FanPost

Positive takeaways from the first 9 games

The 2021 season is underway, with the Yankees completing nine games at the time of this writing. Here's a list of my top positive takeaways from the start of the season.

Record

While the Yankees sit at 4-5 going into today's game against the Blue Jays, they're right there with almost everyone else in the AL East (the Rays, Blue Jays, and Orioles also sit at 4-5), with only the rival Red Sox leading the division with a 6-3 record. That's likely to shift in one direction or another today but it's not a horrible thing to be in the pack right now. It'd be much more concerning, if at all, if the Yankees concluded their first 9 games well behind the rest of the division.

Roster

We have Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez to start the season. Even if Stanton is still warming up, the fact that all three of them are on the field is a nice change from past seasons. Sanchez has opened the season with a strong showing (167 wRC+) along with Judge (148 wRC+). Once Stanton gets going, they will be a powerhouse trio in the lineup, only to be complemented by other players being productive at the plate.

Pitching

While there have been some bumps in the road, the Yankees lead all of MLB with 2.0 fWAR from their entire pitching staff, mostly on the strength of the bullpen (also leading MLB with 1.5 fWAR).

Meanwhile, on the starting pitching side, the ace is doing ace things, with Gerrit Cole leading the rotation with 0.7 fWAR on the strength of 2 starts with 12.1 IP, a 1.46 ERA, 1.28 FIP and a 293 ERA+. While he likely won't sit on those stats for the whole season, he's blazing a path very early in the season.

Baseball is back

After a pandemic-shortened 2020 season of just 60 games, which didn't even start until July 23, it's very nice to have a whole 162 games to experience again. One thing I love about baseball is that it is routine. A game almost every day, giving rise to hopefully new stories and discussions, and not having to wait a week between games (though I love it for things like Falcon and the Winter Soldier or other shows). The NBA is similar, but basketball is not my game, baseball is.

Even though I sometimes rail against the corporatocracy of MLB (and the insane broadcast blackouts even on MLB.tv), I love this sport.

Let's enjoy what we have, and remember baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. If 2020 has taught me anything, it's to cherish what you have and don't take anything for granted.

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