The New York Yankees in March / April – Part One – The Batters (2025)

The New York Yankees led (in every sense) by their captain, Aaron Judge were quick off the mark in 2025. By the end of March, they were 3-0 and a game in front of the rest of their division. By the end of April, they were 18-13 and had increased their lead to one-and-a-half games.

Obviously, there had been many changes since their disappointing perfomance in the 2024 World Series.

Some of these had been by choice – some because they had been outbid on free agents they would have liked to re-sign.

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The New York Yankees in September – Part Two – The Pitchers (2024)

The Yankees used 6 starters and 14 relievers in September. Marcus Stroman‘s continuing struggles made him look very much like the 6th starter for the future, which is not an enviable place to be in going into the playoffs.

All-in-all though, the team was looking strong in terms of pitching, and they had more than enough arms to give them confidence going forward.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Nineteen – September 29th, 2024

So, game 162.

And this would prove to be my last game of the season. The news agency had offered me a contract for the post-season, but the need to move house and start a new position in England, was going to mean that there was no way of taking that up.

As in 2023, the last days of the season were visited by blanket rain, which meant delays and just getting generally soaked to the skin. First pitch didn’t come around until 4:36 by my watch.

On the mound? Clarke Schmidt for the New York Yankees who entered the game with a 2.55 ERA and a 5-5 win – loss record which partially concealed that he hadn’t achieved a win since May 16 and had missed a considerable portion of the season through injury. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was Bailey Falter who had an 8-9 record. This was his rookie season and other than not playing in the majors for most of July, he had produced a reasonable season pitching to a 4.17 ERA.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Fourteen – September 24th, 2024

Back to attending the games in person…

And so back in the Bronx, and just or more significantly, the Yankees were to face the Baltimore Orioles.

Prior to this game, the Yankees were 6 games clear in the American League East. There were six games to play which meant that if Baltimore won all their remaining games and the Yankees lost theirs… Well, you can do the math. If Baltimore swept the Yankees here, the two teams would be a few steps closer to an unlikely one game playoff to see who would rule the division. Both teams are going to be in the post-season, now it is a battle for home advantage in the playoffs, and to see who would play who – plus the little things like a division title and how many games the Yankees would have in the wins column at the end of the season. They couldn’t make 100, but 98 was not a bad target.

The starting pitchers on the mound would be Dean Kremer for the Orioles and Clarke Schmidt for the New York team. Kremer had appeared in 24 games and taken 7 wins. Schmidt, who had struggled with injuries this season, had ony 13 starts (he had missed the whole of June, July and August) , and taken 5 wins although he had a higher win percentage than Kremer. From compraing just the pitchers’ records this one could go either way.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Ten to Thirteen – September 20th to 23rd, 2024

So, having finished a successful series in Seattle, the Yankees moved on their road trip to Oakland to face the Athletics.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Six to Nine – September 16th to 19th, 2024

With nobody willing to sponsor me to travel on the roadtrip, I get to follow the Yankees’ away games from sunny New York. I exchange Yankee Stadium for Ground Central Coffee Company on 45th street where I report on the series against the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics.

And so to Seattle in my mind…

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Four – September 14th, 2024

So, the New York Yankees started the game with a 2-0 lead over the Boston Red Sox in this Bronx series. In recent days, they had edged the games, with extra innings and a remarkable comeback playing their part on different days. These Yankees were not going to lie down.

Game 3 then with Brayan Bello on the mound for Boston, and Yankees ace, Gerrit Cole heightening his teams chances of moving towards a sweep in the series.

… but then there have been many twists in this tale.

And there is room for more.

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The New York Yankees in August – Part Two – The Pitchers (2024)

The pitchers turned the New York Yankees around in August, after the nosedive of June and July. Their amazing start in March, April and May meant that they were always going to be in contention, but a 14-12 month was enough to put them back to the top of their division.

The starting rotation combined for 12 of those wins, and the bullpen made up mostly of names that were not well-known, combined to keep the team in contention in most games.

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