The New York Yankees have played 15 games this season and have suffered 10 losses, the latest being a 4-2 loss against the Tampa Bay Rays at home with ace, Gerrit Cole, on the mound. They didn’t just lose the game though, but instead, the entire series. The Yankees were swept by the Rays, and prior to game three, most people had already pinned it as a “win” due to the fact that one of the best pitchers in the entire MLB was pitching for the Yankees. This was not the case. As Cole threw well, getting one out into the seventh inning and only letting up two runs, the offense fell completely flat, only recording three hits and scoring two runs. 

This, unfortunately for Yankee fans, has been the story of the entire season thus far, recording just five games where they have scored above five runs (five runs is usually considered a solid offensive game). With all that being said, the New York Yankees, baseball’s most popular team, has the second worst record in all of baseball, and it is leading some fans to become extremely concerned with the organization in general, as they have made several questionable moves in the recent weeks. So what exactly is going wrong?

Well, to put it bluntly, just about everything. The offense is scuffling and the pitching hasn’t been all too great either, not to mention how poor the infield’s defense has been. Ironically, catcher Gary Sanchez (someone notorious for not hustling, biffing plays, inducing passed balls and being one of the worst defenders in the league) has been the team’s second best defensive player during this beginning 15-game stretch. On offense, the Yankees have six of their starting nine players with an OPS (a rough measure of a hitter’s total production) below .700, which is still below average. RF Aaron Judge has the highest on the team as of April 18th, at .899, which is not even elite, and among the starters, CF Aaron Hicks has the lowest at .516, which would often be poor production even for the last bench player, but he still manages to find himself in Center Field every day.

The pitching hasn’t been too special either. In a bullpen that’s supposed to be the best in baseball, it has been walked-off once and blown the lead twice in the early-going. Nick Nelson, who flips between the bullpen and the rotation, has a 10.80 ERA. Their main six-man rotation is abysmal, with five of the six starters possessing an ERA above 4.00. RHP Domingo Germán has the highest through two starts with an ugly 9.00, and, of course, Gerrit Cole has the lowest. Perhaps one of the only bright spots on this team is 26 year-old RHP Michael King, who through nine innings of relief has not allowed a run. But, because the Yankees are the Yankees, they decided to send him down, and most likely will not be called back up any time soon.

Regardless of this rocky start, the projections will probably still be at least somewhat accurate. Then again, the Yankees could completely fall apart for the next 147 games, and miss the playoffs after spending massive amounts of money this offseason, signing RHP Corey Kluber and re-signing DJ LeMahieu. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.