Opening Day At Yankee Stadium

It was a long winter for Yankee fans after missing getting into the 2018 World Series by just one game but Spring is here and today is opening day at Yankee Stadium. It is a great feeling for Yankee fans and baseball fans all over the world. Yankee fans do believe that we have the best team in baseball or really close to the top and as usual we expect the Yankees to finish in 1st place and make it to the World Series.

As usual the Yankees have made some additions to their already strong roster by adding some starting pitchers (definitely needed); additional relief pitching and a couple of positional players. Added to the pitching staff was James Paxton coming from Seattle as a starting pitcher. Adam Ottavino was added as another relief pitcher-coming from the Colorado Rockies. As they say, you can never have enough pitching but many baseball fans will agree that the Yankees do have the best bullpen in baseball.

Ottavino has an unbelievable fastball and a strikeout to walk ratio  that is one of the best. He joins the likes of Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Bettances, Chad Green , Zach Britton and Tommy Kahnle. Starting pitching in the major leagues has changed over the years and now most managers expect a maximum of 6 to 7 innings form their starting pitcher and then bring in the bullpen.

It is becoming more difficult to obtain good starting pitching these days which is why relief pitching is so important. We expect big things from the Yankee pitching but we are always concerned primarily with the starting pitching. CC Sabbathia was signed for 1 more year and is great but needs to remain healthy. Staying healthy for all starting pitchers is always a major concern. With the Yankees relief pitching, starting pitching can go for 5 or 6 innings only if need be.

The Yankees outfield is solid with all star players Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Brett Gardner. They have added Mike Tauchman as a utility player picked up from the Rockies. Aaron Hicks and Jacoby Ellsbury are on the DL list. Hicks should be back soon-not sure about Ellsbury. Yankee fans are expecting big things from this group.

The Yankees infield is made up of second year players M. Andujar and G. Torres who were great last year and were on the rookie of the year ballots. Andujar came in second place. Other infielders are L. Voit and G. Bird at first base who most likely will be switching unless one of them gets on a streak. D.J.LeMahieu was added as another infielder who suppose to be very good with his glove-improved defense was needed.

T. Tulowitzki was picked up at a reduced rate because he has been injured but if he can stay healthy then the Yankees would have made a good deal. He is a great player when he is healthy. The Yankees have two excellent catchers with A. Romine and G. Sanchez. Sanchez will be the starting catcher and we expect a lot of production from him. He slipped a bit last year and was not able to get his average to 2017 levels plus he was hurt in 2018.

One of the greatest Yankees ever is Mariano Rivera who threw out the first pitch at opening day. He was the first ever baseball player to be elected unanimously to the Hall of Fame. His career spread over 19 years and ended with 652 saves-the most in history and his ERA of 2.05 is also the best. Rivera retired in 2013 and was a 13-time All Star and an ALCS and World Series MVP to go along with his 5 World Series titles. When Rivera would come in to pitch the ninth inning--the game was over. He was called the "Sandman." There are many great Yankee players and we can go on forever but we will leave it with Mariano at this point.

The baseball season is long and there will be winning streaks and losing streaks--competition will be tough. However, Yankee fans and baseball fans will route for their teams no matter what and it always comes down to the home stretch in the month of September. Most likely the Division title will be either the Boston Red Sox or the Yankees but the key is getting into the playoffs.

Well, let's hope for a great baseball season and root for our teams. I will provide some additional posts throughout the season. Play Ball !!