New York Yankees: 3 major storylines, notes as the Yanks head into the Opener

Don’t let early games come back to haunt them.

The New York Yankees struggled to play down to their competition last season. While they still dominated most of the season, it at least felt that way. In 2018, the Yankees went 12-7 against the Orioles, 13-6 against the Blue Jays, and 10-9 against the Rays, While none of those records are outright terrible, they al finished below the Yankees in the division. Had the Yankees taken a few games more here and there vs those teams, you might be looking at them having won the division.

This season, the Yankees must at least dominate one of those teams. Maybe the Rays will be better, but the Orioles and Blue Jays are not a threat. The good news is that the Yankees open up the season against very beatable opponents.

They open the season with three vs the O’s, three against the Tigers, three more against the O’s, three in Houston which will be a challenge, but then right back to playing three vs the White Sox. Baseball is one of those sports where it is impossible to predict, but the Orioles are probably going to be even worse than last year.

If you are a Yankees fan, you should be licking your chops you are looking at possible winning six to eight games out of the first 10. That would be a great start to the season. The Red Sox, for reference, open out West with four against the Mariners and A’s each then three in Arizona. That is not going to be easy for any team, especially right out of the gate.

While the season is still just a little pebble after 20 games, if the Yanks take advantage of their early schedule, they can already get the upper hand on the AL East Division race, which I would assume will be close all season long.

Fast forward to September, the division could come down to just a few games, those few games could have been how the Yanks fared against some beatable teams to start the season. All 162 count, don’t listen to anybody who tells you otherwise.