprise that the Yankees have the best duo in Baseball with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. They are obviously going to be a big part of the postseason, but others need to stay hot. Specifically, Wells, Stanton, Gleyber, and Jazz. Whether Wells or Stanton will be right behind Soto and Judge, and if he is hot, pitchers will be forced to pitch to Soto and Judge, which is very dangerous. Gleyber Torres is my main guy in the lineup because if he gets on base at a great rate Soto and Judge will be able to drive them in with their gap-to-gap power. Lastly, Jazz Chisolm needs to be an aggressive play style. His speed on the bases and ability to get hits when needed are imperative to the Yankee’s success. Overall, only about two people in the lineup can be cold on a given night if the Yankees want to win Number 28.
Overall, the Yankees are the favorite in the AL, and they have no one but themselves to blame if they don’t win it all this year.
