Pitch Perfect: The Dominance of the 2022 Yankees Rotation
Baffling The Batters
The Bronx is burning, but not in a bad way. The heat coming from the arms of the Yankees starting rotation has stifled nearly every opposing offense early on this season. If you’ve only taken notice during the recent Twins series, it does not seem that way considering Jameson Taillon and Nestor Cortes were roughed up in the first two games. However, when you look at the numbers of each of the five starters, the first thing that jumps out is the earned run average. Jordan Montgomery has the highest of the bunch, sitting at 3.02. Three of the remaining four starters have an ERA below three, with Luis Severino at 2.95, Gerrit Cole at 2.78, and Taillon at 2.73. Despite Wednesday’s performance against Minnesota, Cortes still leads the group with an astonishing 1.96 ERA.
As if those numbers were not dazzling enough, the combined win-loss record is 21-6. All the combined numbers, the ERA, on-base plus slugging, and other advanced metrics, have resulted in the best staff in the league statistically. Opponents are batting .214 and the combined ERA is 2.87 and those numbers are great for one pitcher, let alone an entire rotation. All five starters have garnered all-star buzz and Cortes is currently dueling for a potential American League Cy Young Award. Their complete dominance has been a huge reason why the team has the best record in baseball at 40-16. It is remarkable when considering the uncertainties that surrounded the staff coming into the season.
The concerns were understandable for this rotation. Gerrit Cole was expected to be the ace, but the health of Severino, inconsistency and inability to win from Montgomery, the previous mediocrity of Taillon, and the unknown entity in Cortes all raised red flags heading into an abbreviated spring training. They were faced with the question of who would be the true number two behind Cole and fans and analysts were clearly not sold on the rotation outside of him. Sure, it is still too early to crown them as the best rotation in baseball, but with the summer coming into focus and the All-Star break approaching next month, teams cannot afford to sleep on the boys from the Bronx. The only box left for them to tick is the avoidance of the second half slump and fatigue that teams are prone to after the break.
Pinstripe Precision and Power
In a perfect world, the Yankees would love to continue this blistering start and carry it into the postseason where it really matters. It would be very remiss of baseball aficionados to crown them as World Series champions so soon, but the numbers do not lie. Each of the starters can be aces on other teams across the league and they all have the potential to go deep into ball games, with each of them reaching the seventh inning or deeper in multiple starts. Cole and Taillon even made history a week ago with back-to-back perfect game bids that were broken up late. With all this success, it might be time to call these sensational starters the “Murderers’ Throw.”