The New York Yankees took on the Toronto Blue Jays on Opening Day Thursday afternoon, but in one swift 10th-inning, they blew the tied game and secured their first loss of the 2021 season. It only fitted that the Yankees experienced boo’s for the first time with fans in the stands in over a year.
Luckily, they have a long campaign ahead that isn’t stained by a 60 game regular season schedule. They will be experiencing a full 162 games this season, giving the Bombers a bit more room to work with in terms of win-loss ratio. It is always exciting to think how positive they can start the season and how many wins they can string together before finally picking up a loss, but it didn’t take them very long to do so this year. Nonetheless, the Yankees are still favorites to be a World Series contending team, and one poor performance shouldn’t steal any confidence from fans.
Good news and bad news for the Yankees:
The Yankees had plenty of positives to work within the loss, but the negatives are represented by 13 total strikeouts, with a majority coming from Aaron Judge (2), Aaron Hicks (3), and Giancarlo Stanton (3), Gleyber Torres (2), and Gio Urshela (2). Their first six batters accumulated 12 of the 13 strikeouts, indicating a massive cold streak in the middle of their batting order.
However, catcher Gary Sanchez had himself a positive start to the season, slapping a two-run homer to left field, traveling 407 feet. He picked up two hits, two RBIs, and a walk in the loss. After a tumultuous 2020 campaign, Sanchez is bouncing back to open the year strong, which is exactly what he needed to get his confidence levels up.
As for the Yankees pitching, Gerrit Cole lasted 5.1 innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs. He did strike out eight batters, securing a 3.38 ERA which should be good enough for a potent Yankee offense to provide him with some run support.
Overall, the Yankee pitching was adequate. It was their offenses that proved to be detrimental. Luckily, the Yankees will take on the Blue Jays once again on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 PM, presenting them with an opportunity to right their wrongs. Unfortunately, their awful end to spring training carried over into the regular season, but eventually, their offense will take hold.