The New York Yankees have been on a roll so far in the 2024 season. They have played 11 games and won nine of them. It is only the eighth time in the franchise history that the NY side has enjoyed a 9-2 lead at the start of a season. But the surprising part of this journey has been the absence of Gerrit Cole. Last year, the ace pitcher was the only good performer for the team. He had his career-best season. As a result, the NY side’s ace starting pitcher won the American League Cy Young award. However, the Yankees ended with an awful 82-80 record. They could not even make the postseason. It was the first time since 2016 that the 27-time champions failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Hence, the fans thought that no matter what, Cole needed to keep up the momentum. After all, he is the most dependable hurler in the team. However, the leader of the pitching department suffered from right elbow inflammation since spring training. Hence, Cole won’t be back for one to two months. These were not good signs for the Yankees. But against all odds, the NY side won their first three series of the 2024 season. Moreover, they won the first game against the Miami Marlins as well. They can make it four in a row. After the brilliant start, the Yankees get all kinds of praise from the experts in their latest MLB rankings.
Yankees Get A Lot Of Praise In Latest Rankings
Recently, The Sporting News presented a chart that showed all the experts praising the NY Yankees after their brilliant start to the 2024 season. The experts showed their praises and compliments in their latest MLB power rankings. Moreover, The Athletic ranked the Bronx Bombers at number three with +1. On the other hand, CBS Sports ranked the Pinstripes at number two with +1. Then, there is Bleacher Report, which ranked the Yankees at number “One” with +2. Moreover, MLB.com ranked the 27-time champions at number three with +4. Then, there is USA Today, which ranked the NY side at number five with +2.
Then, on the last website, but not the least, ESPN ranked the Bronx Bombers at number three with +4. Moreover, Kevin Hickey of The Sporting News mentioned that, at present, it is really hard not to put the Yankees among the top three teams in the league. Despite the team playing without their ace pitcher, the rotation is giving their best to keep them in the game. Moreover, the NY side is constantly putting together quality at-bats. Hence, the team looks like real World Series contenders at the moment.
Bronx Bombers Look Like Worthy Contenders For The World Series
First of all, the starting pitchers, like Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes, managed to survive well without the ace Gerrit Cole. Stroman has not allowed an earned run after pitching 12.0 innings so far. On the other hand, Nestor Cortes had a career-outing game against the Marlins on Monday. Cortes was instrumental in the Yankees’ 7-0 win against the Marlins at Yankee Stadium.
He pitched a dominant eight innings against the Miami side. For the most part of the start to the season so far, the offense seemed strong despite slow starts from Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. Juan Soto had a dream start for the Yankees so far. Along with youngsters like Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera, Juan Soto played a crucial role in the dominant start of the Yankees in 2024.
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