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Checking in on the Red Sox AL East Rivals: Week One

By Daniel Fox

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 8: Manager Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox shakes hands with Manager Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees before the 2022 Major League Baseball Opening Day game on April 8, 2022 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 8: Manager Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox shakes hands with Manager Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees before the 2022 Major League Baseball Opening Day game on April 8, 2022 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 08: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Aaron Judge #99 (L) and Anthony Rizzo #48 of the New York Yankees look on against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on April 08, 2022 in New York City. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 6-5 in eleven innings. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 08: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Aaron Judge #99 (L) and Anthony Rizzo #48 of the New York Yankees look on against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on April 08, 2022 in New York City. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 6-5 in eleven innings. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

Red Sox rival: New York Yankees

Weekly Record: 5-5

So far, the 2022 Yankees look a lot like the 2021 Yankees. The pitching staff has again been effective, with Luis Severino coming back to join Nestor Cortes, Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole, and Jordan Montgomery in a strong rotation. It appears that Severino’s stuff has survived Tommy John surgery, and he has allowed just two runs over his first eight innings. Cole hasn’t been as sharp (5.59 ERA), but five of his six runs have come on home runs by Rafael Devers and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., so you can give him a pass on that.

The bullpen, for the most part, has also performed so far. They allowed just five earned runs over their first nine games of the season, with Lucas Luetge, Miguel Castro, and Chad Green all untouched in their combined 13 appearances. There have been a few blips along the way, such as Aroldis Chapman walking each of the three batters he faced on Thursday and the Orioles roughing up Jonathan Loaisaga for five runs in the bottom of the eighth, but  the bullpen has overall  been as good as advertised.

Yet like last season, it has been the offense holding them back. Besides Aaron Hicks (.346 average) and D.J Lemahieu (.333), nobody in the Yankees lineup is hitting. Josh Donaldson (.200 average, 595 OPS) has struggled in his first couple of series as a Yankee, Gleyber Torres (.161, .552) has carried over his poor play from last year, and Kyle Higashioka (.120, .280) has been even worse.

The Yankees series in Baltimore was particularly anemic, as the terrible Orioles pitching staff held them to just 6 runs in their three-game series victory It’s too early to make any grand assessments on the Yankees offense, but it’s clear that their new-look offense is off to a poor start.

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