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By Warner Cabaniss

What is going on with the New York Yankees?

After being the second-most favored team to win the World Series when the 2021 MLB season began, only behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees have started off their year lackluster at best. High hopes were once again tied to the Yankees this season after a few offseason moves that were thought to push them over the hump of their recent postseason shortcomings. 

The most notable new addition to the team was Corey Kluber, a two-time Cy Young award winner, who inked a one year, 11-million-dollar deal this offseason, as well as re-signing 2020 American League Batting Champ DJ Lemahieu to a six-year, 90-million-dollar extension. So if the Yankees essentially only got better this offseason, why were they near the bottom of the American League earlier this season?

The issue so far has been pertaining to runners in scoring position and scoring in general. While only averaging 3.93 runs per game in the first few weeks of the season, the last time the Yankees had been that low in runs was in 2014, where they averaged 3.91 runs per game and finished 84-78. To find another incident of the dry run game, you’d have to go back more than 30 years, to the 1990 season, where they averaged 3.71 runs per game, and finished with a dismal 67-95 record. The Yankees’ strength has always been scoring runs, almost never protecting them. So when your power turns out to be your most significant weakness so far, that is a recipe for disaster. 

One reason that they hadn’t been scoring runs early could easily be routed to their stats with runners in scoring position (RISP). RISP is a critical stat that determines how good a team is when a base runner is either on second or third base, or both. Second to homers, this is the easiest way to score runs. The Yankees had hit 56 home runs as of May 19, and previously set the record of one run home run back in April. Not having runners on base, while still hitting home runs at a top-five clip in the league, means runs are just being left on the table.

Since May baseball has begun, the Yankees have picked up their play. They started off 12-5 in the month of May and not having lost a series in their past nine matchups, dating all the way back to April 18. While being 8-2 in their last 10 games, the Yankees have cut the deficit of five games back of first place in the AL East to just a game and a half.

Giancarlo Stanton has been lethal to begin the season, when healthy. Photo credit: Joe Giglio.

The Yankees are not through the thick of it, however. The stigma with them is always once they start getting hot, something goes awry. Whether it pertains to injuries throughout the starting lineup, rough stretch in the schedule, or just a drop of play, they have seen it all. Throughout the years, top performing Yankees have been known to have to sit out during the peak of a hot streak, and this year is no different. Giancarlo Stanton, one of the more injury-prone Yankees, had to retire to the Injured List (IL) amidst a breakout performance. During a 12-game performance that stretched from late April to early May, Stanton was batting a .481 average and a 1.413 OPS (On Base Percentage), including four home runs, 12 RBIs, as well as having a hit in all 12 games. On May 14, he returned to the 10-day IL with a quad injury, continuing the trend that has limited him to just 18 games in 2019 and only 23 games in 2020.

While Giancarlo has been out, the Yanks have been moving along nicely, with a modest 4-2 record, while scoring five runs per game. Showing that they can manage without their hottest bat is an encouraging sign, as it is very likely that fellow superstars Aaron Judge, Luke Voit, and Gleyber Torres will see their fair share of time on the IL this year, as it is becoming what seems to be a yearly tradition.

Kluber celebrates after throwing the Yankees’ first no hitter since 1999 on May 19. Photo credits: Mike Rosenstein.

Voit, the reigning home run leader, returned just last week from the Injured List after having surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee in early April. Judge is also fresh off a surgery himself, having had shoulder surgery in the offseason in preparation for a grueling 162-game schedule. 

With the Yankees heating up and reaching midseason stride, it is possible that they could finally reach and win their first World Series since 2009. With the league record of 27 World Series titles, people are starting to ask if this group has what it takes to bring it home, and with a little bit of grit and luck, there is a good chance they are hoisting their 28th trophy come late October.

A no-hitter from Kluber doesn’t hurt either.

Featured image credit: flickr user apardavila.