New York Yankees are swallowing the American League whole
By Cory Claus
Round and Round They Go
And everyone all over the line-up has contributed and looks likely to continue. We’ve seen Sanchez and Judge and do-it-all Didi Gregorius win games by themselves. The Yankees knew that was likely, and won’t be surprised to see it again.
But the bottom of the order has produced in ways no one expected. Miguel Andujar has cooled off considerably, but he is still batting .284/.302/.510 with three home runs, 12 doubles, and 13 RBI. His power-over-average contributions are being balanced perfectly in the order by Gleyber Torres and his .333/.365/.458 line.
Even Giancarlo Stanton has been more valuable than his numbers.
After winning the first game of the season almost single-handedly with his two home runs, his bat has been far too inconsistent. Even with those struggles, though, Stanton managed to win another game by himself, collecting all four RBI in the 4-0 shutout over Houston’s Dallas Keuchel on Wednesday.
Not only was he the only Yankee to homer off of Keuchel that night, but also the only Yankee ever. They couldn’t beat Keuchel in the 2015 Wild Card Game, or in Houston in the 2017 ALCS. But they beat him on Wednesday. And that was due to Stanton, and Severino.
Over the last fifteen games, Stanton has also raised his numbers from Stephen Drew to Mark Teixeira: .227/.309/.455. His seven home runs, seven doubles, triple and 19 ribbies make him a very valuable Bomber, if not yet the all-around hitter the Yankees still hope to see.
Still, none of this necessarily makes a team special. Two things can, however, and the Yankees seem to have both in spades.