Know Your Enemy: New York Yankees

Everyone hates the Yankees.

Except for New Yorkers who don’t root for the Mets and people who pick baseball teams based on name recognition (looking at you, Cubs fans). They’re basically a national brand, thanks to ESPN and its never-ending lust for the Red Sox and Yankees.

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2021 Yankees: 92-70, 3rd in AL East

The Yankees have struggled to field a decent team ever since Hal Steinbrenner took over and decided the luxury tax was for other teams (like the Dodgers). Despite all of this, the Yankees managed to turn a 1-3-6-2-5-6 triple play against the Blue Jays, the first in major league history. They also turned a triple play against the Oakland A’s, but that’s less notable because the A’s have the worst owner in baseball, one who would prefer to field a team with cardboard cutouts.

Going into the 2021 season, the Yankees added the likes of Rougned Odor, Corey Kluber, and Justin Wilson. There was a lot of activity around the trade deadline in the hopes that the club could go the extra step to be a little more competitive to get into the postseason. They got Anthony Rizzo in the fire sale from the Cubs and acquired Joey Gallo and Joley Rodriguez from the Rangers, all in exchange for some prospects and cash considerations. Despite all that, they ended up eight games back from Tampa Bay and were bounced out by the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card game.

The most exciting Yankees moment came thanks to Andrew Vaughn hitting a bomb off of noted domestic violence practitioner Aroldis Chapman:

In sum, the boring Yankees had yet another boring season where everything ended early.

2021 Yankees: 1st Place, eternally boring

New York traded Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez to the Twins for Josh Donaldson, Ben Rortvedt, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. No team is as perfect for Donaldson as the Yankees, as he is the perfect goon for the perfect goon squad. They also have continued to field sentient thumb, Brett Gardner.

This season is going much more in the Yankees’ favor than 2021, but as everyone keeps saying it’s still early (it’s May, guys). They’re rolling into Chicago on a three-game win streak. Rizzo has five doubles, six home runs, and four RBIs over the last 10 games while Aaron Judge is 10-for-36 in the past 10, posting a double and four home runs. Unfortunately for the White Sox, nobody of note is on the IL.

The White Sox are limping into the series after some messy games with Cleveland, hoping the return of Yoán Moncada and the addition of a healthy Joe Kelly will help make the difference. If only they weren’t plagued by defensive mistakes ...

Right now, the Yankees are beefing with almost everybody. Brian Cashman having thoughts on the Astros cheating is especially rich, given that the Yankees were cheating, too. Yankees fans were acting like a bunch of jerks a couple of weeks ago, were throwing beer cans and garbage at Guardians outfielders — then got scared sh*tless when Myles Straw climbed up the left-field wall and almost into the stands. Not exactly the choice way to celebrate a walk-off but I guess Yankees fans are built differently or something.

Pitching Matchups: Please don’t be awful

I know I’m being a bit more dour than usual about our beloved South Siders, but woof, this team has been hard to watch as of late.

Thursday is going to be Dylan Cease vs. Luis Gil. Cease is 3-1 this season with a 2.38 ERA, showing the stuff we all hoped he had all along. Gil is brand-new to the show (I think), so this will be either a slugfest for the White Sox or they’ll make Gil look like Cy Young.

Friday will be Vince Velásquez vs. Gerrit Cole.

Saturday is Dallas Keuchel vs. Jordan Montgomery. I’ll let this graphic speak for itself:

ESPN.com

Sunday for the finale is Michael Kopech vs. Nestor Cortes. Cortes has a 1-1 record with a 1.41 ERA over 32 innings. Kopech’s gotten down to a 0.93 ERA over 29 innings. I think Kopech’s ultimate goal is a 0.00 ERA? I’m not really sure, but 0.93 is pretty impressive.

Bonus DraftKings Content

Take a look at this weekend’s odds via DraftKings!

Why do we hate the Yankees?