Yankees are in much better shape health-wise than they've been in recent seasons
Yankees centerfielder Aaron Judge gestures as he runs home on his solo home run against the Orioles during the fourth inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Barring some unforeseen catastrophe, it was only a matter of time before the Yankees would clinch the AL East title.
The Orioles certainly helped in that pursuit, staggering through their second-half schedule like a punch-drunk boxer. But if you try to come up with all the in-house reasons why Aaron Boone & Co. stood only 27 outs away from the division crown by Wednesday afternoon, there’s a recurring theme.
This year, the Yankees mostly stayed upright and on the field, rather than resembling so many pinstriped bowling pins. They almost made it to the finish line, too, except for the revived Nestor Cortes (1.58 ERA last six starts) suddenly getting scratched from Wednesday night’s start and winding up on the IL with a left elbow flexor strain.
Losing Cortes was a blow to the Yankees’ immediate clinching hopes, and subtracting his flexibility from the playoff equation stings longer-term into October. Shockingly, other than Clarke Schmidt’s shoulder strain and Anthony Rizzo’s broken arm, the Yankees’ core players have been key contributors all season long.
On the flip side, both Schmidt and Rizzo both made it back in time for the postseason push, and figure to be big factors in October. That should leave the Yankees largely intact for the first round — presuming they lock up the AL East title — and performing at near max capacity, winning 12 of their last 17 games going into Wednesday night’s clash with the Orioles, who clinched their own playoff berth a night earlier with a 5-3 victory at the Stadium.
“In my seat, you’re concerned about everything,” Boone said Wednesday. “You’re excited about where you’re at, and the stretch of games that have put us in a good position here. But really the focus is on trying to close this thing out and then you can start to make plans.”
The good news for Boone? He’s got his full arsenal of options. In a season that began with Gerrit Cole, the reigning Cy Young winner, missing the first two months because of an elbow scare and Aaron Judge downplaying his toe and oblique concerns, which snowballed into a sluggish April start, the Yankees had a relatively (for them) pain-free 2024 campaign.
Based on recent Bronx history, that’s bucking what had been an unsettling trend. The Yankees, among the most banged-up clubs in years past, dropped to the middle of the pack in the number of injured players (21) and days missed (1,550) to the IL.
What’s also helped? Of those casualties, they’ve been on the lower-cost side, meaning the All-Stars and other headliners remained active, limiting the money flushed to injuries to $48.35 million, down significantly from the MLB-leading $82 million last season (according to Spotrac).
Part of that comes with living in baseball’s high-rent neighborhood. It’s the cost of doing business. A $300 million player sprains a knee, and it’s a financial headache for the front office. But that hasn’t really happened to the Yankees en route to 92 wins and the inside track to the AL’s best record.
Check out the body count. While it’s no surprise that Juan Soto, one of the sport’s most durable position players, has logged 153 games (fortunately dodging a serious knee injury after colliding with the wall in Seattle), what about Giancarlo Stanton making it through 110 — already matching his 2022 total, and his second-most number of games since 2018? Or Judge, coming off last season’s brutal toe injury, playing 155 games, including 102 starts in centerfield?
It’s hard to take these stats for granted, especially after seeing the Yankees gutted in seasons past, running out skeleton lineups for months at a time. GM Brian Cashman found the perfect remedy to that with the December trade for Soto, and then deftly replaced the deteriorating DJ LeMahieu at third base by acquiring Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the trade deadline. All Soto has done is combine with Judge to form the best 1-2 Yankees’ punch since Ruth and Gehrig. Chisholm — despite never playing third before — has taken to the position like a fish to water, and shook off his September UCL sprain to play 42 of a possible 47 games since the trade.
As a result, the Yankees are (mostly) healthy and dangerous at the right time, a drastic turnaround from a year ago, when they were fighting to merely stay above .500 (they went home 82-80). Entering Wednesday, the Yankees’ rotation — which has used only eight starting pitchers the entire season, the second-fewest to the Mariners’ seven — had a 2.85 ERA in 20 starts since Sept. 2. Offensively, the Yankees ranked ninth with 4.62 runs per game for September, but Judge has caught fire again, homering in each of the past three games and smacking five in his last 10.
Last November, Cashman defiantly boasted the Yankees would be back as a World Series threat in 2024.
There’s no denying that’s the case, with the Yankees closing fast on their second AL East title in three seasons and third in six.
“I think we’re better, top-to-bottom roster-wise, and I think we’ve had better fortune from a health standpoint,” said Boone, comparing this group to a year ago. “Just overall, I think we’ve been a much better club.”
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
