The Yankees have fallen victim to an injury outbreak that may be unprecedented in professional sports. Save for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team, I’m at a loss to recall a club so depleted of its starters.
Consider for a moment some of the players the Yankees have on the injured list. First it was Aaron Hicks, their center fielder who inked a seven-year extension in spring training. Then Luis Severino and Dellin Betances and Giancarlo Stanton and Troy Tulowitzki and Gary Sanchez and Miguel Andujar and Greg Bird and now Aaron Judge. That’s not to mention start shortstop Didi Gregorius, either. Goodness.
As a result of the injury barrage, the Yankees now have a lineup that looks awfully reminiscent of 2013:
We go for the series win today.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 21, 2019
Powered by @Biofreeze pic.twitter.com/8w2oGFnc78
We live in a world now where Brett Gardner bats third, and Mike Tauchman fifth. If that doesn’t give you 2013 flashbacks, it should.
the Yankees batting Mike Tauchman 5th today reminds me of when the 2013 club got so desperate that they batted David Adams (?!) 5th because he randomly got semi-hot pic.twitter.com/mLrSa1NvfO
— Andrew Mearns (@MearnsPSA) April 21, 2019
As a general rule, you never want to serve as a reminder of the 2013 Yankees. That’s a bad place to be. In fact, it’s no place to be if a team has World Series aspirations — which the 2019 Yankees certainly did! Get well soon, everyone. Or just someone. I’ll settle for one.