As of today, the New York Yankees are still predicted to win the American League East â but not by much â according to analytically-based projections by Fangraphs. As of March 24, the site sees the Yankees edging the Boston Red Sox by one game â or to be precise, by 1.3 games. Fangraphs sees the Yankees with a win total of 85.8, to 84.5 for the Red Sox.
Division-winner or not, Fangraphs appears to be taking a pessimistic view of a team that has failed to win at least 90 games only one time since 2017 (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season). The problem for the Yankees appears to be injuries, mainly to the pitching staff, as the Yankees starting rotation is now looking at a start to the season with three of its five pitchers out.
That includes staff ace and 2023 CY Young Award winner Gerrit Cole who will miss the entire 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery. No. 3 starter Luis Gil, last season’s AL Rookie of the Year, is also out with a lat strain, and No. 5 starter Clarke Schmidt is set to spend Opening Day on the Injured List with shoulder issues.
Hoping For Good News on Ailing Stanton
On the offensive side, the Yankees have been hoping for good news about their 35-year-old power hitter Giancarlo Stanton and his 429 carer home runs, a total the Yankees were hoping that he would increase significantly as they attempt to reach their second World Series in a row.
Stanton has missed all of spring training with what he has described as “severe” injuries to both of his elbows. But if the Yankees were hoping for good news, the team’s longtime general manager Brain Cashman tried to put a somewhat sunny face on it when he spoke to the media over the weekend, and yet there was no mistaking the fact that the latest update on Stanton was yet more bad news.
Stanton is set to enter the 11th season of a 13-year, $325 million contract he signed when he was still with the Miami Marlins, the team that picked him in the second round of the 2007 MLB draft out of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California.But Cashman’s update appeared to indicate that Stanton may not have a 2025 season at all.
“I spent some time with him this morning, and he’s in good spirits,” Cashman told the media over the weekend, as quoted by Gary Philips of the New York Daily News. “Certainly we’re all hopeful that we can get him back down the line, but, but that’s not in the near-term.”
‘Hopeful’ But Not ‘Optimistic’ Outlook, Per Cashman
What Cashman meant by the “near term” was not explained, but an earlier report by Jon Heyman of the New York Post was that on “optimistic” estimate was that Stanton could return by Memorial Day, May 26. But while Cashman used the term “hopeful” in his statement, he did not use the term “optimistic,” and he gave no specific date for an expected Stanton return.
The Yankees designated hitter, who has been a postseason home run hero for the Bronx Bombers belting one round tripper for every 8.4 playoff at-bats, has not participated in any baseball activities this year due to the elbow injuries, meaning that his road back would be a long one even if his elbow condition did begin to show improvement.
“That leaves the door wide open to the possibility that Stanton could miss the entire 2025 season,” wrote Empire Sports Media founder Alexander Wilson. “At the very least, the team is now shifting its hopes toward a potential second-half return. But until he starts ramping up with a bat in his hands, even that feels speculative.”
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