As the Yankees get set to face the Dodgers for the first time since 2019, the last time the Bombers felt like they could be the best team in the American League, Boomer and Gio believe this 2023 team finally doesn’t feel like it is clearly behind one obvious titan of the AL.
“I don’t know that the Yankees can’t be the best team in the league this season,” Gio said. “We knew that last year, as the season went on, that they couldn’t. We said at the All-Star break that the Astros were the team to beat.”
Boomer agrees, though, as usual, it will come down to health. Harrison Bader, currently back on the IL, has been vital to the Yankees’ success since he was activated off the IL last season, and he will need to be back and producing come October. Carlos Rodon will need to be healthy and pitching to the level that earned him a $162 million deal, and other oft-injured cogs such as Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Severino will have to be available.
If the Yankees can be healthy at the right time, this roster could be the one that finally gets over the hump without a clearly superior team like the Astros, Red Sox, or Rays in their way, as has been the case in years past.
“I think the Yankees are right there in the mix,” Boomer said. “They’re definitely a top five team in the league, especially when their pitching is healthy.
“They need those guys to stay as healthy as they possibly can be. The interruption, even in the playoffs last year when Andrew Benintendi and DJ LeMahieu got hurt, and everyone was screaming and yelling about not having contact hitters. Well, they had contact hitters, but they got hurt.”
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