After two years of the New York Yankees winning a hundred or more games and getting into the playoffs, the year the Yankee Empire will be striking back with a vengeance on a mission to win a 28th World Championship.
In manger Aaron Boone’s first year taking over from Joe Girardi as manager of the Yankees, they won 100 games. Last year with unprecedented injuries, the Yankees won 103 games. Both years they went into the postseason only to fall short.
This year the New York Yankees are in it to win it. During the offseason, they took a major step to make that happen. For $324 million, they purchased the pitching services of Gerrit Cole with a nine-year contract. At the end of last year, Cole was a free agent. General Manager Brian Cashman, manager Aaron Boone, pitching coach Matt Blake, and Cole’s childhood idol Andy Pettitte made the trip to Cole’s California home where they convinced that star to become a New York Yankee.
Tonight the Yankees, barring weather developments, will start on that mission to earn their 28th World Championship for the most in all of the sports. They won their 27th in 2009 under Joe Girardi’s leadership. Aaron Boone has led the Yankees through many challenges during the past two years will amazing results.
Spring training and summer camp have been very encouraging for the Yankees. After it looked as if the Yankees would start the season missing some key players, the delayed season caused by the coronavirus has all but wiped out those doubts. As it presently stands, the Yankees will only miss the pitching of Luis Severino due to Tommy John surgery.
Everyone else on the team is ready to play tonight an win the first game of a 60 game season. Masahiro Tanaka, who was hit by a comebacker, should be ready to make his second scheduled start on July 31. Key players like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, and Gleyber Torres looked really good in training. All but Torres hit home runs in the recent exhibition games. Judge hit 3 home runs in just two games.
With Cole at the top of the rotation, the pitching staff looks great. Cole was dominant in summer camp, as was James Paxton, J.A. Happ, and young Michael King among others. Boone has a deep bench and a back up pitching staff with a variety of quality productive players. The New York Yankees have one of the best chances they have had in recent years to accomplish that journey to their 28th World Championship.