It’s been said that it’s not how you start, but how you finish. For the New York Yankees, April finished about as well as it possibly could have.
The first month of the season was quite the roller coaster ride for the New York Yankees, trading wins and losses before finishing strong.
Let’s take a look at how the Bronx Bombers went about their first few weeks of the long 2018 season with such a star-studded lineup and a first-year head coach, shall we?
Giancarlo Stanton Struggles
It looked like Stanton was going to live up to the hype that followed him to New York, hitting two home runs and driving in four runs against Toronto on Opening Day.
But that success was short-lived.
From then on, Stanton recorded two five strikeout games and was actually hearing boos from the hard-nosed Yankee fans during his tough stretch. Stanton’s struggles continued throughout the month of April, hitting a mediocre .218 with only three homers under his belt at the “bandbox” Yankee Stadium is portrayed to be.
Stanton ended the month on April however on somewhat of a hot streak. During the Yankees nine-game winning streak, Stanton recorded 10 hits in that span, although he only sent one long ball to the stands.
In order to make the Yankee faithful happy, Stanton needs to start doing what he did last year and start sending balls into orbit on a regular basis.
Didi Gregorius Lights It Up
With all the hype revolving around Stanton and Aaron Judge, people seemed to forget about Sir Didi. He made sure people took notice of him early and often in April.
Didi had a month to remember, hitting .330 with 10 home runs and 30 RBI. He also embarked upon a nine-game hitting streak and a four-game stretch in which he hit at least one home run.
Yanks Finish Month Strong
Even though the Yankees started off the season with some struggles, they figured it out in the second half of April and were clicking on all cylinders. Starting pitching was putting up zeros, the bullpen was holding onto leads and the young studs in the lineup were putting up runs night in and night out.
The main reason the Yankees went on such a tear was because of their dominant pitching staff. In five of their nine wins, Yankees starters allowed just one run. In two starts, CC Sabathia went 2-0, allowing just two earned runs over 13 innings of work.
The Yankees win streak came to a close as they lost to the 2017 World Series Champs, the Houston Astros, on the final day of the month. However, the way the Yankees ended the month of April is a positive note going forward considering how they started off.
It will be very exciting to see how the Yankees flourish from here on out, in search for another historic season and bringing home another championship to the Bronx.
