Can the Yankees keep up this pace

It should come as a surprise to no one that a month and a half into the 2022 Major League Baseball season, the New York Yankees are one of the best performing teams. For decades now, the team has been one of the titans of the regular season and for the last ten years it is fair to say that they have been the most competitive team in MLB, even though they have not been able to lift a championship trophy.

The Yankees’ “bad fortune” has been a consequence of multiple factors, the main one being health, which has failed them at key moments of their seasons. Figures such as Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge have had a significant number of trips to the injured list, which has worked against the team, but they have always been able to remain competitive.

That same health has been one of the key elements in 2022 for the Bronx Bombers. Their record of 28 wins and only 10 losses, while ranking second in home runs hit (55) and leading the league in slugging (SLG) and OPS, are a clear key that the bats have been there. However, it has not only been the bats, but the pitchers have also stepped up for the team.

The Yankees have the best ERA in the Major Leagues with 2.74 in 332 innings before the start of this Thursday, May 19. This has been thanks to the great work of their starters, who also have the team in the Top 5 of most collective statistics for pitchers so far this year.

Clearly, the team has shown the consistency that has kept them competing year after year, but this season, at least for the time being, health has been added, an element that has been so lacking in recent campaigns.

However, one should not be illusive, a Major League season is long and many things can happen. Projections are not always fulfilled, pitchers who are doing excellent have a bad outing any day or the best hitter can go on a bad streak and unfortunately, there are injuries, that is the reality of baseball. Although the team has all the tools to be competitive, it is not certain that they will be able to maintain this pace for 162 games. If they did, they would project to win 120 games, something never seen in the history of the league.

The reality is that the season is just beginning and anything can happen, but the signs point to another great year for the Yankees, although not with the momentum and pace they have had so far. There is a saying in the Dominican Republic that “in baseball no one is as good as their winning streak, nor as bad as their losing streak”, and the Yankees will have to face that.