Gio Urshela and DJ LeMahieu became the New York Yankees newest additions to the team’s list of injuries following their series against the San Francisco Giants. Although both may manage to avoid a trip to the injured list, the mere thought of the Yankees replacements suffering injuries is astonishing.
Aaron Judge has been out since April 20. Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t played a game in April, with the month almost at its end. And those two are just tip of the iceberg. New York has been decimated by injury since the start of the year, with Didi Gregorius sidelined until June and Dellin Betances in a similar position. CC Sabathia started the season late as well, and Luis Severino’s return is still unclear. And there’s more.
Yet the Yankees aren’t in trouble; far from it, actually. They enter Monday 1.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, who just won an abbreviated two-game series against the floundering Boston Red Sox. It doesn’t seem to make sense, especially with Boston being the reigning World Series winner.
It’s not superior coaching. Aaron Boone makes more than his share of odd decisions. The “World Series hangover” may be impacting the Red Sox given some of the miscues they’ve made (i.e. the fly ball Jackie Bradley Jr. whiffed on). But that still doesn’t explain how New York is well within striking distance of the Rays despite missing multiple important pieces for extended stretches.
This either comes down to the front office building a team properly, or this group is on a ridiculous heater that will eventually lose steam. The latter seems more likely.
As much as the Yankees have been riddled with injuries, they still have James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, and Domingo German pitching well, with Sabathia chipping in since returning, even though his last outing was less than ideal.
Aroldis Chapman, Adam Ottavino and Zach Britton have tossed 10 apiece scoreless outings in their respective 12 outings. Tommy Kahnle has made 12 appearances, as well, and he’s only allowed the opposition to score in one game.
Even though they’re missing their ace and one of their better relievers, the Yankees pitching staff has been able to make up for the lineup’s injuries. New York is still getting big performances from seemingly a different player every night, but the Yankees are winning the close games because of their pitching.
Now, the Red Sox starting rotation should have much better numbers than it does. As much as Chris Sale is taking steps forward, David Price has been the only reliable starter. And while there are some relievers who’ve done well in Boston’s bullpen, Ryan Brasier (11 scoreless appearances in 13 outings) is the only one that’s proven to be a lockdown reliever like the Yankees best. Matt Barnes is impactful and Brandon Workman and Marcus Walden have shown promise, but there are still questions with those two.
The point is, the Red Sox staff has not performed to the level of the Yankees and that seems to be where things both start and end for both teams.
