New York Yankees season preview

The New York Yankees will begin their season on Tuesday afternoon at home against the Houston Astros.  It will be the exact same matchup as was the final game for the Yankees of last season.  Masahiro Tanaka vs. Dallas Keuchel ended the Yankees season last October in the wild card playoff game.  The Yankees will be looking for some revenge in this one and feel they are better equipped this season to face left handed pitchers. 

The Yankees didn't sign any free agents which is something they basically never do.  They did make a couple of trades though.  They traded for second baseman Starlin Castro from the Cubs and gave up Adam Warren who was a very valuable arm for them last season.  They also acquired closer Aroldis Chapman who will sit out the first month of the season after being suspended for an incident that took place in December at his home with his girlfriend.  The Yankees will have Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances coming back to be in the back end of the bullpen and then when he comes back they are expected to slide back an inning with him taking over the closer role.  Chasen Shreve will fill in as the seventh inning guy until then and then slide back himself when Chapman comes back.  The Yankees did have a couple surprises this season with Luis Cessa and Johnny Barbato making the pen and Ivan Nova serving as the long man instead of the fifth starter.  CC Sabathia will be the fifth starter even though Nova outpitched him this spring. 

The Yankees offense looks pretty good with Teixeria, Beltran and Arod back in the middle of the order.  Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner once again will be the table setters and expect bigger years from them.  Chase Headley, Castro and Didi Gregorius will be at the bottom of the order and that seems to be a pretty good 7-9 in the lineup.  Brian McCann had a big year power wise last year and will look to follow that up and maybe not wear out as much in the end of the season.  The Yankees bench looks to be better than it has been in years.  Aaron Hicks will be the fourth outfielder with Dustin Ackley being the backup first baseman and second baseman.  Ronald Torreyes is the utility infielder with Austin Romine as the backup catcher.  I would expect the bench to be used quite often this season as they look to rest their veteran players hoping they won't be so worn out at the end of the season. 

The Yankees rotation is filled with questions but mainly with them staying healthy and not how good they can be.  Tanaka will lead the rotation followed by Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi and Luis Severino.  Sabathia will be the fifth starter for now and Nova will be in the bullpen but ready to step in if need be.  Bryan Mitchell also pitched great this spring but was injured in the final weekend of spring training.  He broke his toe and will be out at least three months.  He was going to be a valuable member of the bullpen. 

I am expecting the Yankees to take a hard fought division and the Toronto Blue Jays to be one of the wild card teams.  I wouldn't be surprised if it went the other way though.  I also think the Cleveland Indians will be a wild card team with that good young pitching.  I am picking the Royals in the Central and the Astros in the west with the Rangers being a contender all the way also.   

The New York Mets open the season the same way they closed last season with a loss to the Kansas City Royals

The New York Mets were defeated by the Kansas City Royals on Sunday night.  The game took place at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri and the final score was 4-3.  Matt Harvey started for the Mets and pitched ok.  Lucas Duda had two RBI and Michael Conforto had two hits and drew two walks to lead the offense. 

Harvey pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs with three of them being earned.  He walked two and struck out two and took his first loss of the season.  Bartolo Colon pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and he struck out one and Jerry Blevins pitched a perfect inning. 

Edinson Volquez started for the Royals and pitched six innings giving up two hits and three walks with five strikeouts.  He earned his first win of the season.  Kelvin Herrera pitched an inning giving up a hit, Joakim Soria pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and three runs with two walks and a strikeout and Luke Hochevar pitched to one batter and struck him out.  Wade Davis earned his first save of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two batters. 

Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk, David Wright drew a walk and Yoenis Cespedes had a hit and drew a walk.  Duda had a hit and two RBI, Neil Walker had an RBI and Conforto had two hits and drew two walks.  Asdrubal Cabrera had a hit, Travis d'Arnaud drew a walk and Juan Lagares had a hit.  Conforto hit a double and the Mets were 1-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.  Conforto was caught stealing and Cespedes committed an error.  d'Arnaud had a passed ball. 

Alcides Escobar had a hit, Lorenzo Cain had a hit and drew two walks and Eric Hosmer had three hits and an RBI.  Kendrys Morales had an RBI, Alex Gordon had a hit and an RBI and Salvador Perez had a hit.  Omar Infante had two hits and an RBI, the Royals were 3-7 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  Escobar had a stolen base. 

In the first Hosmer hit an RBI single to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth Morales hit a sac fly to make it 2-0 Royals.  Gordon hit an RBI single in the sixth making it 3-0 and Infante made it 4-0 with an RBI single.  Duda hit a two run single in the eighth to cut the lead to 4-2.  Walker hit into a force out and a run scored to make it 4-3 but that would be the final score. 

The Mets and Royals will play game two of two on Tuesday afternoon.  Noah Syndergaard will make the start for the Mets against Chris Young of the Royals.   

New York Yankees lose final spring game in Miami

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Miami Marlins on Saturday afternoon.  The game took place at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida and the final score was 2-1.  Luis Severino started for the Yankees and pitched well.  Jacoby Ellsbury led the offense with a couple of hits. 

Severino pitched five innings giving up three hits and two runs with only one of the runs being earned.  He walked one and he struck out six.  Aroldis Chapman pitched an inning walking two batters and striking out one, Andrew Miller pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and he struck out one and Kirby Yates pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out a batter.  Johnny Barbato pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one. 

Ellsbury had two hits and an RBI, Brett Gardner drew a walk and Dustin Ackley had a hit.  Pete Kozma had a hit and Ellsbury hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  Didi Gregorius committed an error. 

In the first Ellsbury led off the game with a homerun giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  In the bottom of the first Giancarlo Stanton hit a sac fly to tie the game at one.  In the third Stanton hit an RBI single to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead and that would be the final score. 

The Yankees are scheduled to open the season on Monday afternoon against the Houston Astros with Tuesday afternoon being the makeup date.  Masahiro Tanaka will face off against Dallas Keuchel.  It will be the same two teams and same two pitchers facing off as it was in the wild card game in October at Yankee Stadium. 

The New York Mets season begins Sunday night

The New York Mets will begin their season tonight against the defending champion Kansas City Royals in Kansas City, Missouri.  The game will be at 835PM on ESPN and it will be the same two teams that ended the season last season as they were in the World Series but it ended in New York.  Matt Harvey will get the start for the Mets. 

I am expecting the Mets to do big things again this year.  I do think that the Washington Nationals will probably be better and are a dangerous team but the Mets just have too much pitching.  They have an embarrassment of riches with the pitching.  Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Bartolo Colon and then Zach Wheeler will be back in June or July.  That is impressive, best rotation in baseball in my mind without a doubt and they are all young too other then Colon who will move to the pen once Wheeler returns.  The Mets offense should be better this year as well with Yoenis Cespedes there for a whole year, I think Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera were nice pickups and Wilmer Flores should be a good backup. 

I don't think the Mets offense has to be that good for them to win since the pitching is so good but they should be good enough to win most games.  The bullpen is probably the one weakness but Antonio Bastardo and Jerry Blevins should help.  They have a budding star in closer Jeurys Familia and I don't expect him to regress this season. 

I would expect the Mets to win their division and at least get back to the NLCS if not further.  I am predicting the division and wild cards at this point though and then at the end of the season I will make my postseason picks.  I am taking the Mets in the NL East, Chicago Cubs in the NL Central and San Francisco Giants in the NL West.  My wild card picks are the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks. 

The Mets win their final spring game over the Chicago Cubs

The New York Mets defeated the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.  The game took place at Cashman Field in Las Vegas, Nevada and the final score was 8-1.  Steven Matz started and pitched well for the Mets.  T.J. Rivera led the team with a couple of hits. 

Matz pitched five innings giving up no hits and no runs with two walks and six strikeouts.  Sean Gilmartin pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with two walks, Logan Verrett pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Antonio Bastardo an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one.  Jeurys Familia pitched an inning striking out the side. 

Curtis Granderson had a hit, Travis Taijeron had a hit and Wilmer Flores had a hit.  Yoenis Cespedes had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Eric Campbell had a hit and an RBI and Rivera had two hits and an RBI.  Michael Conforto had a hit, Alejandro De Aza had a hit and Matt Reynolds had an RBI.  Travis d'Arnaud had a hit and drew a walk, Matz had a hit and Marc Krauss had a hit.  Ty Kelly had a hit and three RBI, Granderson, Rivera and Krauss each hit a double.  Cespedes and Kelly each hit a homerun and the Mets were 3-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.  Flores committed an error and d'Arnaud had a passed ball. 

In the second Granderson reached on a throwing error and a run scored making it 1-0 Mets.  In the third Cespedes hit a solo homerun giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.  Reynolds hit a sac fly in the sixth and it was 3-0 Mets.  In the bottom of the sixth John Andreoli drew an RBI walk to cut the lead to 3-1.  In the eighth Kelly hit a three run homerun and it was 6-1 Mets.  Campbell hit a solo homerun in the ninth to push the lead to 7-1 and Rivera hit a homerun making it 8-1.  The final score would be 8-1 Mets. 

The Mets will open the season  on Sunday night in Kansas City against the defending champion Kansas City Royals.  The game is at 835PM on ESPN and Matt Harvey will get the start for the Mets.