After months of failed negotiations between the owners and MLBPA, there is an agreement that will include 60 regular season games beginning on July 23 with players to report to “Spring Training” no later than July 1.
The Yankees are the second highest favorites to win the World Series at 4/1 odds compared to the Dodgers’ 15/4. Many believe that these two teams will see each other in the World Series. Brian Cashman put together the ultimate team this past off-season by signing Gerrit Cole to a lucrative nine-year contract and keeping Aroldis Chapman in pinstripes for another three seasons.
A 60 game season played in less than two and a half months is going to challenging for the players, coaches and other staff members both physically and mentally. My biggest concern for the Yankees is if they can get off to a hot start.
Through their first 60 games in 2018, the Yankees were 41-19 after starting the season 9-9. The 2019 season saw the Yankees go a solid 38-22 through those first 60 games, including an abysmal 8-10 start through mid-April.
The past two seasons have shown that the Yankees can get off to slow starts and hit the ground running after that. With a stronger roster than the previous two years, it is possible that they may not even endure a bad streak of games, although this will more than likely happen. The good news for the Yankees is that they have a solid squad to where they can start slow and still be able to make the playoffs.
The old saying goes “It’s not how you start, but how you finish” and that can be the case for any team this season. But for the first time in a long time, how teams start the season may have a major impact on whether or not they make the playoffs. If there is a time for a bad team to try to make a run at the playoffs, this is the year to do it.
