Gerrit Cole is back in the spot the Yankees need him most, and Friday night in Toronto feels like a pivotal turn for a rotation that has been carrying far more weight than the lineup.
New York opens a three-game series against the Blue Jays with Cole on the mound, and the timing lines up neatly with where the season sits now. The Yankees are 68-53, have already played 75% of their regular-season schedule, and still hold the top spot in the American League Wild Card standings despite the absences of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger.
That context makes the pitching numbers jump off the page. The Yankees lead the majors with a 3.28 team ERA.
Their starters rank second with a 3.44 ERA, and the bullpen is right there too at 3.04. Since the All-Star break, the staff has stayed locked in: the starters own a 2.91 ERA, third in the majors, while the relievers sit at 2.97, fourth.
New York is the only team in baseball to rank in the top four in both categories over that stretch.
The recent rotation run has been solid, even if the results have been uneven. The Yankees are 2-2 over their last four turns, but they have allowed more than two runs only once in that span, in Tuesday’s 10-5 win over the Seattle Mariners.
Now it’s Cole’s job to keep that standard in place. Since coming back from Tommy John surgery, the right-hander is 6-5 with a 3.35 ERA.
More recently, he has started looking like the version of himself the Yankees expected when they signed him to a nine-year, $324 million deal in 2019. Over his last three starts, Cole has allowed only three earned runs and posted a 1.45 ERA.
He enters Friday on a personal three-game winning streak.
At 35, New York does not need him to be the overpowering ace he was when he first arrived. The Yankees have gotten that kind of lift elsewhere, especially from right-hander Cam Schlittler, who leads the AL with a 2.21 ERA. And help is also on the way from Carlos Rodon, who took another step toward returning Thursday in his second rehab start with Double-A Somerset.
Rodon allowed two hits and struck out seven in 4.1 innings against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. After the outing, he said, “I feel like I’m always ready to get big league hitters out,” according to the New York Post’s Mark Suleymanov.
“As far as what’s next, not sure. I’d love to go out there, compete and help our team win [in the majors], but that is not up to me," Rodon added.
When Rodon gets back to the Bronx, he’ll be joining a staff that has already spent the season doing the heavy lifting. For the Yankees, that has been the story so far: the pitching has kept everything afloat while the offense has remained missing in action.
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