The New York Yankees were on the outside of last year’s Major League Baseball playoffs for the first time since 2016. American League Cy Young award-winning pitcher Gerrit Cole began this season on the 60-day injured list with nerve inflammation in his right throwing elbow. A slow start from the Bronx Bombers would not have surprised anyone.
Instead, the Yankees swept the Houston Astros, who were one victory away from playing in last season’s World Series, in a four-game road series. They became the seventh team to open a season with four or more straight wins after being tied or trailing in the 6th inning or later in each game, the first since the Cincinnati Reds in 2015 and the second in over 40 years. It was also the first time the Yankees started a season 4-0 since 2003.
They then made it five straight with a 5-2 road victory against the reigning National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks before taking their first loss on Tuesday. Yankees starter Nestor Cortes gave up three runs and eight hits in five innings and the lineup was held to three hits by a combination of four Diamondbacks pitchers in the 7-0 loss. Still, signs are encouraging early for the Yankees, which are expected to contend for the franchise’s 28th World Series title. They opened last Thursday in Houston down 4-0 and rallied to win 5-4.
The next day the Yankees trailed 1-0 before exploding for seven runs in the final three innings to win 7-1. The Bombers were behind 2-0 and 3-1 on Saturday before winning 5-3. The sweep was secured when outfielder Juan Soto, who signed a one-year, $31 million contract with the Yankees in the offseason after being acquired in a trade with the San Diego Padres in December, had an RBI single with two out in the bottom of the ninth.
“I mean, that’s what we play for,” he said, after having three hits in five at-bats. “We all know there’s going to be times that you fail and sometimes you’re going to have success, but I always want to be up there. I don’t mind to be up there and get all the boos or all the claps.”
Soto’s performance over the first four games of the season was enough to earn him AL Player of the Week honors, as he hit .529 (9-for-17) with a homer and 4 RBIs.
“That’s the kind of start I wanted,” Soto said. “I grinded really hard this off-season and spring training to be successful in the beginning of the season and thank God it is happening that way.”
“Just a lot of fun watching these guys continue to kind of compete and it’s happening on both sides of the ball,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone noted.
After an off day today, the Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays in the home opener tomorrow, and will play the Blue Jays Saturday and Sunday as well. They begin a three-game series home against the Miami Marlins on Monday.