Here come the New York Yankees.
A sweep of the Chicago White Sox over the weekend extended the Bronx Bombers’ winning streak to six-straight games to firmly put a slow start to 2021 in the rearview mirror. Over their last 32 games, the Yankees are 23-9 and now just a half-game back of the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox entering Monday night’s action.
“To shut down a team like that is pretty impressive,” Yankees slugger Aaron Judge — who won Sunday’s game with a walk-off walk – said. “They’re one of the powerhouses in the AL… For us to do what we did in this past series is something special.”
“We know the White Sox have been performing really good baseball since Opening Day,” shortstop Gleyber Torres added. “We were really excited to face a team like that to see where we were at and what works really well.”
These are the Yankees that everyone around baseball expected this season, and even last season, as one of the favorites to represent the American League in the World Series.
While the Yankees have been the overpowering slugging side that many foresaw, they’ve been getting it done in other ways; piecing together productive at-bats while getting stellar solid pitching that has now held opponents scoreless for 35 consecutive innings.
“We have enormous expectations in that room,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We also have the confidence that we can play at that level. So I don’t know if that’s sending [a message to the rest of the league], but that’s what we expect.
“This is a great team and now for the better part of the last few weeks now, it’s starting to sync up and we’re seeing the results.”
Torres has recently been a major support system for the strong starting pitching as he’s come alive at the plate. In fact, ‘he’s been absolutely scorching over his last 17 games, slashing .369/.423/.523 (.946 OPS) with two home runs and 16 RBI. Eight of those runs batted in came in the three-game sweep of the White Sox over the weekend.
“The first couple weeks of the season was a struggle. I didn’t hit really well but I adjusted every time and I try to do that every night, every game, and I feel really well right now,” Torres said. “Every time I got to home plate, I try to keep it very simple, put the ball in play, and help my team. I don’t want to do too much, just be myself and play my game.”
