How The New York Yankees Have Become Baseball's Best Team In The 2017 MLB Season

With a 162-game schedule and the longest regular season in all of sports, a lot is certain to change over the course of the 2017 MLB season. But after more than a month and a little less than 20 percent of the year having been completed, the New York Yankees are the best team in baseball.

The Yankees solidified their spot atop the sport, at least for the moment, with a marathon 18-inning victory over the Chicago Cubs Sunday night. The win completed a three-game sweep of the World Series champions, giving New York MLB’s best record.

At 20-9, the Yankees have sole possession of first place in what is probably MLB’s best division. They are the only team that doesn’t have double-digit losses, and their run differential of plus-52 is second only to that of the Washington Nationals. Washington has a plus-53 run differential in two more games, and the Houston Astros are second in the AL, having outscored their opponents by 19 fewer runs than the Yankees.

Even the most optimistic Yankee fans couldn’t have seen this kind of start coming. It’s been five years since the team won a playoff game or more than 87 regular-season games. New York’s 84-78 record in 2016 gave the franchise its worst single-season winning percentage since 1992. As sellers at last year’s trade deadline, the Yankees positioned themselves to be contenders again in 2018, or even not until 2019.

Why are the Yankees so far ahead of schedule and legitimate 2017 World Series contenders? Let’s take a look at how the team has put together the best start of any MLB team.

Offense

The team’s greatest weakness from a year ago has become their greatest strength. New York seemingly leads the AL in every major offensive category, ranking first in runs (167), home runs (48), on-base percentage (.352) and slugging percentage (.461). The 24 steals are good for second in the AL, though the Yankees are first with a stolen base success rate of 82.76 percent.

The Yankees have gotten key contributions from both veterans and young players. Jacoby Ellsbury and Chase Headley are off to their best starts since joining New York. Rookie Aaron Judge is the early MVP choice, leading the league in home runs (13), RBI (28), OPS (1.183) and WAR (2.5). Second baseman Starlin Castro has the AL’s best batting average at .355 and outfielder Aaron Hicks has been a big surprise with a .338 average and six homers.

New York has needed to score a lot of runs because of an inconsistent rotation. The Yankees’ staff overall has probably overachieved because of performances by Luis Severino, Michael Pineda and Jordan Montgomery, but the unit has been far from dominant. The Yankees are in the middle of the pack with a 4.03 ERA from their starters. On most nights, the bare minimum needed for a quality start will probably get the job done with the way this lineup is hitting.

Bullpen

Look no further than the weekend series with the Cubs to see the value of the team’s relievers. The bullpen tossed three scoreless innings in the opener to allow New York to make a ninth-inning comeback and steal Game 1. After Aroldis Chapman blew his first save of the season Sunday night, Yankee relievers combined to pitch 9.1 shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out 13 batters in the 18-inning victory.

New York’s offense has been a pleasant surprise, and the rotation had a chance to be much worse than it has been. The team’s bullpen, however, is more or less performing as it should. The Yankees are fourth in baseball with a 2.65 ERA from their relievers, ranking third in strikeouts per nine innings (10.71).

The team’s middle relievers have stepped up big time, bridging the gap between the starters and an incredible backend of the bullpen. Dellin Betances is as good as they come as far as setup men go, and he’s the only reliever to make the All-Star team in each of the last three seasons. Chapman will be among MLB’s top closers when the season ends, considering he’s had an ERA of 2.00 or less in three straight years.

Comebacks

Perhaps the most impressive part of this team is that they are seemingly never out of any ballgame, no matter the situation or the deficit. New York has some of the best come-from-behind wins in 2017, and there are probably plenty more to come.

The Yankees have trailed in nearly half of their victories, posting nine comeback wins to this point. They’ve won two games in which they trailed entering the ninth inning, including their April 28 win over the Baltimore Orioles when they faced a 9-1 and an 11-4 deficit. New York was never behind Sunday night, though it certainly felt like they were when Joe Girardi pulled his closer that just surrendered a three-run lead.

New York is coming back to win games that they would’ve never won in recent years, making this team feel like it could be something special.