Everyone loves a good underdog story. When a team that hasn’t been very good in a few years and didn’t look like anything close to a contender when the season started comes out of the gate hot, baseball fans have found their new favorite team to rally around.
This year, no team embodies that scrappy, can-do spirit like the New York Yankees. Yes, the little team that could is shocking the AL East, currently sitting in first place and playing like the Yankees of old. How exactly are they doing it?
The Bombers’ somewhat surprising success starts at the top of their lineup, where Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner provide a nightmare 1-2 punch for opposing teams. Ellsbury is living up to the monster contract he received last winter, hitting .343/.417/.396 with 11 stolen bases and 27 runs scored. Gardner’s numbers are very similar: .306/.389/.450 with 10 steals and 25 runs scored. The Yankees basically have two premier leadoff hitters starting every game, and it’s no surprise they lead all of baseball in first inning runs scored and first inning run differential. They’re jumping on teams early and not letting up.
They’re also getting big offensive contributions from unlikely sources. Chris Young, who’s never hit higher than .257 or posted an OPS better than .793 over a full season, currently sits at .303 and 1.001, respectively. He’s been an important bat off the bench splitting time with Carlos Beltran. Mark Teixeira already has half the number of home runs (11) he hit last year and looks like a much better hitter overall after it looked like he might have been on his last legs. He’s anchored the middle of the lineup and has capitalized on the RBI opportunities that Ellsbury and Gardner have provided him.
And then there’s Alex Rodriguez, the great mystery heading into 2015. He’s been everything the Yankees could’ve hoped for and more, hitting .241/.351/.527 with 8 homers while looking every bit as dangerous a hitter as ever. With the way he’s hit the ball, anyone would be hard-pressed to believe Rodriguez is pushing 40 years old. He and Teixeira give the Yankees a dangerous middle of the order, something they’ve lacked over the past few seasons.
And while their starting pitching may not be anything to write home about – aside from Michael Pineda, none of their starters have been particularly great – the Yankees may have the best back end of a bullpen in baseball. Neither setup man Dellin Betances nor closer Andrew Miller have surrendered an earned run this year through a combined 36.2 innings, an astounding number. Betances has managed 31 strikeouts against just 9 walks in 20 innings, building on an impressive ’14 rookie campaign. Miller, the Yankees’ prize free agent signing this past winter, has been just as good, converting 13 save chances while striking out 29 in 16.2 innings. They’ve given the Yankees their best bullpen combination since Mariano Rivera was setting up John Wetteland, allowing them to force other teams into playing a seven inning game.
So the Yankees are doing two things extremely well right now: scoring runs early, and shortening games. They’re a well-balanced team that’s hitting on all cylinders at the moment, so it’s no surprise they’re having such early success. And for a team that virtually no one predicted would be in contention this year – in the loaded AL East, it wasn’t out of the question to see them finishing in last place, even – the Yankees look like they’re in it for the long haul. If they stay healthy, add another starting pitcher or two at the deadline and maybe another reliever, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see them in the playoffs.
It’s been two long years since the Yankees have played October baseball, a lifetime for New York fans used to constant success. Funny that the team virtually no one predicted would get back there looks like it could be the best Yankees team in the last five years.
