New York Yankees 2018 Season Preview

Aaron Judge dominated as a rookie in 2017. Can Judge improve on his breakout rookie season?

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 3/7/2018.

New York Yankees Batting Lineup

NO.	Batter	POS.	BA	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
1	Brett Gardner	LF	.264	21	63	72	122	23
2	Aaron Judge	RF	.284	52	114	127	208	9
3	Giancarlo Stanton	DH	.281	59	132	85	163	2
4	Gary Sanchez	C	.278	33	90	40	120	2
5	Greg Bird	1B	.190	9	28	19	42	0
6	Didi Gregorius	SS	.287	25	87	25	70	3
7	Aaron Hicks	CF	.266	15	52	51	67	10
8	Brandon Drury	3B	.267	13	63	28	103	1
9	Gleyber Torres	2B	.287	7	34	30	47	7

New York Yankees Batting Lineup Summary: The New York Yankees have the top two home run hitters in the MLB from 2017 on their roster. Aaron Boone is now their new manager. New York has a great 1-4 lineup perhaps the best 1-4 lineup in the MLB. Even their 6-8 batters are effective. Greg Bird stepped up in the playoffs as the number five batter despite his stats. Gleyber Torres is making his MLB debut as the number nine batter in 2018.

New York Yankees Starting Rotation

NO.	Pitcher	IP	H	ERA	BB	SO	W	L
1	Masahiro Tanaka	178.1	180	4.74	41	194	13	12
2	Luis Severino	193.1	150	2.98	51	230	14	6
3	Sonny Gray	162.1	139	3.55	57	153	10	12
4	C.C. Sabathia	148.2	139	3.69	50	120	14	5
5	Jordan Montgomery	155.1	140	3.88	51	144	9	7

New York Yankees Starting Rotation Summary: New York's starting rotation is much better than I thought it would be. If Masahiro Tanaka can revert to his 2016 form prior to his horrible 2017 campaign, the New York Yankees have the starting rotation to dethrone the Boston Red Sox as AL East Champions. I'm curious to see how the bullpen holds up for this Yankees team though.

New York Yankees Bullpen

NO.	Pitcher	IP	H	ERA	BB	SO	W	L
LR	Giovanny Gallegos	20.1	21	4.87	5	22	0	1
LR	Luis Cessa	36	36	4.75	17	30	0	3
MR	Adam Warren	57.1	35	2.35	15	54	3	2
MR	Tommy Khanle	62.2	53	2.59	17	96	2	4
MR	Chasen Shreve	45.1	35	3.77	25	58	4	1
MR	Dellin Batanes	59.2	29	2.89	44	100	3	6
SU	David Robertson	68.1	35	1.84	23	98	9	2
CL	Aroldis Chapman	50.1	37	3.22	20	69	4	3

New York Yankees Bullpen Summary: New York is weak at long reliever, but they have the middle relievers, set up pitcher, and closer to win if they are ahead after the sixth inning.

Adam Warren, Tommy Khanle, Chasen Shreve, and Dellin Batanes are all awesome middle relievers. David Robertson is a great set up pitcher to set things up for Aroldis Chapman.

The Yankees will be a difficult team to defeat in 2018. Getting ahead early by getting 5-0 run leads and forcing the Yankees to use their long relievers by getting their best pitchers out early is how you beat this team.

Prediction: The New York Yankees have the batters, starting rotation if Tanaka rebounds, and a pretty good bullpen aside from their mediocre long relievers to be a championship caliber team. New York has the talent to make the 2018 World Series if they avoid using their long relievers. That will be the key. I don't think they can win the World Series if they get there because having that one missing element in the bullpen will keep them from a championship in 2018 even if they manage to capture the AL Pennant.