Perspectives: May 14, 2022

by Paul Semendinger

The Yankees won again last night.

I didn't get to see the game because the decision makers with the Yankees and MLB put the game on Amazon or something and, in effect, took the game away from the loyal fans who don't subscribe to a collection of streaming services. This is a terrible business decision. It will hurt the game long term. I don't think the Yankees or MLB really care about the sport long term as long as they get their money today.

This also send a clear message from the Yankees to many of their fans. "We don't really care about you." Ok. I hear that loud and clear.

When fans don't care... they don't care. And when they don't care, they stop supporting the team.

Was boxing a bigger sport when it was more readily available or after the big fights went to HBO, Showtime, and Pay-Per-View? Baseball is making the same mistake. People used to talk about boxing all of the time. Now, can anyone name who the Heavyweight Champion even is?

Last night I was looking forward to enjoying the Yankees game. Oh well. Life moves on. I did other things. As others will do.

When I was a kid, we'd treasure when the Yankees were on TV, because all the games weren't on TV. But, eventually the YES Network came - and with it came the inherent promise that the fans would always have the Yankees games if they had the Yankees channel. No longer. Now I have the YES Network and can watch the WNBA on the Yankees' channel while the Yankees are playing in Chicago.

The Yankees are baseball's most valuable team, by a long shot. They already have some the highest ticket prices, the highest priced concessions, parking that is priced way out of control, on and on... and they needed to do this?

Yeah, it's frustrating.

***

What's not frustrating is they they keep winning.

My favorite pitching stat to look at is WHIP (Walks plus Hits Per Inning). A WHIP of 1.00 is terrific.

Clay Holmes, Michael King, Jordan Montgomery, and Nestor Cortes all have pitched at least 16 innings this year and have WHIPs under 1.00. That's crazy good.

Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon have WHIPs under 1.20. Fantastic.

An ERA under 2.00 is also very very good, excellent, in fact. The following Yankees pitchers have all pitched at least 16 innings with an ERA under 2.00: Clay Homes, Nestor Cortes, and Michael King. Jordan Montgomery and Jameson Taillon both have an ERA under 3.00.

Suffice to say, the Yankees have pitched tremendously.

***

Three of the top six players in the American League in home runs are Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Anthony Rizzo.

Aaron Judge leads the American league in runs scored.

Aaron Judge leads the American League in Total Bases. Giancarlo Stanton is fifth.

***

Gary Sanchez has played in 21 games this year for the Twins. He's hitting .195 with one homer.

Gio Urshela has played in 28 games for the Twins. He's hitting .222 with one homer.

Clint Frazier has played in 10 games for the Cubs. He's hitting .143 with no homers.

***

I'm enjoying the ride with the 2022 Yankees. (That is, when I can actually watch them.)

I understand they've had an easy schedule to date, but they're winning the games they play. That's all we can ask.

Here's a crazy thought to finish for today (and remember, I brought this up first so when you hear this on the radio and read it on other sites that it originated here) - Maybe, just maybe, the lockout and delay to the season helped the Yankees because it provided them, at least arguably, with an easier schedule to begin than had they opened on time. Is that possible? I think it is.

Let's Go Yankees!