All is Right With The World. Yankees 7, Royals 0
- Tim Kabel
- Apr 20
- 3 min read
About Yesterday Afternoon: All is Right With The World. Yankees 7, Royals 0
By Tim Kabel
April 20, 2026
***
On Thursday, the Yankees were reeling. They had lost seven of their last nine games and their record was 10-9. Things did not look great. The offense was struggling. The bullpen was awful. The starting rotation was shaky, particularly after Cam Schlittler and Max Fried had their turns. Then, Kansas City came to town.
Everything is right with the world now. The Yankees won yesterday. The Yankees swept the Royals. They are 13-9. Will Warren and Ryan Weathers looked unhittable. The Yankees are in first place. Start shredding paper for the tickertape parade. (Editor's question - Start shredding the news?)
The Kansas City Royals are the new Minnesota Twins. They are a punching bag for the Yankees. Playing the Royals is an instant cure for whatever ails the Yankees. It is like makeup covering blemishes. It is great that the Yankees swept the Royals. However, it was the 11th straight game in which the Yankees beat the Royals, dating to Game 2 of the 2024 AL Division Series. It was a wonderful series victory. These were three very good games. However, we shouldn't get too excited, because, well, it was the Royals. If the Yankees had lost this series or God forbid been swept, it would have been devastating. The only thing that the Yankees or any team can do is play the games that are on their schedule. The three games against Kansas City came at the perfect time. It will be very interesting to see what happens when the Yankees play better competition and teams that have a history of being very tough opponents for them.
Ben Rice batted leadoff for the first time this season. He was 1-3 and hit his eighth home run of the year. It was the fourth straight game in which Rice hit a home run and his third home run off a left-handed pitcher this season. That should make the case clear that he does not need to sit against left-handed pitching. Rice is off to a tremendous start and has the potential to be one of the best players not only on the Yankees, but in the league this year.
Aaron Judge's first inning home run was his sixth home run in eight games and his fifth first inning home run this season and the 90th first inning home run in his career.
Ryan Weathers seems to pitch like the little girl with the curl, in that when he is good, he is very good but when he is bad, he is horrid. Yesterday, he was very good. He pitched 7.1 innings, allowing five hits and one walk. He struck out eight and gave up zero runs. That is a far cry from what he did against the Angels on Tuesday. There is definitely talent in Weathers, but consistency is what will matter. It will be interesting to see how he develops throughout the season.
Yesterday's win was impressive. The sweep of the Royals was great. However, Toto, starting tomorrow, they won't be playing Kansas City anymore.
A Few Tidbits:
· The Yankees Won the last two games by a combined 20-4 margin after their previous five victories were decided in the final at bat.
· Aaron Judge and Ben Rice became the third set of Yankees teammates with at least eight home runs each through the first 22 games of a season. Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra did it in 1956 and Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo did it in 2022.
· Cole Ragans tied a career high by allowing seven runs in 4.1 innings. He also allowed a career high eight walks and allowed four hits.
· The Yankees hit nine home runs in the three-game series against Kansas City.
· The Yankees 6th through 9th place hitters were 2-11 yesterday. That will need to change if they expect to have a winning record this year against teams that are not from Kansas City.
· Jasson Dominguez is batting .309 with 2 home runs, 10 RBI, and 8 stolen bases, with an .861 OPS.
· Spencer Jones is batting .254 with 5 home runs, 21 RBI, and 4 stolen bases. His OPS is .915.
After a day off today, the Yankees hope to win tomorrow when they face the Red Sox at 6:45 PM at Fenway Park. Luis Gil, (0-1, 7.00 ERA) will face Connelly Early, (1-0, 2.29 ERA). Let's hope the Yankees make early work of Connelly and emerge with a win.
I expect Jazz to be traded or sent down, if he doesn't pick up soon. McMahon still cannot hit. Don't think his defense makes up for a .130 average
Wells is a disappointment to this point. He has nearly 900 ABs and has hit 222 with 712 ops while throwing put 24% of base stealing.
Barring injury, I do not expect the watch click to start for a sighting of Dominguez or Jones here before June 15, the day they can officially move Grisham.
Will Warren is cementing himself as the SP5 once both Rodon & Cole are back. Weathers really is not a threat simply because his innings are going to become an issue. One way to help that is letting Weathers be the piggyback guy for Cole or Rodon, also alleviating the need for either one to really go more than 6 innings. I can see Weathers having a handful of 3 or 4 inning saves.
Gil doesn't look right to me. I don't know if it's physical or a mental block that…
how much additional hitting will they need if Judge and Rice have great offensive production?
the 2024 Yankees had great offense from Judge and Soto....... and not much else.
the Yankee with the third highest WAR that season was Volpe.
the 2026 Yankees appear to have a better, more balanced team than the one from 2024.
better defense in the field, better pitching.
the two most valuable starters in 2024 were Gil and Cortes.
Days are better when the Yankees are in first place.