Trying to understand the New York Yankees fanbase is a colossal waste of time. Reading Yankees Twitter is a cesspool, and don’t even get me started on Yankees Facebook. But the one thing I’ve learned over the course of 22 years of fandom, it’s that the expectations of the Bronx Bombers are the same every single year: championship or bust.
As a baseball fan, I understand how difficult this mentality is, especially in this day and age. You have teams like Tampa Bay with the 25th highest payroll making deep runs every year and the Angels with arguably the two best players in baseball missing the playoffs every year. But, as John Sterling says, that’s baseball, Suzyn.
I understand fans from the 1990s thinking a championship is the only way every year, especially with how dominant those teams were. Now, times are different. Analytics even the playing field for small market teams and this honestly makes the sport more fun. Sure, I’d love to see the Yankees rip off four straight titles, but this cannot be the expectation every year. The ultimate goal is, of course, to win a World Series title. But if you can’t enjoy the ride, what’s the point? Watching every single (or as many as I can) regular season game makes me appreciate the journey, the highs and the lows. As I tweeted the other night, I am really, really enjoying this Yankees team. They do everything well. And that is why I pose the question, as I look around the MLB, have the Yankees somehow become underrated? With so many great stories going around, is the Yankees eight game win streak being swept under the rug? Let’s dive into exactly what makes this team so special.
The lineup
The biggest Yankee social media complaint every year pertains to the offense. “Too home run or bust” “No one hits for average anymore” “Too many strikeouts”. These knocks are what have put Brian Cashman on the hot seat. To a certain extent, it can be frustrating to watch strikeouts, but the truth of the matter is home runs do win games and it’s won the Yankees a lot of games over the past few years. With that being said, Cashman heard the cries and shipped off strikeout king Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to the Twins for Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. IKF is the fever dream of Yankees twitter. Low strikeout, speed, not much power, high batting average. And this is not a knock, I LOVED IKF and from the beginning wanted him to be in pinstripes. He has added a new, and good, wrinkle to the bottom of the lineup. IKF is hitting .302 with just 4 XBHs. The funny part is, the Yankees approach has helped him thus far, as his exit velocity and hard hit percentage are both at a career high.
It is not just IKF that have made the Yankees lineup more balanced. DJ LeMahieu is back to his usual self: high batting average and taking the ball the other way. Aaron Hicks has returned from injury and been a plus hitter. Anthony Rizzo leads the MLB in home runs with 9. Aaron Judge is playing like he wants 40 mil a year. Giancarlo Stanton is still hammering the ball. The only real black hole so far is Joey Gallo, who has hit into some extremely bad luck and is now dealing with a groin injury. Bottom line: there aren’t many lineups better than New York’s, if there even are any.
The Bullpen
I could wax poetic about the Yankees bullpen for hours. You can knock Cashman for whatever you want, but good luck knocking the way he’s developed the pen year in and year out. As a whole, New York boasts a 2.80 ERA and 1.24 WHIP to pair with 92 strikeouts to 41 walks. The worry was always that the lack of starter innings would hurt the bullpen. With 9-10 legit arms rearing to go, this issue doesn’t feel as big now. When your biggest question mark is Jonathan Loaisiga, the best reliever in baseball last year, it’s going to be just fine. The biggest jump this year has certainly been Michael King. He is gross. In 13 innings, King has 20 strikeouts and three walks, allowing just one run. WARNING: this video is NSFW.
The rotation
My biggest fear going into 2022 was the starting rotation. We all know what Gerrit Cole is, unless you’re an idiot that put stock into starts he was making in 30 degree weather in April. Beyond that, Luis Severino, Jameson Taillon, Nestor Cortes, and Jordan Montgomery felt like question marks. Those questions have been answered with Severino looking like he did before injuries, Montgomery staying steady, Nasty Nestor staying electric, and Taillon having a career year. Even if Cole was a concern early, he has responded with 12.2 IP, no runs, and 15 strikeouts his last two starts. All these guys won’t maintain their sub 3.40 ERAs, but you could not have asked for a better start.
A mirage or a sign of things to come?
Many of you reading this article would probably say, “Luke, they’ve beaten the Guardians, Orioles, and Royals. Am I supposed to be impressed?”. Yes, we should be. The Yankees lost the AL East last year because they failed to beat up on the Orioles. They dropped two of three to them early in the year. You HAVE to beat up on bad teams to make the playoffs.
With that being said, it is early. After Kansas City, five of the Yankees’ next seven games will be against Toronto. The AL East is an absolute wagon, but Boston looks like they’ve lost a step and even the Rays are off to a slow start. A lot of talk preseason was about the Blue Jays, and rightfully so. They are damn good. Even within New York City, the Mets have been the talk of the town… but they enter Sunday with the same amount of wins at 15. The Yankees have been so consistent for so long that people have almost grown tired of talking about them year in and year out. Maybe that’s the recipe this team needs to finally capture their first title since 2009. The ingredients are there, now it’s up to the cooks in the kitchen to turn it into a 5-star meal.