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The Boys of Summer are back
— How will this year’s New York
teams shape up?
BY JAIME DEJESUS
Baseball is beautiful and unpredictable. Just a season ago, New
Yorkers were declaring the Mets the team of the town. They had
reclaimed the city. A billboard of ace Noah Syndergaard was put
up outside the Port Authority. Then, injuries and underachieving,
really from the start, led to the team’s worst season since 2009
with a dreadful 70 wins. That’s a far cry from 2016 campaign’s 87
wins and 2015 with 90 wins.
Syndergaard was shut down most of the year. Steven Matz didn’t pitch a
chunk of the season again and was ineffective when he did. Their offensive
leader, Yoenis Cespedes, played only half the season. The rotation, which
was touted as being the league’s best, turned out to be the worst sans Jacob
deGrom.
Over in the Bronx, where things seem to work out quite well, the Yankees
were in rebuilding mode. They made the right call by acquiring high quality
players like Aroldis Chapman, Starlin Castro and Didi Gregorius but they also
made the decision to trade for prospects and give their youngsters a shot.
They wanted to get below the luxury tax so this was considered to be a healthy
building year when they could rid themselves of bad contracts and grow into
another dynasty within a couple of seasons.
Well, leave it up to the Bronx Bombers to go on the fast track where
a rebuild doesn’t exist. Aaron Judge, who struggled in his brief time
in the majors the previous years, became a viable MVP candidate.
A potent offense, great bullpen and a starting rotation that was
much stronger than anticipated -- thanks to a great performance
from Luis Severino -- equaled one of the most fun seasons for the
Yankees in a long time.
The team, led by Joe Girardi, won 91 games, good enough for a
wild card, and was within one game of a trip to the World Series,
besting the Minnesota Twins and favored Cleveland Indians
before losing to an incredible Houston Astros team in an
epic seven-game series.
So how does each team fare for 2018? The status
of one team seems a lot more clear cut, while the
other has promise but with a lot of ‘ifs’ attached.
I’m sure you can guess which is which. But that’s
why they play the games. Here’s a rundown
on each team’s chances and expectations this
upcoming season.
QNS.COM
10 SPRING 2018