It’s normal to associate the Yankees with all the home runs their lineup produces. There’s nothing, however, normal about the upcoming 2020 baseball season. The Bronx Bombers better have their track shoes ready, they’re going to need them for this 60-game sprint.
If the Yankees are to fulfill their goal of a World Series championship, their first since 2009, they won’t have 162 games to work with. The sports world, amid the coronavirus pandemic, is figuring this out as they go. It’s 50/50, at best, there will be baseball games. The Yankees, meanwhile, are getting ready for the unknown.
Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone acknowledges how important it is to get out to a fast start. Spring Training 2.0 is underway in the Bronx and Boone feels confident their “plan is coming together”.
Can the Yankees stay healthy in 2020?
Boone is right to place the emphasis on getting out the blocks quickly. In an abbreviated season, there’s little room for prolonged slumps or losing streaks. The Yankees will need to be on their game.
They’ll also need to remain healthy, a goal this team must meet in 2020.
The Yankees’ lineup, when healthy, is a nightmare for opposing pitchers to face. But when factoring in health, look at these alarming numbers from the 2019 season:
- The Yankees injured list had 30 different players on it, an MLB record.
- Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are two of baseball’s best power hitters – when they’re healthy. Judge missed 54 games last season, and Stanton’s two trips to the injured list kept him sidelined for all but 18 games.
- Luis Severino, James Paxton, Aaron Hicks, Gary Sanchez, Luke Voit, Miguel Andujar – all key contributors, missed significant time with injuries.
- The Yankees used 155 different lineups over the course of a 162-game regular season.
All of that and they still found a way to win 103 games and their division title. Yes, what Boone and the Yankees were able to accomplish last season was remarkable.
But in a 60-game season there’s shorter time for recovery. In a normal year, losing key players for a significant amount of time is a body blow to a team’s postseason goals.
Now imagine the same scenario in a shortened season?
Are the pitchers ready?
The next three weeks of prep time are critical. That’s all the time teams will have to get ready before the games count for real. Then it’s off to the races.
If the hitters are using Spring Training 2.0 to get their swing ready the pitchers are doing the same for their arms. The challenge with all this comes with having to restart after getting halfway ramped up back in March before the shutdown.
The Yankees have the pitching to compete to a championship. When they signed Gerrit Cole last winter, I wrote he instantly makes them the team to beat in 2020. Well, that opinion hasn’t changed. As the ace of the pitching staff, Cole is the key, he sets the tone for the entire season.
Cole and Masashiro Tanaka can pitch deep into ballgames. Both pitchers are good for six or seven innings, or more, every start. When they’re not on the mound, there’s enough depth in the rotation to deliver to deliver five-plus innings every time out. Then Boone can turn to a bullpen that last season didn’t have one reliever pitch three consecutive days.
Yes they’ll miss Luis Severino while he continues rehabbing from Tommy John surgery in February. But this is still as complete a pitching staff as it gets.
Built for a sprint to October
The schedule by now has been released, in a future post we’ll look closer at what’s on the calendar for the Yankees. My early observation, however, is they should send a gift basket to the schedule makers — a big one.
The Yankees have the hitting, pitching, and right mix of youth and experience to get the job done. In what’s about to be the most unconventional seasons in recent history, maintaining good health must be a priority for this team.
There will be adversity along the way, there will be an injury or two — that’s inevitable. But I believe the leadership of Aaron Boone is a tailored fit for this team. The Yankees injury list, at times, resembled a M.A.S.H. unit’s best friend. Boone, however, still steered them into the playoffs for a deep run. He’s the right voice for this team, at the right time.
If there’s a season to be played, and all indications are pointing that way, the Yankees have what it takes to sprint their way to a World Series.
