Run It Back pt.2

By Eddie Castro
It is finally baseball season again, and as the sunny weather makes its long-awaited return, so will Yankees baseball. As we go to press, the New York Yankees will kick off their 122nd season this afternoon at Yankee Stadium against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The team will look to get back to the World Series after falling short of winning it all last year losing in five games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to ESPN Bet, the Yankees come into the 2025 campaign with the third-best odds to win the World Series at +850 behind the Atlanta Braves and the reigning champs Dodgers. There have been some good and bad takes when it comes to this current Yankee roster. However, manager Aaron Boone will try to piece it all together in hopes of capturing a 28th World Title.

If the Yankees hope to get back to the Fall Classic, they will have to do it without superstar Juan Soto, as Soto elected to sign a massive deal with the New York Mets, as I spoke about in last week’s column. General Manager Brian Cashman was able to do some good with the money that was expected to go to Soto by bringing in some key players.

The team signed Ace pitcher Max Fried and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in free agency. Cashman was also able to swing a few trades for star closer Devin Williams, Cody Bellinger, and Fernando Cruz. Unfortunately, Spring Training has been a disaster for the Ball Club losing their veteran Ace pitcher Gerrit Cole until at least the summer of 2026 with Tommy John surgery. One of the team’s biggest contributors during their playoff run last year, Giancarlo Stanton will be out indefinitely with what’s being called Tennis elbow in both of his elbows.

Last year’s American League Rookie of The Year, Luis Gil will be out until at least July with a strained latissimus dorsi. DJ Lemahieu went down this spring with a strained calf, and pitcher Clarke Schmidt will also start the season on the Injured List. Boone will have yet another challenge in front of him this year, playing matchmaker with the lineup and pitching rotation.
As tough of spring as it was for the Yankees, Boone still has a pretty solid team to pencil in come to Opening Day.

After all, they still have the reigning 2-time MVP Aaron Judge. Let’s also consider another thing: the Dodgers were down a few starting pitchers due to injury and a not-so-healthy Shohei Ohtani. Still, they managed to overcome the obstacles that were the Yankees. If the Yankees can weather the storm with all the injuries they have endured thus far and still find a way to get wins, fans in the Bronx could very well see just how dangerous this team can be when at full health. It is sure to be a long but exciting season for the Yanks.

Sports Notes: (Boxing) Sad news to report in the boxing world as former 2-time heavyweight champion of the world and Hall of Famer George Foreman passed away last week. Foreman has one of the most impressive boxing resumes of his long career, marking a win-loss-record of 76-5. He won the world title in 1973-74 and again from 1994-97, marking the longest gap between title reigns. He was also the oldest boxer to win the heavyweight title at 45 and won the Olympic gold medal in 1968. Foreman also endured success outside the boxing ring when he launched his George Foreman Grill in 1994. Foreman was 76.