20% UPDATE

This season is flying by so fast!  This season has just surpassed the 20% mark.  Let’s take a look at some interesting results:

The Yankees in First Place:

At a 21-13 record, the Yankees are not only in first place, but their record is currently amongst the best in MLB.  With most critics originally ranking them to be under .500, the early results support my 87 wins prediction more than theirs - and, I hope it continues at that pace.  I still think they need more consistent hitting and/or hitters in their lineup.  We’ll find out soon enough.

A-Rod’s Hitting:

Last week, A-Rod surpassed Willie Mays’ 660 in homeruns (currently A-Rod has 662 and is statistically in 4^th place behind Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and an even bigger steroid user than A-Rod…Barry Bonds.  He’s also been hitting the ball pretty well with his 8 homeruns and 20 RBIs, which project to be 100 RBIs at this point!

The Top:

John Ellsbury as the lead-off hitter with Brett Gardner right behind him has been considered the best one-two offensive punch in baseball.  Ellsbury’s .346 batting average/11 stolen bases/.418 on-base percentage and Gardner’s .318 batting average/10 stolen bases/.397 on-base percentage are just some of the offensive numbers that clearly support their dominance at this stage.

The Bottom:

Even better, at the end of games, no team in all of the Majors has been as successful as Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller.  Currently, neither one of them has given up an earned run!  Standardly, Girardi has been utilizing Betances in the 8^th inning and Miller as the closer in the 9^th.  Miller currently has 13 saves, which projects to 65 saves!  Of course, I don’t expect him to reach that number, but it would be great if he exceeds 50!!

New York:

A few weeks ago, the Yankees played the Mets at Yankee Stadium.  As usual, their announcers cried about the stadium dimensions, the Mets’ fans bragged (having a better record at that time), and the Yankees did what they have dominantly done against the Mets in their opposing games…the Yankees won the majority of them (2 of 3 during that series).  I must state that the Mets did, indeed, begin their season on a tear, but have since begun to realize who they are supposed to be - a mediocre team.  As of today, they have still maintained their 1^st place position, but haven’t faced any of the National League’s excellent teams (such as the Cardinals) yet - that will happen next week.  The Mets’ losses to the Yankees not only ended their 11-game winning streak, but also began their under .500 play since that series ended on 4/26.  Also, the Yankees may have unveiled a key weakness in one of their pitching prospects (Jason deGrom) - as other opposing teams have learned to be aggressive against deGrom instead of allowing him to constantly throw too many pitches in the strike zone early in the count.

Summary:

The Yankees may be slightly overachieving at this point, but I don’t expect them to laboriously fall apart.  The bullpen and starters (except Sabathia) have demonstrated the youth movement I’ve been preaching for 2 years.  I remain optimistic that this year’s team will at least make the playoffs.