Bronx Bomber Ball

  The Yankees are heading to the west coast, and they head off on this seven-game west coast swing as the hottest team in baseball. They are the owners of an 11-game winning streak and have won their last 10 consecutive series. It has been a remarkable turnaround for a team that looked like it was asleep for the first half of this season, but there is still work to be done. The Yankees current 11 game winning streak is their longest since 1985 and it has seen them go from trailing both the Red Sox and the Oakland A’s in the Wild Card standings, to leading both by four and five games respectively in the loss column. The Yankees flipped a switch in mid-July and now have ridden an impressive white hot winning streak into the driver’s seat for a playoff stretch as we head to the stretch run of the regular season. The first series up in this all-important stretch run, is the aforementioned Oakland A’s. The A’s are a talented team that had an impressive 13 game winning streak of their ow...

  After another crushing defeat in the Field of Dreams game last night, the Yankees and White Sox are off on Friday as they travel to Chicago to complete their three-game series.   Let’s use the off-day as an opportunity to check-in on the Yankees’ laundry list of injured and COVID-afflicted players.

Unless you live under a rock, or you don't have a television or Twitter, you've heard all about Corey Kluber's historic no-hitter on Wednesday night.   Photo credit: Cleveland.com

  We are now firmly underway with this 2021 MLB season. At 34 games in, we are a little bit past “it’s still early” territory and at this point we can start to discuss some of what we’ve seen with a more meaningful sample size behind it. The Yankees did not get out of the gates strongly this season and while they have played better and strung together wins the past few weeks, their performances have been uneven. While several key names are still worth being concerned about offensively, the Yankees have managed to not lose a series since the Tampa Bay series from April 16th-18th. The obvious strengths of the team to this point of the season have been 1) Gerrit Cole, 2) The bullpen and 3) The recent white hot hitting streak of Giancarlo Stanton. While the Yankees starting rotation and offense had both been inconsistent to start the season, it is the rotation that is leading this Yankees charge back into solid baseball and series wins. Specifically, it is the stabilization of Corey Kl...

  The Yankees wrapped up their nine-game homestand this weekend taking two of three from the Washington Nationals, finishing the homestand 7-2 overall.   Both of the Yankees’ wins came in walk-off fashion, following an ugly loss on Friday night in the series’ first game.  The Yankees will hit the road at 18-16, in second place in the AL East, 3.5 games back of Boston.

  Fresh off a weekend sweep against the lowly Detroit Tigers, the Yankees welcome the Houston Astros to the Bronx in a long-awaited rematch.   This will be the first time since the 2019 ALCS that the two teams have faced off against one another, the first time since the Astros were caught cheating during their 2017 World Championship campaign, and the first time fans will be in attendance to hopefully boo the ever living shit out of them.   Following the three-game set against the Astros, the Yankees will wrap up their homestand with a weekend series against the Washington Nationals.

Photo credit: Rome Sentinel

  Photo credit: Lineups.com

  We are approaching the end of our first full week of the 2021 season now as the Yankees have completed two series against the Jays and Orioles. While the results have been mixed and at times very frustrating to watch, the Yankees are sitting at 3-3. They now head to Tampa, to face the team that eliminated them from last year’s playoffs. The Rays are coming off of six straight games on the road to open the season and just finished getting swept by the Red Sox in three fairly non competitive games earlier this week. A strong weekend could vault the Yankees into first place in the early goings of the season, lets take a look at the matchup. Credit: ESPN

The New York Yankees opened up their 2021 campaign this weekend in unsatisfactory fashion, dropping two of three games at home to the rival Toronto Blue Jays.   The New York offense was held to just eight runs over the three games and only Gary Sanchez was able to put the ball into the seats over the three games.   The big story in this series was the total ineptitude of the Yankees’ offense, particularly in the clutch.

  Opening Day is finally here, and boy are those words so sweet.   Major League Baseball battled through a pandemic last season which shortened the season to just 60 games and had empty stadiums throughout the regular season, but we’ve finally turned the corner in this fight against COVID-19 and MLB clubs will welcome back fans (albeit in limited capacities) starting tomorrow, April 1st.    The Yankees are locked and loaded and ready to finally achieve their decade-long goal of bringing home World Series title number 28.

Coming into this offseason, the starting rotation was at the top of Yankees fans’ minds along with a new contract for DJ LeMahieu.    After allowing JA Happ to leave in free agency and Masahiro Tanaka returning to Japan, and still awaiting the return of Luis Severino after Tommy John surgery prior to Spring Training last season, the Yankees have some new faces in the rotation, as well as a few familiar ones returning.    Welcome to the 2021 BBB Preview of the Yankees Starting Rotation.                                  Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

It’s obvious that pitching has been an issue for the Yankees over the past few years. It’s early, but through Spring Training, this year seems a little bit different. Starting from the top, you’ve got the ace, Gerrit Cole. The 300 million dollar man. He’s going to be leaned on a lot all year. Expect big things from him every five days on the mound. He is the leader of this staff. So far this spring, through 12 innings, he’s 3-0 with a 3.55 ERA and adds in 19 strikeouts. These are numbers we’re looking for, and we can only expect more during the regular season.

Say it isn't so. Photo credit: DSK

After locking in star infielder DJ LeMahieu for the brunt of the decade early in the morning Friday, the Yankees were not finished. Last night, they agreed to terms with right-hander Corey Kluber on a one-year, $11 million deal, pending a physical. Jake Storiale was first to report the news, which was shortly thereafter confirmed by ESPN’s Jeff Passan . Right-hander Corey Kluber and the New York Yankees are finalizing a deal that will bring the two-time AL Cy Young winner to the Bronx, pending a physical, sources familiar with the agreement tell ESPN. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 16, 2021 Kluber was one of the premier starters of the 2010s, establishing himself as a true workhorse and achieving great success with the Cleveland Indians. From 2014-18, he pitched to a 2.85 ERA/151 ERA+ over 1091.1 innings, striking out 1228 and amassing 83 wins while averaging an incredible 218 innings pitched per season. The 33-year-old is a two-time Cy Young Award winner, taking home the hono...

News broke today from Padres’ reporter Dennis Lin of the Athletic that the San Diego Padres are interested in acquiring Indians’ RHP Corey Kluber. This makes sense as the Padres have a plethora of young talent to deal, but also a strong core of players they can build around. However, there is a twist. The report of the Padres’ interest also included that the Padres would be interested in flipping him for a third baseman to anchor their infield. Kluber would instantly help the Friars, but with his window of solid years left closing, the match is not perfect.   Photo Credit: Getty Images

Corey Kluber is the difference maker and impact arm the Yankees need atop their rotation.  In 2017 and 2018, Yankee fans wished ace-like status on Luis Severino, but his inconsistencies have left him just short of owning the name.  Kluber, 32, has been the definition of consistent for the Cleveland Indians, winning 18+ games four out of the last five years and winning 20 games in 2018 for the first time in his career. Kluber has posted an ERA below 3.50 every season since 2014, and has struck out at least 220 hitters in the same span. Kluber keeps getting better, and is not showing any signs of regression. Kluber is an ace, the ace the Yankees need. Photo Credit: Cleveland.com

Yankee fans are left with more questions than answers following Clint Frazier’s injury riddled 2018. Frazier suffered through concussion symptoms throughout his 2018 campaign, which saw him appear in 69 games between the minors and the big leagues. Now, Yankees fans wonder what 2019 will hold for the 24 year-old. Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images

First acquired in a relatively small-time, 40-man sell-off move around this time last year that sent 1B Garrett Cooper and LHP Caleb Smith to Miami, Michael King was seen as a young right hander with promise, but one still years away from making any significant Major League impact.   At the time, the important part of that trade was the $250,000 international bonus pool money Miami included, which we all thought was to be used on Shohei Ohtani.   Ohtani, obviously, never ended up in the Bronx and will not pitch at all in 2019 after undergoing offseason Tommy John Surgery. Photo Credit: Todd Hiller/Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

Coming off two incredibly frustrating losses to the Detroit Tigers, the Yankees traveled to Cleveland to begin a four game showdown with the defending American League champion Indians.  This night marked the debut of the newest Yankee, right hander Sonny Gray, who was opposed by the ace of the Cleveland staff, Corey Kluber.  Gray was victimized by a ton of bad luck in his first inning and struggled in his final inning, but he looked very strong in his Yankees debut.  Unfortunately, the Yankees ran into the buzz-saw that was a dominant Corey Kluber tonight and never had a chance in this one.  Aside from a Gary Sanchez solo home run in the seventh, the offense was held in check for the third consecutive night and the Yankees fell by a score of 5-1. AP Photo/David Dermer