The New York Yankees are back and better than ever and prepared to ravage the American League with one of the most powerful lineups ever assembled.
At this time last year, the New York Yankees were getting ready to embark on a season with next to no expectations. Many baseball writers openly wondered if the team’s run of winning seasons dating back to 1992 was in jeopardy. The 2016 club was effectively a .500 group save a hot month of August, and the front office sat on their hands and left the roster alone while saving money and focusing on getting below the luxury-tax threshold.
Then, a funny thing happened. The Yankees were good. Aaron Judge was good. Luis Severino was good. The Yankees were — dare I say it — a fun baseball team. Several baseball fans outside of the Tri-State Area might not have hated it if it had been the Yankees, not the Houston Astros repping the AL in the World Series!
Ok, that last part might have been a stretch. The Yankees can only ever be fun and likable up to a certain point. And, apparently, the owners decided they had enough of the underdog story. Giancarlo Stanton is now a Yankee, and he will prepare to launch an assault on the record books with Judge and Gary Sanchez. Home runs will be hit in bunches and opposing pitching staffs will cower.
New manager Aaron Boone walks into the best situation in the league. He has a star-studded roster with a paint-by-numbers bullpen that will feature a handful of relievers capable of striking out close to half the batters they face. More elite prospects like Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar and Justus Sheffield wait in the wings. Hope you all enjoyed the Yankees “down” years while they lasted, because the Bronx Bombers are gearing up to go on a run.
Best Case Scenario
The Yankees have the potential to put up an offensive season for the ages. Giancarlo Stanton stays healthy and ravages Yankee Stadium and the AL East, Aaron Judge carries last year’s first-half numbers for an entire year and Gary Sanchez is able to play 140 games and hits 45 home runs. The Yankees can have the division sewed up by the end of August and hit more than 300 home runs as a team, obliterating the old single-season record of 264.
Pitching, once thought to be the Achillies heel of the Yankees, turns out to be a strength. Luis Severino is even more dominant in his second full season, while Masahiro Tanaka channels last year’s playoff form and Sonny Gray is healthy and confident. At the back of the rotation, CC Sabathia continues mastering the art of the crafty lefty and gives the team 160 strong innings.
The best-case scenario for the 2018 Yankees really is a World Series title. They have the bats, a rotation with upside and a dominant bullpen. All the pieces are there to allow this team to be the last one standing. The Yankees are young, and their core is still gelling, so this isn’t a “World Series or bust” type of year, but expectations should still be high.
Worst Case Scenario
Aaron Judge’s second half last year was miserable, and he only managed to salvage it with a torrid stretch of games against the miserable Baltimore Orioles pitching staff in September. Last year’s Rookie of the Year had an ugly first few weeks of camp before turning it on at the end. Judge is still very prone to slumps, and the league has had an entire winter to figure out every hole in his swing. While the Yankees are made to weather Judge’s slumps, if he slumps at the same time as Giancarlo Stanton, the lineup will be providing a lot of free air conditioning.
Strikeouts from the sluggers aside, the starting rotation has the potential to bring the Yankees World Series hopes crashing down. The staff is built on a very shaky foundation, with Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray and CC Sabathia all coming with health concerns and questions. It’s unlikely that all three will make it through the year unscathed. If that happens, the Yankees don’t have the depth ready to cover.
Worst case, the Yankees win the second Wild Card and are forced to go on the road for the play-in game. This year, they are unable to blast their way back from a slow start and bow out before the ALDS.
Team MVP
Gary Sanchez — C
All of the hype surrounds Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, but catcher Gary Sanchez is the Yankee who will ultimately reign as the team’s MVP. In two-plus years in the big leagues, Sanchez has homered once every 14 plate appearances, which is unheard of for a catcher. Hall of Famer Mike Piazza homered every 18 trips to the plate in his legendary career.
Sanchez has the added bonus of bringing more value behind the plate. He has blown away the league average caught-stealing percentage so far in his career, and rates as a positive overall at catcher. He has come a long way since his time in the minors where defense was a concern. If Sanchez is able to avoid the small injuries that pop up with catching, he could hit 50 home runs and win league MVP, not just team MVP.
Prediction
The Yankees breeze through the AL East and win 100 games for the first time since 2009. With Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez mashing, the MLB single-season home run record set by the 1997 Seattle Mariners goes down without much fight. The trio combines for 150 home runs and makes life that much easier for the likes of Didi Gregorius, Brett Gardner and Neil Walker, who all hit over 20 homers.
Starting pitching was thought to be a potential area of weakness for the Yankees, but with a dominant bullpen, the rotation is able to do just enough to pass the baton to Aroldis Chapman and his merry band of flamethrowers. New York wins their first AL East title since 2012 and makes it back to the ALCS, where they come up just short for the second straight season — but they’re still ahead of schedule.