Memorial Day Yankees Temp Check

It’s Memorial Day which we fans generally consider the one third mark of the baseball season, so now isn’t a bad day for a temperature check. And although 52 games played isn’t technically the one third mark, it is a reasonable enough sample size that we shouldn’t be dismissive about numbers, good or bad (with the enormous caveat that there’s still a LONG way to go, so nothing thus far is gospel).

Plainly put, there’s nothing not to love about the way this season has gone thus far. The Yankees are in first place, are playing at a 100-win pace, and when strength of schedule and run differential are weighed, have arguably been the best team in baseball.

In the batter’s box, the team’s 132 OPS+ is the best in MLB with nine players posting an over 100 wRC+ – and Austin Wells, who’s turned into one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, is sitting on 99.

And it isn’t luck: As a team, the Yankees have hit the ball harder than every team in MLB (1^st in both average exit velocity and barrel rate) and have drawn walks at a higher rate than every team in MLB. The combination of baserunners and hard-hit balls is a very good one, FYI.

On the pitching side, the Yankees as a team currently have the second best xFIP in MLB. They’re top five in both K-BB% and average exit velocity allowed and have nine individual pitchers with better than league average xwOBA against.

Defensively, they have the third highest percentage of turning batted balls into outs and rank seventh in defensive runs above average. They haven’t run the bases well as a team, but that hasn’t prevented them from having the second highest runs scored per game average in the league.

Of course, there will be some regression on individual levels (looks at Paul Goldschmidt) and there will always be injuries, but some players will see more balls drop on grass (coughs, Wells, coughs) and Jazz and Stanton will likely be back by the season’s second half.

If you’re a nitpicker, take it from a fourth-degree black belt in the ancient art of nitpicking:

There’s not too much to nitpick about this team’s performance so far in 2025.

Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments, or yell at me on the “My Baseball Page” on Blue Sky.

Recommended reading: “The Bronx is Burning”.

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