The last time the masses watched a baseball game at Yankee Stadium, it ended with the Blue Jays celebrating an ALDS victory in middle of the ballpark.
The party eventually moved to the visiting clubhouse, where Vladimir Guerrero Jr. channeled his inner John Sterling and declared the Bombers dead. “Daaaaa Yankees lose,” the Toronto star told a national TV audience as the pinstripers and their fans mourned another campaign that ended without a championship, an annual occurrence since 2009.
On Friday, those same fans will return to the Bronx to watch a team that looks a lot like the one that fell short last October. Because despite the end result, the Yankees believed heavily in the core group that they had in 2025 and made maintaining it a priority over the winter.
That approach irked a segment of the fanbase this offseason, but they’ll come around if the team’s season-opening West Coast road trip is a sign of things to come.
With a 5-1 start against San Francisco and Seattle, their pitching staff on fire, ABS proving to be an advantage, and a focus on putting an end to unwelcomed patterns of the past, it’s hard to complain about the way the Yankees started their season.
“Good way to start the year,” said Ben Rice, who is hitting .412 with a 1.289 OPS in the early going. “Happy to take that momentum back home.”
Having already thwarted an unimpressive — and perhaps dysfunctional — Giants team and a talented Mariners squad, the Yankees will open their home slate against an upstart Marlins club. Miami, also 5-1, will throw Eury Pérez in Friday’s opener. He’ll be followed by Max Meyer and Chris Paddack.
As for the Yankees, Will Warren, Ryan Weathers and Max Fried will look to continue the dominance of a rotation that has only permitted two runs through six games.
“The staff’s dominant,” said Cam Schlittler, who owns a 0.00 ERA after two impressive starts. “The bullpen’s been great as well, so I think the team as a whole is feeding off each other.”
The Yankees’ offense, meanwhile, has been sufficient despite a somewhat slow start from Aaron Judge, as Rice and Giancarlo Stanton have led the way.
While Judge has belted two victory-assisting homers, he’s hit .125 (3-for-24) with 11 strikeouts and one walk so far. Of course, the season is still young, and there’s no reason to worry about the back-to-back MVP after such a tiny sample.
“Just early in the season,” Aaron Boone said. “It’s a small stretch. Even for him, when it’s not clicking at a level like we’re accustomed to seeing with him all the time, he still had a major impact in two wins offensively, coupled with all the other things he brings to the table on defense and just in here in the dugout.
“With Judgey, it’s always a matter of time before he gets dialed in from a timing standpoint, and off we go.”
Perhaps Judge will find his groove back in the Bronx, where the Yankees will play in front of a friendly crowd for the first time since spring training. Also awaiting them are some renovations.
Yankee Stadium will debut a new 5,900-square foot centerfield scoreboard on Friday, adding some tech to what’s sure to be a packed house.
“We’re all really looking forward to it,” Rice said of the opener. “Everyone’s eager to get back.”