How Yanks have made ’22 special in four easy steps
BOSTON — Five excellent teams have reached 50 wins just over halfway into the season, and congratulations to those fine clubs. The Yankees alone have 60-plus wins. A couple of teams have built nice cushions atop their divisions.
The Yankees are in baseball’s best division, and that race, such as it was, is over. Two quick blowout victories over the rival Red Sox before the home team sneaked in a 6-5, 10-inning win Saturday night felt very much like a punctuation mark on a job superbly done.
Nothing is very difficult for this Yankees team, which has destroyed the field before the All-Star Game has arrived.
No one saw this coming (certainly not me, who picked the Yankees for third place — sorry about that!). But one good thing about wrapping things up by July 10 is that we have two-plus months to try to understand and analyze where we went wrong — and where they went right.
I obviously don’t know very much about this. My poor prognostication is right there on video, on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove,” around April 1, and no I wasn’t joking. Back then I asked Yankees manager Aaron Boone what it was like to be managing a thirdplace club, or words to that effect.
So obviously, I needed to enlist some better baseball minds to help me try to figure this out.
“There is nothing they aren’t rolling out at you — money, game prep, big-impact tools [Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, bullpen arms],” said one AL GM. “It’s big resources, but it’s not one dimensional right now and it feels like a full-throated version of what that franchise is capable of.”
“Let’s face it, sometimes this game is pretty simple. Keep guys off base and don’t give up hard contact,” said another AL GM. “Today’s game is more and more about getting on base and hitting for power. They walk more than anyone in baseball and hit the ball harder than everyone, too. On the pitching side, they limit those same things.”
However it’s happening, these surprising win-a-day Yankees have gotten past the halfway point and remain on a pace to top the all-time record for victories. At their current rate, they will win 116, equal to the also-surprising 2001 Mariners. That’s the only race left.
Which goes to show you: You never know when history will hit you. But how did they get here?
1. They are finally healthy. The Yankees had been one of the more injured teams in the bigs in some recent seasons, but this year has been almost trouble-free, a remarkable achievement especially after the truncated spring.
“They’ve always had the talent level but some health issues trimmed them back from an elite level of performance to merely very good,” an AL GM said. “They’ve built a team that has maybe a higher variance because of that, but it gives them a real shot to win it all when healthy.”
2. They don’t do dumb things. For instance, not one player disqualified himself from playing at rival Toronto by failing to get a vaccination card. They are actually the only ones so far not to have to put at least one anti-vaxxer on the restricted list, thanks to Judge and Joey Gallo making it a perfect roster with vax cards by acquiring theirs in time. The rival Red Sox, who made a vax card a requirement for star free agent Trevor Story’s signing, were without unvaccinated closer Tanner Houck as their bullpen imploded in Toronto. Meanwhile, Yankees players understood the importance of the game, and did what was right — for us and for them.
When a Yankee steps out of line, there’s a quick correction. When Josh Donaldson flippantly called Tim Anderson “Jackie,” Judge publicly set him straight a day later.
3. They have outpitched everyone. Cole has done exactly what the best-paid pitcher (by total contract) should do, and the rest of the staff has outdone themselves.
“Everyone knew the Yankees could slug, hit home runs and score, but the pitching staff has been phenomenal,” one rival AL coach said.
“They have the best rotation going right now, and the best bullpen,” a rival AL manager said, flat out. That is a pretty rare combo. 4. Their defense is much better. They solved shortstop by acquiring Isiah Kiner-Falefa, but the switch at catcher has made an even greater difference.
Jose Trevino, who like Kiner-Falefa, spent last year with the Rangers, leads MLB in many catching categories. And as a bonus, he isn’t Gary Sanchez.
They have gone from near the bottom in overall defense to No. 1 in defensive runs saved, a remarkable achievement.
It’s just one of many in this shockingly special season.
One NL exec said, “Getting rid of Gary Sanchez has ended that drama, and allowed the pitching to be great.”
It’s the no-drama Bombers, which may even rhyme in a couple of boroughs.
Yes, here they are in Boston in early July, and these remarkable Yankees have already removed the suspense — and the worry — from this baseball season.