Grace Vaccaro, Staff Writer
The Yankees are currently ranked second in the American League East. As of October 5th, they have 93 wins and 68 losses. In the regular season, they were a good team, but not dominant. Tampa Bay finished just ahead of them. The Yankees’ biggest strength was their pitching, with a 3.23 ERA. The score was the best in the MLB. Their hitting was 0.235, meaning it was below average.
The season did not start smoothly, with Aaron Judge, one of the best players on the team, getting injured and having to sit out for three months. When Gerrit Cole, the Yankees’ starting pitcher, was recovering from surgery, he stepped into the ace role. Cam Schlittler rose to the challenge in his debut season. He had a historic start with a 1.35 ERA, 59 strikeouts, and 9 walks.
On September 29th and 30th, the Yankees played the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series. In these games, they excelled as a team. In the first game, they scored nine runs, while the Red Sox didn’t score any. Ben Rice demonstrated phenomenal hitting power, hitting two home runs and six RBIs.
Rice is the Yankees’ designated hitter. This player bats in place of the pitcher in the lineup without taking the field on defense. Rice hit forty-one home runs in the regular season. 0.264 batting average. 151 hits. .897 OPS. OPS measures how well the player gets on base and how much power they hit for. An .897 OPS sits right at the top of the Very Good / All-Star, on the cusp of Elite Status. He earned his first American League All-Star selection following his outstanding performance. He stepped up massively during the absence of Aaron Judge
In the Yankees’ second game against the Red Sox, they scored nine runs again, dominating the game. Across the two games, they had 26 hits.
Unfortunately, the Playoff round has not been going their way so far. In their first game against the Tampa Bay Rays, their hitting was off. Throughout the game, they only managed one hit. Their second game was full of errors. Third baseman Ryan McMahon missed a ground ball. Jazz Chisholm Jr., their second baseman, missed a play at first. He said that he felt like they “beat ourselves today in a lot of ways.” Ben Rice was able to hit two home runs, but it still wasn’t enough to win.
On October 7th, the Yankees lost in their third game against the Tampa Bay Rays, meaning that they are out of the playoffs and their season has ended. It was a close game, 4-3, but not enough to pull out the win. Manager Aaron Boone said that “It’s the worst fricking feeling in the world,” after losing all three games.
Even though their season is over, fans only have to wait until March for the next MLB season to begin. Though their season may have ended earlier than fans would have wanted, there are still highs and victories that can be celebrated.
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