The Yankees’ first homestand of 2022 has been a test.
The Red Sox dominated them last year, finally kicking them to the curb in the American League Wild Card game last October. The young and talented Blue Jays were nipping at their heels until the last day of the regular season after having played in three different “home,” ballparks because of Canada’s COVID travel policies.
So far, the Yankees have held serve, going into the final game of a four-game series with the Blue Jays having won the series against the Red Sox 2-1 and down 1-2 to the Blue Jays, but with a chance to come out even.
Starting the season against two of the teams they will be battling in the division for a playoff spot was like “two stags,” facing off in the woods, according to Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and diving in “the deep end,” to Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
“Anytime you’re going within the division and with certainly a team that you know you’re going to be fighting for potentially a playoff spot in the division, yeah, they take on double meaning,” Boone said. “I would say they’re extra important. Even in April. Yeah. You always have the perspective of the whole season, but I would say anytime we’re with a division rival we treat that as doubly important.”
The early test has revealed a lot about the Bombers.
The bullpen is picking up where it left off last season and will be a weapon for the Yankees in these battles. Most of the starting rotation is building up into a positive with Luis Severino, Jameson Taillon and Nestor Cortes looking very good in their first starts of the season. Jordan Montgomery pitched pretty well with a sore and stiff knee after being hit by a comebacker, but the lefty is on track to make his next start and not miss time because of the injury.
The one exception is Cole. He’s been fine, but hasn’t looked like the dominant ace that the Yankees need to make a long playoff run yet. He’s given up home runs in both his first two starts, which brings back memories not just of his meltdown in the Wild Card game, but of his struggles down the stretch last season. Cole has given up a home run in six of his last seven games dating back to 2021.
There have been a lot of high-leverage situations for that bullpen, because the offense, ranked 20th in the majors heading into Thursday night’s game, has proven to be inconsistent again so far this year. The Yankees’ struggles in 2021 — they finished seventh in the American League in OPS (.729), 10th in runs scored (711) and were fourth in strikeouts (1482) — forced a shakeup. They let long-time hitting coach Marcus Thames go and promoted their minor league hitting coordinator. Heading into their seventh game of the season, the Yankees were just fifth in OPS (.736) and fourth in slugging (.415) and on-base percentage (.321) in the American League,
The defense is not as crisp as it should be, despite a new routine of on-field defensive work before games this season. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, brought in to play shortstop after the experiment to play Gleyber Torres there failed, has already had some miscues and an error. Torres, now at second base, made a costly defensive miscue on Wednesday night that wasn’t marked down as an error, but kept the seventh inning alive and allowed the Blue Jays to rally for the win.
So far, the Yankees get an incomplete on their first test of the season, but there will be a challenge all year in the division. The next test won’t be the monumental challenge of trying to keep Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the ballpark or scoring on the nasty Alek Manoah.
The Yankees head to Baltimore after Thursday night’s game. While the Orioles seem to be in an eternal rebuild, games against the birds can also define a season. The Rays went 18-1 against the AL East basement dwellers last year en route to winning the division and cruising into the playoffs. (They are already 3-0 against the Orioles this season). The Yankees went just 11-8 against the Orioles last season and had to sweat it down the stretch.
()