5 reasons the Yankees will beat the Twins yet again

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 21: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees reacts at second base after his fourth inning RBI double against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

3. A healthy lineup

If you took some time to read through the Yankees long list of injuries this year, you might be inclined to predict the team would have ended up winning 75 games. Nope. They won 103 games and set an MLB record for most home runs in a single season.

Here’s a brief rundown of all the important Yankees who missed significant time this season:

Giancarlo Stanton
Aaron Judge
Gary Sanchez
Didi Gregorius
Gleyber Torres
Luke Voit
Edwin Encarnacion
Gio Urshela
Aaron Hicks
Mike Tauchman
Miguel Andujar

That is effectively a team that could come close to claiming a playoff spot on its own, without mentioning MVP candidate DJ LeMahieu and the always steady (on the field, in the dugout…not so much) Brett Gardner. Of that big group, only Andujar and Hicks are done for the playoffs. Tauchman will only return by the World Series. All of the injuries also served to help the Yankees build an elite bench that saw significant playing time during the regular season.

The Yankees put up historic offensive numbers with only three members of their starting lineup playing more than 140 games. Judge just squeaked over 100 games and Stanton was on the injured list for all but two weeks. Somehow they still scored four more runs than the Twins. The Yankees haven’t been this healthy since the start of the season, and that’s a big problem for their opponent.

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