Yankees Romp Royals in Sweat-Free Sweep

By Sal Maiorana

April 20, 2026

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Can we all stand up and give a round of applause and a hearty thanks to the Kansas City Royals for showing up at just the right time and doing their part to get the Yankees back on track.

Well done boys.

It was a fantastic weekend for the Yankees in every way, but let’s also make the point that the Royals were awful. That was just a deplorable display of baseball by that team and it’s pretty clear why they are riding out of New York on a seven-game losing streak and sitting dead last in the AL Central with a 7-15 record.

After a hard-fought 4-2 victory on Friday where Camilo Doval blew an eighth-inning lead before Ryan McMahon stunned everyone with his game-winning two-run homer, the Yankees rag-dolled the Royals over the final two games, outscoring them 20-4, and thanks to the Rays losing two of three in Pittsburgh, the Yankees edged back into first place in the AL East.

Obviously it was a huge series for the bats, but let’s focus on the starting pitching because we are closing in on the time when the Yankees have some big decisions to make.

Gerrit Cole made his first rehab start Friday night for Double-A Somerset and he seems right on track with his schedule and if that continues, he’ll be back in the rotation by mid-to-late May. And Carlos Rodon is almost ready to make his first rehab start and if all goes well, he should be back shortly before Cole.

Thus, the Yankees will need to make room in the rotation and looking at this series against Kansas City, it’s pretty clear that - barring injuries to anyone - Luis Gil’s future is as cloudy as the skies were in the Bronx during Sunday’s three-hour rain delay.

Gil just doesn’t do anything particularly well and he’s nowhere near the pitcher he was in the first half of 2024 when he burst on the scene and ultimately won the AL Rookie of the Year award. His velocity has dipped, he doesn’t have any putaway secondary pitches, and his command issues remain prevalent. Given all that, I can’t even see how the Yankees can insert him into the bullpen because he can’t be trusted in the late innings. So when Rodon returns, Gil is the first man out, either back to Triple-A or perhaps moved in a trade to acquire a much-needed bullpen asset, though I doubt Brian Cashman would do that.

The next decision when Cole gets back figures to be much tougher if Will Warren and Ryan Weathers pitch the way they did against Kansas City. Granted, the Royals’ offense is terrible right now as it sits 27th in MLB in average (.218) and on-base (.296) and 28th in OPS (.635), but you have to give credit to both Warren and Weathers for making great pitches. Warren gave up just two runs and Weathers zero while combining for 19 strikeouts and just one walk in 14.1 innings.

Based on what I’ve seen, I think Warren is who I’d stick with in the No. 5 spot behind Cole, Rodon, Max Fried and Cam Schlittler. He’s got a much more defined history as a starter, a guy who took the ball 33 times in 2025 and was rock solid. Remember, his 4.44 ERA was heavily damaged by three terrible starts he had against the Dodgers, Red Sox and Blue Jays which represented 21 of the 80 earns runs he allowed all season.

“You’ve seen in all of his outings this year, what’s stood out to me is how much swing and miss he is getting with his fastball,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s got a unique delivery and (arm) slot that allows that to play.”

Weathers has a plus-plus fastball and when he’s going well, a very good slider, and that combination could really play in short bullpen stints and he’s averaging 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings through his first five starts, 36 in all which ties for fifth-most in MLB with Schlittler. His career high in innings is 94.2 back in 2021 because he has battled injuries, so that alone would suggest he’d be the guy to go to the pen in an effort to keep him pitching all year. You could easily see him at the back end of games in some order with Tim Hill and Fernando Cruz bridging to closer David Bednar, pushing Doval into mid-inning low leverage spots.

“There was a lot of good in the last outing,’’ Boone said. “It was a case of a team [the Angels] swinging the bat well and not getting his fastball where he needed to. He had a hard time locating it.”