Bronx Bomber Ball

Sunday night’s ALCS Game Two loss for the Yankees was devastating, at best. Photo Credit: Newsday/William Perlman

October baseball is finally upon us. On the heels of a 103-win season and an A.L. East division title, the Yankees will host the Minnesota Twins tonight as they embark on the chase for their 28th World Series Championship. In revealing their Division Series roster earlier this afternoon, the Yanks answered one of the bigger questions fans were left with at the end of the season, opting to carry slumping first baseman Luke Voit while omitting the white-hot Mike Ford. Photo Credit: NY Daily News Envisioning an infield rotation that didn’t include Voit would have been ludicrous just a few weeks ago, and to consider leaving him off the roster altogether unfathomable. At the end of August, he carried a .280 batting average with 19 home runs to his name. However, the 26-year-old slugger very nearly wrote himself out of the Bombers’ October plans in the season’s final month. Voit ended the season on a 1-for-32 skid with an alarming 41% strikeout rate over that span.  That bein...

Just like that, the 2019 New York Yankees regular season has come to an end. The Bombers finished with a 103-59 regular-season record, being one of four teams to end the season with more than 100 wins for the first time in MLB history. Calling this season a rollercoaster would be an understatement. It seemed like another name was hitting the IL at every corner that was turned. The Yankees lead the league in both the number of different players that spent time on the injured list (30) and lead by almost 600 in total days spent on the injured list with 2,614. But, ironically, the Yanks head into the postseason looking about as healthy as they have throughout the duration of the season with just a couple names to keep an eye on. Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray/USA Today Sports

Heading into their final five regular season games of the 2019 season, the Yankees have wrapped up most of their business, with just a few loose ends left over.   The Yankees just concluded their final regular season homestand this past week, taking two of three from both the Angels and Blue Jays, wrapping up their first AL East crown in seven years in the process.   The final homestand saw the Yankees hit the 100-win mark for the second consecutive season, the return of Luis Severino (who dominated in his two appearances) and Giancarlo Stanton, as well as the final regular season start for future Hall of Famer Carsten Charles Sabathia.   CC was honored with an emotional ceremony on Sunday afternoon, his last ever regular season game at Yankee Stadium.

This week, the New York Yankees faced off against the Rays and Rockies at Yankee Stadium in the blistering summer heat. After losing the first game to Tampa, the Bombers rebounded and won five out of their next six games. Following Sunday’s game, the Yankees boast an impressive 64-34 record in 2019.  Photo Credit: @yankees via Twitter 

With the All-Star break coming into a close, the Yankees sit at the top of the American League East with a comfortable 6.5 game lead of the second place Tampa Bay Rays. By winning percentage, they are the best team in the American League as they have a two-game advantage in the loss-column over the Houston Astros. With all this being said, it is not a surprise that the Yankees head into the second leg of the season as the favorites to meet the best team in the National League in the World Series. Per MyTopSportsBooks.com, the Bovada odds for the Yankees to win the championship sit at +320 , the second best mark to the Los Angeles Dodgers who sit at +250. In order of their respective odds, the Astros, Twins, and Rays are the Yankees’ biggest threats. Instead of focusing on the other teams in this race, I want to take a quick look on what must go right for the Yankees to continue on this course. Photo Credit: AP

It’s the weekend that baseball fans from across the pond have been waiting for all season. Major League Baseball’s inaugural London Series, between arguably the league’s two most storied franchises, takes place this Saturday and Sunday. These two rivals have played each other five times so far this season, with the Yankees taking home four of those wins. Coming into the series, the Yanks are a season-high 10 games ahead of the Red Sox in the loss column. The Yankees come in at a season-best 52-28 (winners of nine out of 10), while Boston enters plays with a 44-38 record after winning six of their last 10 games.

The offense came early, in the middle, and late for the Yankees as they took game two of this three-game series against Tampa Bay. The team’s home run streak continued to 21 games and they extended their division lead against the Rays with tonight’s win.   New York’s offense struck quickly off opener Ryne Stanek, with a Gary Sanchez sacrifice fly in the first inning to get them started. However, the hitting faltered a bit after the introduction of Ryan Yarborough, who held the Yanks scoreless for three innings. In the fifth, more runs would come off a few singles by DJ LeMahieu, Luke Voit, and Gary Sanchez again, and the big blows would come in the seventh and eighth. Cameron Maybin continued his white-hot stretch as of late, blasting a long solo home run off Oliver Drake into the second deck in left field to make it four homers in four straight games, and then the newest Yankee Edwin Encarnacion smashed another solo shot, this  one off  Andrew Kittredge to the ...

News broke last night that the Yankees had made their first splash of the summer trade season by acquiring slugger Edwin Encarnacion from the Seattle Mariners. Encarnacion is the American League home run leader and will be a welcomed addition to the team he has hit well against over the course of his career. To many including myself, this trade was very fuzzy at first glance. The Yankees did not have a need to acquire an offensive player, especially when their pitching has been their weakness, thus far. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton’s imminent returns further blurred the reasoning behind this trade. However, after further thought, I have come up with six implications that result from this trade, all of which help make sense of this move. Kathy Willens | AP

There has long been speculation throughout the offseason that the Yankees will trade one of, if not both of Brett Gardner and Chase Headley. I’m an irrationally big Gardner fan, so I would prefer they keep him, but I would have no problem with a Chase Headley trade to shed payroll. However, in order to trade him, the Yankees need a trade partner. However, there are many quality third basemen out there that are better than Headley, which could make a trade difficult. There are not many teams that have a glaring need at third base, but here are some that I could see pursuing a Headley trade: Photo Credit: USATSI

I’m going to preface this article by saying that I’m aware that it doesn’t make much sense to sign any slugger heading toward the wrong side of 30 to a big money deal. This is especially true for the Yankees since they seem to be shying away from lengthy contracts for older players and because they just brought in Matt Holliday whose best fit for the team is at the designated hitter position. In spite of those reasons, I think they should sign Edwin Encarnacion anyway.   My reasoning for this is that simply put, even at the age of 33 and even though he’s pretty much only a DH just like Holliday, he’s still a hitter to be feared at this point in his career. Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton | USA TODAY Sports

As many Yankees fans, including most of the writers here at the BBB, begin speculating on moves the team should make this offseason, I decided I'd provide the fan base with a dose of reality. The Yankees will not compete for a championship next season, unless they make drastic moves this offseason. Since this will almost certainly not happen, we are likely looking at a 2017 Yankees team that is quite similar to what we've seen the last few years. Good enough to stay in the race for most of the season, maybe even good enough for a wild card spot, but nowhere near good enough to qualify as a championship contender. Ever since foolishly handing out big money contracts to Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, and Masahiro Tanaka during the 2013 offseason, the Yankees have avoided high profile signings. Three things must occur in order for the Yankees to be big money spenders in free agency again. The Yankees must be in a position to field a championship caliber team, have ...

Happy Holidays, Yankees family! On behalf of all our writers, I would like to express how thankful the Bronx Bomber Blog is for our loyal readers. To show our appreciation, I decided to do this Q&A. My plan is to do at least one every month, so always send the BBB any questions you have!

The Yankees come into this offseason with a few holes on the roster that they will look to take care of in order to field a winning team on paper going into 2017. The Yankees haven't spent big since they signed Jacoby Ellsbury for seven years at $153 million, Carlos Beltran at three years for $45 million (his contract has since expired), and Brian McCann for five years at $85 million. The Yankees recently traded McCann to the Houston Astros for two minor league pitchers, and they will also pay $11 million of the $34 million McCann is set to earn over the next two seasons ($5.5 million each year of his annual $17 million). With Mark Teixeira's monster eight year 180-million-dollar contract also coming off the books, and the luxury tax potentially expanding under the new collective bargaining agreement negotiations, the Yankees are poised to be free agent spenders as well as trade market players once again. Let's take a look at some things that should be at the top of Brian ...

Any red-blooded American sports fan remembers the LeBron James “Decision 2010.”  Along with my undying allegiance to the Yankees, I am also (and unfortunately) a staunch Knicks supporter. I’ll never forget being in a musty dive bar on 2 nd ave. waiting to hear where the greatest basketball player since Michael Jordan would be taking his talents. As history goes, the Knicks and other NBA hopefuls cleared payroll and prayed LeBron would choose them and change the future of their franchise forever. As we all know, this didn’t quite work out for the Knicks and the team has been basking in futility ever since. But, what if I told you New York had another chance at the decision? What if I told you it’s actually like the decision times 10? Photo via ESPN.com

As the Yankees head closer to the 2016 Winter Meetings, it is crucial that they lock up a reliable designated hitter to pad the middle of the lineup. With a lot of different options out there, the one that makes the most sense to me is Mike Napoli. In 2016, Napoli (35) had one of the best years of his career belting 34 home runs while driving in 101 runs and playing in 150 games. Not only did Napoli put up big time numbers, he did it in one of the least hitter-friendly ballparks in all of baseball. I can only imagine what kind of power numbers Napoli could put up in Yankee stadium. Photo via Fansided

Even after two marquee midseason trades in which the New York Yankees shipped elite relievers Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman to the two eventual teams to compete in the World Series, the pinstripers' bullpen still ranked among the best in baseball in several pitching statistics come seasons end. After the aforementioned player’s departure from the Bronx, the ‘pen was led by the likes of Dellin Betances and Adam Warren, and finished the season with an American League-best .224 BAA (batting average against,) and second in strikeouts (578) and wins (36.) Unfortunately for Yankees fans, despite these impressive statistics, its bullpen was only able to muster a 3.67 ERA — the 16th best in the MLB (7th in the AL.) While the Yankees’ bullpen was perhaps its greatest strength through August, the bullpen imploded in several important September games — most noticeably by overworked closer Dellin Betances — which ultimately kept the Yankees out of the playoffs.  While Dellin Bet...

Likely the Yankees biggest storyline to monitor early in the offseason is what they are going to do with Brian McCann. With Gary Sanchez bursting onto the scene in 2016, Brian Cashman has already dubbed Sanchez as the Yankees’ starting catcher on opening day in 2017. He did say that McCann would see one or two starts behind the dish, as well as being the primary designated hitter, barring any free agent signings. Although the Yankees are probably best-suited in trading McCann, the team should be reassured that they cannot go wrong with whether they trade him or not. Photo via Getty Images