After last night’s absolute bludgeoning of the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Yankees are sitting pretty atop the American League East, and have done so for 45 of the last 55 calendar days.
These Bronx Bombers are resembling Yankees teams from the late 1990’s and late aughts in terms of runs scored. As of this morning, they have scored 339 runs in 59 games, an average of 5.745 runs per game. That puts them on pace for 930 runs, which would equal production of the 2006 team and be the most since 2007, when the Yankees scored a mind-blowing 968 runs.
As I sit here typing this, as I think about which video clips, gifs and photos to use to supplement this entry, I feel spoiled. Researching the amount of team runs scored over the past 20 years, it’s obvious this Yankees team is very special.
I’m pinching myself. I’m doing this as a reminder that they haven’t hit a wall yet, the same wall ALL teams hit at some point during the season. The Yankees haven’t done that yet, not in a way that’s lasted for any time. I remind myself Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez are 25 and 24 years old, respectively, and remind myself they have a combined career 621 MLB at-bats between them. It feels like Luis Severino has been here quite a while, but he’s still only 23 years old, with 34 career starts on his resume, the equivalent of one full season.
This is not to suggest pessimism, obviously I want this team to continue to roll over people with this offense and I would love to see Severino, Jordan Montgomery, and Michael Pineda keep shutting teams down and giving six or seven good innings every start. It would be great to have CC Sabathia continue defying Father Time. Masahiro Tanaka still has a 6.55 ERA.
Lastly, for the first time in quite a few years, the Yankees have enjoyed relatively good health. Having quality and productive depth has more than offset the few injury issues they have dealt with. All five starters have taken every turn to this point, and pushing back Tanaka a day is the reason Chad Green is making his first start of 2017 this afternoon.
The 2017 Bronx Bombers have been so much fun and so enjoyable to watch. Here’s hoping they stay healthy, productive and keep bringing joy to all Yankees fans everywhere.
See ya next time!
Charlie
The Titanium Spine 