7/22/2023 0 Comments Yankees magic number 2019The Yankees gladly would exceed the highest luxury-tax threshold to copy-paste that statement and attribute it to the rest of their players the rest of this year. You can wonder whether the Yankees should be training their players differently, or whether their medical staff needs a shake-up (Brian Cashman vaguely called them out after a misstep with Luis Severino’s rehabilitation), yet plenty of injuries, like Encarnacion’s and Urshela’s this past weekend, have been just plain bad luck. No, the Yankees’ primary opponent from now through the end of the regular season very well might be the injury bug, which has latched onto this team like a tick and can’t be shaken off. At this point, with the trade deadline behind us, little benefit exists to fixating on those guys. Both look like better, more complete teams than do the Yankees, although the Dodgers’ bullpen looms as an obvious Achilles’ heel. The Astros and then the Dodgers loom as the beasts in the periphery. The Yankees’ remaining schedule features enough soft spots, starting right here this week with the dramatically rebuilding O’s, that it’s shame on them if they somehow blow this divisional lead to the Rays. It’s just getting really quality, impactful at-bats, especially at the bottom of the order. “Being a little depleted there, the number of lefties in the lineup against Price to start. “I don’t think you can say enough about the meaningful contributions we’ve gotten from so many guys, and night was another indicator,” Boone said. ![]() Only Gardner and Tauchman were on the Opening Day roster, Gardner nearly as much for his leadership as his baseball skills and Tauchman only because Hicks was out with a serious back injury. ![]() When the Yankees mounted a two-out, six-run rally against Boston nemesis David Price in the third inning on Sunday, six straight men reaching base with their bats, the production came from this sextet: Urshela, Brett Gardner, Cameron Maybin, Mike Ford, Kyle Higashioka and Mike Tauchman. And a lot of surprising contributions by guys who either didn’t start the season with the Yankees or who began the year on the roster with low expectations and have easily surpassed those. A lot of concerns surrounding the starting pitching (although, let’s face it, not a lot of trade-deadline action to address those concerns).Ī lot of exciting, dramatic wins, many over quality opponents. These developments marked progress from Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of the Bosox, during which they lost everyday players Edwin Encarnacion (fractured right wrist) and Aaron Hicks (strained right flexor) to the injured list, with neither expected back anytime soon.Īsked how relieved he felt by the Torres news, Boone responded, “A lot,” and those two monosyllabic words capture much of the drama that has swirled around this club. Gio Urshela, who fouled two pitches off his legs (the first his right knee, the second his left shin) in a three-pitch span Sunday night in the sixth inning, eventually causing him to leave the game, showed up in one piece, too, although he didn’t start the game - a plan Aaron Boone said he had devised even before Urshela’s public self-immolation. Gleyber Torres, whom the team removed from its 7-4 victory over the Red Sox on Sunday night to get tested for apparent abdominal pain, reported no problem and started as the designated hitter Monday night against the Orioles, as he tried to resume his one-man attack on Oriole Park at Camden Yards. ![]() Monday went down, at least in the first take, as a good day for the Yankees. Will this 2019 Yankees norm continue to be the norm all the way through? Must they capture their first title since 2009 thanks to the efforts of future World Series Most Valuable Player Tyler Wade? Less clear and quite possibly more important? Their magic number to eliminate the Grim Reaper. ![]() BALTIMORE - As of Monday morning, the Yankees’ magic number to clinch the American League East against their top challenger, the Rays, stood at 43.
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