On Wednesday, The New York Yankees won their fourth consecutive game of the series against the Baltimore Orioles, taking their record to an incredible 28-9 this season. The Yankees have appeared to be an intimidating team on the field, with towering home runs and impactful contributions in all departments. However, the most important thing behind their successful run this year is the amount of strategizing and planning that New York has benefitted from during their victorious run. The team has three of the top-five hitter in the league, with players drawing dramatic salaries from the franchise. However, the greatest turnaround this season has been the decision to ignore the offense at two of the most crucial defensive positions.
The franchise has deployed almost a dozen players with nine-figure salaries. However, the Yankees insist that chemistry, selflessness, determination, and complete focus have taken the team to their best record in the last 50 years. The Bombers have appeared to be playing better than their 1998 team, which is widely acclaimed as the franchise’s best team.
Moreover, New York is leading the league in earned-run average, OPS, and homers per game. They have also appeared as the game’s best reliever so far and have not lost more than two games in a row. While things can turn around anytime in a 122-game long season, the Yankees have rules the first quarter of the season as they head towards creating a new history.
Top Home-run Hitters In The League Helped Yankees Turn Things Around After Last Season:
There have been only a few changes in the lineup as compared to last year. The Yankees won 91 games last season. However, the season ended with New York falling short after a wild-card loss against the Boston Red Sox. Without making many changes, the Yankees appeared to be a completely different side from their underachieving and frustrated self last year. The Pinstripers have three of the league’s top five home run hitters in Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Anthony Rizzo. While other teams have struggled to hit the ball out of the park, Judge(97mph) and Stanton (96.6 mph) have struck the ball harder than anyone.
Despite Judge(148) and Standon(138) playing a lot of games with an OPS of 0.916 and 0.870, the Yankees slipped into a vicious circle of losing sprees last year. There was a lot of anxiety when the second-richest sports franchise in the world decided not to be a part of the high-end free agent trade. Instead, the franchise chose to make a couple of trades before and after the lockout. During the match trade, the powerful hitting Gary Sanchez was sent to Minnesota in exchange for shortstop Isiah Kisner-Falefa due to Sanchez’s lacking catching skills. It seems like the move turned out to be a dealbreaker for the Yankees this season, as they have emerged as a completely different team this season.
On Monday, Jose Trevino became the first Yankee catcher to hit a home run 318 feet down the right field line off the Camden Yards’ foul pole. Moreover, the collective efforts and brainstorming from Kyle Higashioka and Trevino have helped the team a lot. While Sanchez scored four homers by this time, Trevino and Kyle have scored less than ten so far. However, Gerrit Colt revealed that the pair do not take mental days off. They never miss out on strategy discussions, often seen working in the training room, hot tubs, and running the pitcher’s meeting.
Both Kyle and Trevino have played 22 games this season, but the duo provides valiant contributions even when they are not playing. Cole shared that when the two players are not catching him, Kyle and Trevino have their eyes on every pitch. The Bombers pitcher told that the catchers are confident of going in a different direction away from their strength to attack the hitters. Further, Cole added, ” There is a lot of continuity. The sequence just keeps running, like a receipt that just keeps printing and printing and it doesn’t hit the floor.”