The Yankees are Hot

 

The New York Yankees are on an absolute roll right now after capping off a sweep of the Texas Rangers at home. They have now won 12 of their last 14 games, including four wins in a row as well. 

It has been an all around effort from the Yankees contributing to their constant success. The pitching staff has yet to allow over three runs in a game in their last 8 games. Despite the injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and Marcus Stroman, the Yankees starting rotation has been lethal. 

Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough were guys that were unsure of their role in Spring Training, but currently are cemented in the rotation and are doing a fine job. In addition, the guys that headline the staff in Carlos Rodon, Max Fried, and Clarke Schmidt have been absolutely dealing as well. 

Good pitching is great, but it needs to be accompanied by a productive offense as well and it sure is. Currently the Yankees have two of the top five leaders in batting average in Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt.

Judge is putting up numbers the baseball world hasn't seen since the great Ted Williams almost a century ago. Along with his league-leading batting average, Judge leads the league in hits and RBIs and is a home run shy of leading that category as well. 

Despite having his 38th birthday this upcoming September, Paul Goldschmidt is turning back the clock and playing some great baseball. The Yanks intended to sign him as a rental, but the pace that he is playing at could hint at a longer career than imagined for Goldschmidt. 

Along with Goldschmidt and Judge, the Yankees have seen outstanding production from their outfield. Cody Bellinger is the main headline as he has been scorching hot after coming off a 15 game hitting streak as well. 

The Martian, otherwise known as Jasson Dominguez, is starting to take off after an outstanding last ten games and he capped it off with a walk off home run last night. And finally a guy who flew under everyone's radar, Trent Grisham. 

Grisham was known as the "other" piece of the Juan Soto deal and for the Yankees he is the last piece of that deal currently with the team. Comparing Grisham and Soto this season, Grisham is playing like the guy that the Mets were envisioning when they handed Juan Soto a check for $765 million. 

Through his time with the Padres and short stint with the Yankees, Grisham was always a key and trusted defensive outfielder. We are now seeing for the first time how effective he can be with the bat in his hands. 

In addition, the Yankees are producing offensively with a couple of key players on the IL. Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm currently find themselves on the injured list and when they see the field again they make the Yankees so much deeper. 

All the critics expected a huge offensive fall off in production after the departure of Juan Soto, but it has just been the complete opposite. The Yankees are cruising and will look to continue to do so as they head to Denver to take on the Colorado Rockies. 

The Juan Soto Return and Reinforcements

The return to the Bronx for Juan Soto was not a pleasant one to say the least. Combined with his struggles at the plate, the reception he received from the home crowd was pretty loud, but not in the enthusiastic way. 

In the three game series over the weekend, Soto went a combined 1-10 against his former club. Not the type of return you want to silence the boisterous crowd around you. His teammates couldn't get the job done either as the Mets dropped 2 out of 3 games to their crosstown rivals.

On the other hand, when the Yankees were unable to re-sign Soto to a lucrative deal he was expecting, they were awarded flexibility and used this to sign multiple players with the money that could've went to Soto.

There were multiple players who headlined this offseason for the Yanks including: Max Fried, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt. These acquisitions from this previous offseason for the Yanks are making a big impact on their 2025 success.

To start, let's talk about Max Fried. Fried had always been one of the top pitchers in the league with Atlanta, but since coming over to New York, he has posted a 1.29 ERA in his first 10 starts. Throughout every starting pitcher in the history of the Yankees, no one has ever posted this low of an ERA. 

Fried recorded six dominant innings last night in the series finale against the Mets, including two strikeouts of Juan Soto as well. With Gerrit Cole out for the season, Max Fried has stepped up as the ace that the Yankees ever so needed this season.

Let's move on to Cody Bellinger. Currently he holds the longest hitting streak in the MLB at 13 games and has hit over .370 during this stretch. To cap off last night's game, Bellinger hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th over Juan Soto's head to pad the Yanks lead. 

Not too long ago did Bellinger win the NL MVP during his tenure with the Dodgers. During this great stretch, Bellinger has started to look like his old self and exactly who the Yankees thought he was when they acquired him. 

Another former NL MVP in Paul Goldschmidt is the current Yankees starting 1st baseman. After a couple of rough seasons with Anthony Rizzo, the Yankees felt it was best to move on. Acquiring Goldschmidt kind of got lost in the mix with all of the other big headlines surrounding the team. 

However, what shouldn't get lost in the mix is his scorching hot start to the season. Goldschmidt has been absolutely raking to start the campaign with the third best average in all of baseball. He has been a flexible bat with his placement in the lineup and has provided New York with great production so far. 

Although we are roughly 50 games into the 2025 campaign, the Yankees have not missed Juan Soto's presence all too much. The reinforcements they have brought in have made all the difference and look to continue to do so as the season carries on. 

Fix the NBA Regular Season

 

As the NBA playoffs continue, the action has been better than ever and significantly more intense than the regular season. The question now looms, what can the NBA do to improve its struggling regular season?

I believe the NBA should cut down the number of games in a season. Currently each team plays 82 games and with the NBA Cup, some teams could be playing more than this amount. I propose that the NBA should cut the season down to somewhere around 65 games. 

For players, the season is a marathon, not a sprint. With more games in a season, players are more likely to get injured and often star players will sit out games due to this reason. With less games in a season, teams will have more days off, more time to recover, and more. 

With less than 82 games, each game will bring a different meaning. It will make each game much more meaningful to the playoff race. It will give players more of an incentive to compete every game and make the games more enjoyable to watch. 

The NBA playoffs has been unbelievably entertaining with all of the close games going on. Also, I believe that just the simple comparison of the playoffs to the regular season is astronomically different. 

I think that a shortened regular season benefits almost everyone involved. Players benefit and fans enjoy the games more. What more can you ask for? This is the solution that the NBA needs to implement as soon as possible. 

New Face of the NBA?

 

Is Anthony Edwards the new face of the NBA? After taking down the Luka Doncic, Lebron James, and the rest of the Lakers in 5 games, Edwards is putting the rest of the league on notice. 

After a trip to the Western Conference Finals a year ago, Edwards and the Wolves are hungry for more. Edwards has been beating legends one after the other. Last playoffs, the Wolves took down Kevin Durant and the Suns, and Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.

This year Edwards is doing more of the same after taking down Lebron James and has the chance to matchup with Steph Curry and the Warriors in the second round. Since entering the league in 2020, Edwards had his best season to date this year.

Averaging a career high 28 points along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists, Ant-Man has asserted himself along with the best in the NBA. People often forget that Edwards is just 23 years old in his fifth season in the NBA. It's possible that we haven't even seen the best of Ant-Man just yet.

Edwards is definitely one of the most vocal players throughout the NBA. His constant celebrations and trash talking make him a very enjoyable player to watch from a fan's perspective. 

Coming out of college at the University of Georgia and his first couple seasons in the NBA, Edwards was known for his monstrous dunks, but as he has developed in the league he has acquired a much more well-rounded skillset. 

Another thing that Edwards has transitioned into is a leader. After being drafted to a Timberwolves team lead by Karl Anthony-Towns and other veterans, Edwards was the young guy just blossoming into his role. Now with KAT in New York and a lot of experience in the NBA, Ant has certainly acquired the title of being the leader of this squad from Minnesota. 

With the Thunder being the frontrunners in the West throughout the regular season, I believe the Wolves have the best chance of knocking off this powerhouse. Playoff Ant is slowly but surely becoming a real thing and for opposing teams, it is a not a sight they want to run into.