It was quite the roller coaster-like season for the New York Yankees to say the least. There were extensive winning streaks to go along with some rough patches and key injuries. All and all, it added up to a 2nd-place finish and a 100-win season. This team had to deal with some adversity as the injury bug hit the team all year long. Young pitcher Jordan Montgomery was lost for the season after tearing the ulna collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. Gary Sanchez (groin), Aroldis Chapman (knee), Didi Gregorious (wrist), Aaron Hicks (hamstring) and Aaron Judge (wrist) had all spent some time on the disabled list. Still though, Aaron Boone’s first season as the team’s manager, he put things together enough to secure a playoff spot.
The Yankees had a Wild Card date with a dangerous Oakland Athletics team. With some timely hitting, the Bronx Bombers were able to get pass Oakland feeding off the Yankee crowd. Next was a Divisional Round date with the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox won 108 games this year, which was tops in all of baseball. Out of 19 season meetings with the Yankees, Boston had defeated them 10 times. Although the Yankees looked so good against the A’s in the Wild Card game, this past Tuesday night their chase for championship banner No. 28 came to an end. Boston seemed too much for New York as they hit, ran and pitched in dominant fashion winning the best of 5 series 3-1. The Achilles’ heel for this Yankees team was the inability to score with runners in scoring position. The team was known for being a “home run-friendly” ball club as the Yankees scored 50% of their runs via the home run. That could be a good thing, but in the divisional series against the Red Sox, it proved to loom for the Yanks on the wrong side of things. It was another rough ending of the season as the team and the home crowd had to endure watching the hated rivals celebrate on our home field twice in the past month.
Moving forward, the big question will be what will Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman do to improve the Yankee roster for 2019? We all know about the big names that will be out there such as Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and possibly Clayton Kershaw. You can be sure that the usual suspects such as the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs will be bidding for their services. The Yankees MUST address their starting pitching. For now, the Yankee fans could just reminisce on what could have been. The team must address and figure out why their offense was shut down the last two games of the year. This current Yankees team has a good balance of young players. It’s all about making it work all around to get to the number one goal in bringing a 28th championship back to New York.
Sports Notes: Who should the Yankees target in trades and free agency? E-mail me NOW at Castroeddie714@gmail.com. Let’s share our thoughts Our Time Press universe.