Written August 4th, 2020
The New York Yankees have jumped out to a quick 8-1 record, one of the best in baseball right now. The stars on the team are embodying the “savages in the box” mentality and have been absolutely crushing baseballs lately. This lineup has to be one of the deepest in the league as well. From top to bottom, there isn’t a guy that you are not confident in. On the defensive side, there have been some bright spots but overall need some improvement. The scariest part about this team is that they are 8-1 without playing their best baseball.

The Bronx Bombers

So far at the plate this season, opposing pitchers have had a hard time keeping the ball in the park. With 20 homers as a team (1st in MLB), this lineup is only looking to improve in other areas. Leading the way for the bombers is RF Aaron Judge (.314 BA, 6 HR), D.J. LeMahieu (.412 BA, .429 OBP) and Gio Urshela (.300 BA, 3 HR). Through last week, Judge had a stretch where he hit those 6 home runs in 5 games. With hitting home runs at such an efficient rate (29% of hits) you can never count these guys out of a game.

Another reason the Bombers have been relying on home runs lately is because some of our starters have not been hitting up to par. For example, there is no acceptable reason right now that Gary Sanchez should be hitting less than .100. I want to consider Sanchez to be one of the better hitters on this team, but last season and the beginning of this one have proved the opposite. I only mention Sanchez and nobody else because he leads the team in strikeouts (14), he has the second worst on-base percentage (.148) and I believe he has the most potential out of the players who are not performing as well.

Cole is Carrying

On the hill for the New York Yankees so far this season has been a little shaky, outside of Gerrit Cole that is. The 6’4” right hander has been nothing shy of amazing in his first three outings. If you take away one bad inning which was later in a start against the orioles, his ERA drops from a 2.55 to a 1.57. So even though the stats are lying a bit right now, he is definitely passing the eye test for sure.

Behind Cole is what has been scaring me about this team. Without no. 45 on the bump, this staff has posted a 3.94 ERA. This is not terrible, but it is far from championship pitching. Starters like J.A. Happ and James Paxton need to be able to stay in games longer so that our stellar bullpen can actually do their job. It is never the plan to have your starter give up 4 over 4 innings and then give it up to the pen. We need pitchers who can give us 6-7 strong innings and then hand it over to the bullpen. Obviously we will not be looking for any trades right now, so this needs to improve.

Still High Hopes

With all of that being said, this is still one of the best teams in baseball. Without more than half of their lineup hitting their best, they’re still 8-1. Even as a fan, I would say that is an unbiased opinion to think that the Yankees will win the pennant. They are just too good all around as a unit and have the depth on the bench to do it. Even though there are some things that need to be fixed, baseball is a game of failure and it won’t always turn out in your favor. The difference between good teams and great teams is that they make those fixes, hopefully that can be done in the Bronx.

Written August 4th, 2020