Four games against the best team in the American League? What could go wrong?
Let's find out.
The Yankees might not be the best team in the AL, actually. I notice that Cleveland is scoring more runs and allowing fewer. The Bombers are down to a two man offence - Giancarlo Stanton had been playing well, but in a totally unforeseen development, he's had to go on the IL and is expected to be out for about four weeks. Anthony Rizzo was already on the IL and won't be back until mid-August at the earliest, Anthony Volpe has been mired in a slump these last three weeks, and Gleyber Torres has been benched.
But Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are able to make up for all these troubles by themselves. Judge is essentially submitting an exact replica of his magnificent MVP campaign in 2022. Except his time, he's basically an every day centre fielder, rather than shifting between RF and CF all the time. As for Soto, as you can imagine, he has found Yankee Stadium III (career .288/.421/.582) a much more pleasant place to hit than Petco Park (.237/.381/.426).
I don't think anyone expected the pitching to be quite this good, especially with Gerrit Cole, last year's Cy Young winner, only now making his return to the rotation. After his rocky first year in the Bronx, Carlos Rodon is once more looking like the guy who pitched so well for the White Sox and Giants; Nestor Cortes seems more or less recovered from the shoulder problems that cost him much of the last season. He's been the tough luck man on the staff. The Yankees are averaging better than 5 runs per game in support of Rodon, Stroman, and Gill. They've all said "thank you very much" and collectively sport a 25-10 record. Cortes has been getting just 3.68 runs per game, which is why he has a 4-6 record.
The bullpen has been pretty good - not as elite as Cleveland's, not as gruesome as Toronto's. You probably have a certain degree of familiarity with Clay Holmes, the Yankees closer, and Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle have been around for years. But Michael Tonkin? He's an extremely tall RH reliever who made his debut with the Twins back in 2013. He's 34 years old now, he's been released four times, and he's been claimed off waivers twice this season. That last claim was put in by the Yankees near the end of April, and in 20 appearances, Tonkin has put up a 1.04 ERA.
Matchups
Thu 27 June - Rodon (9-4, 3.86) vs Berrios (6-6, 3.43)
fri 28 June - Stroman (7-3, 3.15) vs Kikuchi (4-7, 4.00)
Sat 29 June - Cortes (4-6, 3.40) vs Bassitt (6-6, 3.45)
Sun 30 June - Cole (0-1, 9.00) vs Gausman (6-6, 4.26)
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20240627115041800