Monday, in Detroit, the Yankees split a doubleheader with the Tigers as the two clubs made up a pair of rainouts from April. Well, it was actually one rainout and one snowout, but the end result was the same. The Yankees had two games postponed in April and they were made up Monday.
Postponements and doubleheaders are part of baseball and pretty much every team deals with them each season. The Yankees have had an inordinate number of postponements already this year though. This past Saturday was the one-third point of the season for the Yankees and they’ve had six rainouts already. I guess it’s five rainouts and one suspended game, but you catch my drift.
Generally speaking, all the postponements and makeup doubleheaders are bad news for the Yankees. They have to play a condensed schedule the rest of the season. As of Monday, there were 119 days remaining in the regular season and the Yankees will squeeze 108 games into those 119 days. The Red Sox, the team they’re competing with for the AL East title, only have to play 102 games in those 119 days.
All the postponements and the condensed schedule stinks, and there’s nothing the Yankees can do about it. They have to bite the bullet and play. But, for the sake of taking a glass half full look at things, here are four silver linings to all these postponements and doubleheaders.
1. The starters get some extra rest. The Yankees go to great lengths to avoid overworking their starters and for good reason. Masahiro Tanaka (elbow) and CC Sabathia (knee) have physical concerns and Sonny Gray has visited the disabled list a few times himself. Luis Severino? He might be the most valuable pitcher in baseball given his age (24), his effectiveness (+8.8 WAR since Opening Day 2017), and his team control (through 2022).
The Yankees want to keep their starters healthy like every other team in baseball, though the early injuries to Luis Cessa (oblique) and Jordan Montgomery (elbow) took a bite out of the rotation depth chart. Calling up a spot sixth starter isn’t as easy as it would’ve been with Cessa and Montgomery. And yet, thanks to the rainouts, the starters have been well-rested so far this season:
- Gray: Four starts on normal rest, seven starts on extra rest.
- Sabathia: Four starts on normal rest, seven starts on extra rest.
- Severino: Five starts on normal rest, eight starts on extra rest.
- Tanaka: Two starts on normal rest, ten starts on extra rest.
Aaron Boone and the Yankees talked about calling up a spot sixth starter at various points this season to give the regular starters extra rest, which is nothing unusual these days. The Yankees haven’t been able to do that, largely because Cessa and Montgomery are hurt, but they haven’t needed to either. All the rainouts have helped the Yankees give their starters extra rest without having to plug other pitchers into the rotation.
2. More games with Bird (and others). Monday the Yankees played two games against the Tigers that were originally scheduled for April 14th and 15th. Greg Bird was still recovering from ankle surgery those dates. But, because the games were postponed and pushed to yesterday, Bird was able to play. And he hit a homer. It mattered. Bird will also be able to play in the makeup games against the Nationals despite being on the disabled list for the originally scheduled games.
That’s four games — well, three and a half given the suspended game — Bird will be able to play that he wouldn’t have been able to without the rainouts. It’s not just Bird either. It applies to Adam Warren and maybe Tommy Kahnle too. Also, it means two more games with Gleyber Torres, since he had not yet been called up for the originally scheduled Tigers series. Sure enough, he went deep Monday. It mattered! Point is, the rainouts equal more games with a full strength roster, at least in theory.
On the other side of the coin, the two rainouts against the Orioles this weekend are potentially two fewer games the Yankees will see Manny Machado this year. He could be traded before the makeup doubleheaders. He should be traded by time the August 25th doubleheader rolls around. The July 9 doubleheader is less likely. Machado has torched the Yankees this season — he’s gone 10-for-26 (.385) with four homers against them this year — and the less they see him, the better.
3. The Yankees get to use their depth. At the moment, the Yankees legitimately have more good players than roster spots. There’s no way baseball will let that continue — depth has a way of disappearing quickly — but, right now, the Yankees have lots of good players sitting in Triple-A who, in a vacuum, deserve to be in the big leagues. It’s a good problem to have.
Monday the Yankees were able to use Clint Frazier as the 26th man in the doubleheader. The remaining doubleheaders equal more 26th man opportunities and thus more chances for the Yankees to show off their depth. It was Frazier yesterday. Maybe it’s Brandon Drury in two weeks. Or Justus Sheffield! Or Cody Carroll! The 26th man is a chance for the Yankees to use players who otherwise wouldn’t be in the big leagues given their roster situation, and that’s pretty cool.
4. They lost “only” two off-days. The MLBPA pushed for more off-days in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement and they got them. That’s why the season started on a Thursday this year. To accommodate the four extra off-days that were built into the season. Four doesn’t sound like much — it’s not even one extra off-day per month — but hey, that’s better than nothing.
Anyway, despite all these rainouts, the Yankees have only — “only” — lost two off-days to makeup games this year. One was Monday, the doubleheader in Detroit. The other is two weeks from Monday, for the makeup games with the Nationals. The two Orioles doubleheaders will be played on days the Yankees and Orioles were already scheduled to play. Last Thursday’s rainout will be made up July 9th. Last Sunday’s will be made up August 25th. No lost off-day. That’s not too bad.
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The Yankees have enjoyed more off-days than usual so far this season and at some point they’re going to have to pay the piper. These games need to be made up, these doubleheaders will be played, and they’ll create problems. Players will have to deal with all that added fatigue and playing three doubleheaders in a month’s time will do a number on the pitching staff. The postponements are bad overall. At least they came with some short-term benefits.
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