What’s Next for The Yankees?

By: Kenny Velez

Here are some of the members from the New York Yankees celebrating after a win. Credit: newsday.com

The New York Yankees have reached the postseason for the third straight year, and failed to make it to the World Series.

But for the second time in three years, the Yankees have been eliminated in the ALCS by the Astros in Houston. 

This time, it comes in the form of a walk-off home run by one Jose Altuve in Game 6. 

Many fans consider this season a disappointment, in fact, this is the first decade since the 1910’s that the Yankees have failed to make a single World Series appearance.

 There are many reasons why the Yankees missed the World Series this year, one being that they did not get anyone during the trading deadline, which is unusual for a team like the Yankees. 

Their starting pitching was not as good as their bullpen and their offense, many people expected them to make a move during the trading deadline to get a starting pitcher.

 That did not happen, and instead it was the Astros who made a move to get a starting pitcher, in this case it was Zack Greinke. Also, their pitching set the team record for Home runs allowed in a single season with 248.

Thirdly, they set the team record for strikeouts in a single season with 1,437 strikeouts. They were striking out a lot during the postseason, especially against the Astros. 

These among many other factors lead to them losing to the Astros in the ALCS, but there were many good things that happened during the season as well. 

The team broke the Home Run record that they set last year. This year the team hit 306 home runs. 

In his first season with the team, DJ LeMahieu was named an All Star and played every infield position except for shortstop. He was nominated for an AL Gold Glove in his natural position of second base. 

He became the second man in the American League to get his Batting Average this season to a .327. 

The Yankees won the AL East for the first time since 2012. 

This means that they did not have to play for their playoff lives at Yankee Stadium in the American League Wild Card game. 

Instead, they were able to have a few days off before they played Game 1 of the American League Division Series. 

The ALDS was the first time since 2012 that the Yankees had home field advantage in a playoff series. 

The result was that they swept the Minnesota Twins in the Division Series, a team that they have owned in the postseason for years. 

The Yankees also set another record by having 14 players hit 10 home runs this season, more than any other team in the history of baseball. 

Also this season, the Yankees set a league record by having 30 players go on the injured list, beating the previous record of 28 set by the Dodgers in 2016. 

Despite this, the Yankees did not falter and played well throughout the season, while maintaining a winning record as well as the lead in their division. 

This is a testament to the depth of the Yankees, as well as all the money that the organization has and is willing to spend. 

Most other teams would not survive the amount of injuries that the Yankees had in 2019. After the season ended, they fired their longtime pitching coach Larry Rothschild. 

The search for a new pitching coach is on and they will have a new look in 2020, but if they do not get some reliable starting pitching, they will miss the World Series again.