Will NY be the favorite in East LA?

It seems that many Yankees fans today have an air of pessimism. On networks and different platforms where fans of the most successful team in the Majors express themselves, we can read comments about the catcher’s situation, the absence of a more proven shortstop than Isaiah-Kiner Falefa and the need for another starting pitcher.

However, several projection systems that are used today, even by major league organizations, predict that the Yankees will not be as bad as many may predict.

According to PECOTA, the Yankees can win between 98 to 99 games and take the East Division of the American League. That’s not all, the postseason chances according to this page put the Bronx Bombers with a 97.4% chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

Yankees hitting, not just in PECOTA or other performance-predicting systems, looks to be some of the hottest in Major League Baseball in 2022. The bats of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Joey Gallo, Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres , Josh Donaldson and even Aaron Hicks, if healthy, can see huge improvements in their performance. The Bombers remain one of the teams with the most power on their wrists entering this season.

The pitching part, which is the one that worries the most, predicts a successful bullpen, with long relief of a lot of talent such as Luis Gil or Michael King, or intermediate flame arresters such as Chad Green, Joely Rodríguez, Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta, Lucas Luetge , among others, that give a good solidity to that part of the relievers. The main courses are, without a doubt, what they have between eighth and ninth, with the duo Jonathan Loáisiga and Aroldis Chapman. A coach in the Nicaraguan and a Cuban closer, who are anyone’s nightmare in the final stages of a game.

For its part, the starting rotation has a constant candidate for the Cy Young Award in Gerrit Cole and there is no doubt about that, however, the predictions given by these sites are very good for Luis Severino, who returns from injuries and both PECOTA, Like ZIPS and other systems, they offer very good predictions of Néstor Cortes Jr. We cannot forget that Jordan Montgomery continues to be an arm in which the Yankees have trusted and to close, let us remember that for a long time last season, Jameson Taillon was a giant on the mound of sighs for those from the Bronx.

In conclusion, I think there is no need to be pessimistic with these Bronx Bombers. Although we are going to witness a 2022 season of the best and most fought in the history of the American East Division, with four teams that are going to fight to the death, the Yankees have pieces to compete and fight for both the division title, as well as a pass to the playoffs, in which, like every contest, they would have the same goal as always: Azar the 28th title for the most winning franchise in baseball history.