Baseball in the Yankees is back! Its reintroduction raises some crucial questions. Will the Yankees score more than 10 runs per game on average this season? Will Spencer Jones ever achieve professional success? Ideally, the responses to them are “no” and “yes,” respectively.
Now that we know where the key players will be playing this season (sorry Blake Snell, Monty, and Matt Chapman), one thing to consider is what oddities and traps the Yankees’ schedule may have for the Bronx Bombers in the first few games. This season feels like it could be a turning point, especially with Juan Soto joining the team and the team attempting to move past the humiliation of losing 82–80 in 23. So, let’s examine the season’s first half.
The Season Opener: One way to start ’24 is to travel to face the Astros for four games. The Yankees were 5-2 versus Houston the previous season, which is one of life’s great ironies. That does not lessen the pain of seeing the Astros trample New York in the 2022 postseason. Additionally, it may be more of a critique of the Astros’ recent performance, which fell short of their past seasons’ level of dominance.
For the first game of the season, the defending AL Cy Young winner will most likely receive the call. Even though there’s no way he could throw 129 pitches on Opening Day, let’s utilize Gerrit Cole’s final Houston start as a kind of de facto trailer:
It’s critical that the Yanks start strong and play a tough series in Houston. Not simply because New York seems to see the Astros as the Final Boss. Additionally, though, since
April Gauntlet: The season’s first month has the power to truly set the tone for the Bombers. The team travels to Arizona for three games against the NL pennant-winning Diamondbacks following their set in Houston. The Bronx will play Toronto, another 2023 playoff club, at home after that. Next, the Marlins, a team that defeated New York by two games last season, will visit the city.
The Yankees open a series against the Guardians in Cleveland on April 12th, and it will be their first encounter with a team that finished below.500 in the previous campaign. But after that, it’s back home against the Rays before heading north of the border to play the Jays once more. The Yanks finish the month with a series against Milwaukee and a four-game matchup against the Orioles, following a series against Oakland.
That’s a combined opponent winning percentage for 2023 in the first month of play of.524. Furthermore, that figure increases significantly to.550 when the Athletics are eliminated from the picture. As I write this, there’s a lot of positivity about the Yankees. Maintaining those would be greatly aided by a solid first month. On the other hand, you can probably lose the AL East in April even though you can’t win it.
Following that line of reasoning, the Yankees would do well to perform better against their AL East rivals in ’24. They faced Baltimore and finished 6-7 last season. Tampa, 5-8. They were 7-6 against Toronto, so at least they were above.500.
Out of the Frying Pan: To be honest, May isn’t that much nicer. There are three games versus the Tigers scheduled for the first weekend of the month. Then again, it’s Houston. Once more. Well, anything. We’re done with them early, I suppose. After that, it’s three against the Rays at the Trop. The Twins, to whom we lost the season series the previous year, were next. Which other timeline is this? Kindly make that right.
Seattle in town for four games against yet another playoff team in the early going, following three games against the Chicago Pale Hose. It’s time for the dreaded West Coast trip after that.
Visiting Old Friends: To be honest, I have no idea how people in the East manage to be sports fans. Two springs ago, I spent a portion of the Avalanche Stanley Cup run in the Eastern Time Zone, and that week nearly ended my life. So, as the Yanks travel to the west for nine games in ten days to drag the calendar into June, I understand your suffering.
The Padres will be the first team to welcome Juan Soto back. The Yanks will get the opportunity to rekindle their friendship with Mike King and the other players that the team traded for the megastar. Next are the Angels, who lack Shohei Ohtani, a player of a generation. The lengthy stay on the Pacific coast comes to an end with three games versus San Francisco (it is unknown if Arson Judge will play).
YamaSoto… sort of: The Los Angeles Dodgers, aka Starkiller Base, will be visiting Yankee Stadium from June 5–7 in what is arguably the most anticipated series of the season. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a Japanese star who turned down New York to sign in Los Angeles, is likely to receive a cold reception from the typically courteous and restrained Yankee supporters.
To be fair, I go to Coors Field specifically to boo the Dodgers whenever they visit town. That was also before to Yamamoto. I may therefore be speculating about how I want things to turn out.
Other Notes: Even yet, it’s difficult to get overly excited about matches against teams that placed fourth and fifth in the division the previous year. Boston is the location. In mid-June, New York will finally play their archrivals at Fenway. The Yanks play the first game of the Subway Series at Citi Field one and a half weeks later. A pair of series, one against Baltimore and the other against the Braves, are scheduled in between.
Another exciting week to watch will be the week leading up to the All-Star Game. The Rays and Orioles play each other in back-to-back road series to end the first half for New York.
The Yankees go through a few extremely difficult moments in the first half. There will probably be frequent and early tests of their mettle. But if they can make it through the first half unscathed, they will have demonstrated their mettle against numerous elite squads.
The balanced schedule is in its second year. You can anticipate seeing the Yanks at some point this season if they weren’t in your city last year. Since they won’t be at Coors Field this year, I’ll be watching the Kansas City series in early June in order to make travel plans. I’ve heard that Kauffman Stadium is an incredible location to watch baseball.
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