Last season the Yankees fell to the Astros in the American League Championship Series, in Houston. The team rebounded though, and with the acquisition of  Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins over the offseason, the 2018 Yankees were supposed to be the biggest home run hitting team in major league history.

The season started with a “BANG”, when Giancarlo Stanton launched two home runs in his first MLB game with the Yankees against the Toronto Blue Jays. Around mid April, the Yankees called up second baseman, Gleyber Torres and third baseman Miguel Andujar. In total they combined to hit more than 40 home runs and over 150 runs batted in.

One big problem for the Yankees was injuries… throughout the whole season Aroldis Chapman, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, and CC Sabathia all had long stints on the Disabled List. On a game against the Kansas City Royals, Aaron Judge was hit by a pitch in his wrist and needed to get an MRI. He missed a month because of his injury. Everything started going downhill for the Yankees. Gary Sanchez had a groin injury, Aroldis Chapman had hip problems, and Didi Gregorius missed some time.  

On the other hand, many Yankees were picked to play on the AL All-Stars team, including Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Gleyber Torres, and Aroldis Chapman.

In the end, the Yankees lived up to their expectations by breaking the single season home run record (267), held by the 1997 Seattle Mariners. The Bronx Bombers ended up finishing in second place behind the Red Sox in the AL East.

They were going to play against the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wild Card game. Oakland had a powerful offense with home run hitters, Khris Davis, Matt Chapman, and Matt Olson. The A’s would start righty Liam Hendriks and the Yankees would start Luis Severino. The last time Severino pitched in a wild card game was last year against the Minnesota Twins and he gave up 3 runs through ⅔ of an inning! He redeemed himself when he pitched a strong 5 innings against the A’s with no runs let up. Andrew McCutchen lead off for the Yankees in the bottom of the first. He did what he does best:  walk. Then Aaron Judge came up with man on first with no outs. He crushed a home across the left field wall. With that blast everyone knew that the Yankees would run over the A’s, eventually winning 7-2.

Next up was the American League Championship Series where they would lose to the Red Sox in 5 games.  Unfortunately, the hopes of the young Yankees were ruined for that season. Be sure to watch the Yankees on YES next year in 2019! Go Yanks!