Following our weekly positional report cards for the Yankees based on this past season, it’s time to look at how did the team perform as a whole.
After dissecting every position of the New York Yankees, its time to look deep into the 2018 season as a whole team and see exactly how did they stack up. From records being broken to injuries being had, the Yankees had a rollercoaster of a season that ended in the worst possible way. With all that being said let’s take a dive in the 2018 Yankees pool.
From the offseason of 2017, it seemed the Yankees had already stamped there way into the postseason. One major factor was the acquisition of 2017 MVP Giancarlo Stanton. When this was announced it seemed the Bronx Bombers were unstoppable and no team looked as heavy as they did.
One team that always will be mentioned alongside New York are the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox would also make a splash of their own in the offseason by acquiring power hitter J.D. Martinez in free agency. With two rivals making big moves, these two teams were destined to meet down the line and we’ll get to that.
Throughout the year it seemed many questions would surround first-year manager Aaron Boone and how he’d perform with such a great offense. Other than some questionable calls with the late game pitching decisions, Boone proved to be more than a man that hit a home run against Wakefield years prior.
Aaron Boone got the job because they believed he had a connection with this team and all signs to prove them right. Aaron Boone would manage New York to a respectable 100 wins and 62 loses. The Red Sox would finish with a better record being 108-54 as all year the Yankees would bite at their coattails.
Injuries plagued the New York Yankees throughout the season with top stars Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, and Aroldis Chapman all serving time on the IR.
A shock to no one that Greg Bird would join that list at points as well.
The Yankees would go out and find some help in great trades such as receiving Andrew McCutchen from the Giants and Luke Voit from the Cardinals. The organization scrambled to make the puzzle pieces to a World Series type team come together and they did their absolute best.
Voit would take over as the starter with some fantastic performances and even locked his spot as the starting first baseman going into the new season.
The Yankees would break the record for most Home Runs in a season with 267 (the previous record being held by the Seatle Mariners in 1997 with 264). Many would say New York would also struggle with Runners in scoring position but analytically that’s just not very true. The Yankees would actually be ranked as 11th worst with an average of 3.32 runners left on base.
The pitching hasn’t been mentioned much but the Yankees would struggle early with their starting pitching. Jordon Montgomery would be out for the year with Tommy Johns surgery and they had to look for a replacement as fast as possible. Towards the trade deadline, the Yankees would acquire both J.A. Happ and Lance Lynn to help with the starting pitching. Happ would go on to have a great season with New York while Lance Lynn pitched fine at best.
The Yankees would have to battle the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card game with relative ease beating them 7-2. The Next series would be the series everyone knew since day one, would be the biggest for both teams.
The Yankees would go up against the best team in the league in the powerful Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox would take a close game one 5-4 behind the pitching of Chris Sale. Game Two, they met their Son David Price and would again shell him quite quickly in a 6-2 victory. Game Three would be an embarrassing 16-1 victory for the Red Sox in Fenway and that victory killed all hopes of a New York comeback. The Yankees would lose the series and the Red Sox would go on to win it all.
Now to finalize this, I’m actually going to grade two teams, The New York Yankees and The Boston Red Sox. For 100 years and 100 more to come, these two teams will be synonymous with each other so it only feels right. 2019 is a new year and with rumors of the Yankees acquiring Manny Machado, things might shake up with both teams.