New York Yankees Are in First Place; Can They Stay There?

For the first time since Opening Day, the New York Yankees have sole possession of first place in the AL East. Can they stay there?

Despite currently having 13 players on the IL, FIVE of whom are everyday players and TWO of whom were slated as the best two starters on the team, for the first time since Opening Day, the New York Yankees hold sole possession of first place in the AL East.

The journey to first place didn’t come easy for the Bronx Bombers. After the Tampa Bay Rays took a 3-1 lead in the 8th inning in Friday’s series opener, the Yankees walked off on a Gio Urshela single in the bottom of the 9th.

According to the Twitter account of the Yankees PR Department, Urshela’s walk-off hit was the first of his career. He also leads MLB “with three game-tying or go-ahead hits in the ninth inning or later.”

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In many ways, that final hit alone represents just how odd this season has been for the New York Yankees. Typically known as a home run or nothing team, so far this season the Yanks are getting by on a nice mixture of homers and small-ball by a group of relatively unknown players.

In fact, the 2018 home run record-breaking Yankees rank 10th in MLB in HR in 2019, 23 homers behind the #1 ranked Seattle Mariners. What’s more, they don’t rank higher than 10th in any traditional or advanced stats such as AVG, OBP, SLG, wOBA, and wRC+.

The question now is: can the Yankees maintain sole possession of first place?

To not acknowledge that the Yankees have gotten some help in their rise to first would be assinine. The fact of the matter is that the atrocious start the Boston Red Sox got off to has helped tremendously.

However, after demonstrating their prowess offensively over the last two weeks, the Yankees should keep the Red Sox in mind as the season progresses.

At the same time, they’re only 0.5 games above the Rays in the standings with two games remaining in the series. Therefore, at best, the New York Yankees can walk away with a 2.5 game lead, which is far from a safe distance.

The good news is that as the season progresses, essential players on the IL will start to come back. That means that a first or second place Yankee squad will get Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius,  Luis Severino, James Paxton, and Dellin Betances back.

If we look at those players as trade acquisitions, the Yanks are sitting exactly where they want to be right now. In first place, with an All-Star team joining the ranks.