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What do the Yankees mean to the economics of baseball?
Sure there's the money paid out in revenue sharing, and the money paid out in salary taxes, and the money paid out in merchandise (all MLB merchandise money is actually equally divided between the 30 teams, even if the most popular item is a pink Yankee hat- shudder).
But where the Yankees really prop up the rest of league is at the turnstile. That's why we have interleague play; because the National League needed in on some of that sweet, sweet Yankee ticket revenue.
Which is why the Yankees play a night game in the Central Time Zone, then hop on a plane to fly to league leading Toronto (come on, how often do you get to say that?) for anther game tomorrow. In April. Definitely no other way the MLB schedule makers could have arranged this.
The Yankees need a speedy, tidy outing from Ivan Nova to avoid the sweep and pick up their first win of the season. They'll be faced with lefty Brett Oberholtzer, and hopefully the lineup will look less overmatched than in the first two games.
Jacoby Ellsbury and Alfonso Soriano are both still looking for their first hits of the season.