Yanks Need To Get Back To Having A Home Field Advantage

Home is where the heart is.  It's also where the advantage is supposed to be for a Major League Baseball team.  That hasn't been the case for the Yankees through their first 94 games of the 2014 season.  Of the 41 they've played at Yankee Stadium, they have an 18-23 record.  They've been oustscored by 45 in those games and outhomered by 11.  Those results cannot continue in the final 68 games.

The Yanks will play 41 of these final 68 games at home, the most home games remaining for any team.  They open the second half tonight at home against Cincy in the first of what will be 10 straight at The Stadium, their longest homestand of the season.  The schedule on paper is set up very favorably for the Yankees, which should be a help to them and their bare bones backup rotation, but that favorability will only extend as far as the team's performance on the field takes it.  They haven't hit well at home, they haven't pitched well at home, and they've had no home field advantage whatsoever this year.  That needs to change if they're going to make a run.

Upcoming Toronto Series Starts Gut Check Time For The Yanks

The Yankees are fresh off their second 9-game road trip of the season and this past one was the tougher of the 2.  3 games against a red hot Royals club, 3 against an unexpectedly competitive Seattle team, and 3 against the best team in the American League in the A's.  They came through it with a positive 5-4 record, although those results did little to help them gain ground in the AL East race.

That race comes back into full focus for the next month, starting tonight when the Yankees host division-leading Toronto for a 3-game set.  It will be the first of 5 straight series against AL East opponents, including another 3-gamer in Toronto this time next week, and 12 of those 15 games will be played at home.  Tonight marks the first time the Yankees have faced a divisional opponent since the first week of May and the first time they've faced the Blue Jays since the second series of the season when they took 2 of 3 in Toronto.

KC Rainout Morning News And Notes

The weather didn't cooperate last night and the series finale against the Royals was rained out, leaving the Yankees in a position where they will lose another off-day later in the season.  Now they move onto Seattle for 3 games and here are the big things to come out of last night:

- The makeup date has been announced for August 25th.  That was supposed to be a travel day into Detroit and now the Yanks will stop off in KC again to wrap this one up before going to the Motor City.

- Joe has decided to keep his rotation in order, pushing Vidal Nuno back to tonight and Masahiro Tanaka to Wednesday.  By doing this, he throws off a potential big pitching matchup between former Japanese teammates Tanaka and Hisashi Iwakuma.  Oh well.

- Jacoby Ellsbury would have been held out of the lineup last night with a sore hip after hurting himself running the bases on Sunday.  He is expected to play today.

- Shawn Kelley threw a scoreless inning for SWB last night and the plan is still for him to rejoin the team on Wednesday.

- The recently DFA'd Alfredo Aceves accepted an outright assignment back to Triple-A, so I guess he's going to be around for a little while longer.  Yaaaayyyyy...

Tonight's Game Postponed, Will Be Made Up In A Doubleheader On Sunday (UPDATED)

Tonight's Yankees vs. Pirates game is postponed. It will be made up as the second game of a single-admission doubleheader on Sunday (5/18).
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) May 16, 2014

This seems like it's happening way too much.  Once again Mother Nature is being non-cooperative and so the Yankees have decide to postpone tonight's game.  It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday.

No word yet on what either team will do with their rotation.  The Yanks had David Phelps set for tonight and Hiroki Kuroda tomorrow.  I would think there'd be no problem in pushing each guy back a day considering Phelps isn't completely stretched out as a starter and Kuroda is old, but we'll see.  I'm sure the extra day of rest will come in handy for guys like Jeter and Teix.

** UPDATE 5:38 PM- Team has confirmed that Phelps will pitch tomorrow and Kuroda on Sunday.  No word yet on who from he and Nuno will pitch the first game. **

Tonight's Rainout Notes

By now, you're probably aware that tonight's game has been cancelled due to rain.  The Yanks and Mariners still have to play tomorrow's series finale, but there will be no doubleheader to make up today's game.  The Mariners have a doubleheader scheduled next week as well and didn't want to put the added strain on their starting rotation.  Fair enough.

Instead, the 2 teams will play the makeup on Monday, June 2nd.  Seattle's in the area and both teams have an off-day that matches up.  That spares the Yankees this week.  They would have had to make another move to fill a spot start had they been forced to play 2 tomorrow and they're not exactly flush with starting pitching right now.  The lost off-day will result in them playing 17 straight games for a stretch, but I'll take that over Chris Leroux getting a start in a New York Yankee uniform.

As for the current rotation plans, the Yanks will use the day off today to skip over David Phelps' spot in the rotation and pitch Hiroki Kuroda on regular rest tomorrow in the series finale.  This also works to the Yanks' advantage as 1 less start they have to cover while Pineda's out.  I'll take it.

Off-Day Comes At The Right Time Again

The early April schedule wasn't especially kind to the Yankees from a scheduling standpoint, but since that first 13-game stretch they've actually had one of the more favorable deals in MLB with scheduled off-days on each of the last 3 Mondays.  The timing of those off-days has been a huge benefit in each of the last 2 weeks, as they gave the Yanks an extra day to deal with the losses of Francisco Cervelli and Ivan Nova and extra time off for some older players who needed it to rest some sprains and strains.  They have a few more bumps and bruises after this weekend series and once again the off-day comes up at the absolute perfect time.

- Brett Gardner was held out of last night's game after getting hit by a pitch on the foot on Saturday.  He could have been used in a pinch last night, but this extra day off should have him ready for tomorrow.

- Ditto Yangervis Solarte, who Joe scratched with a sore shoulder before last night's game.  It doesn't sound too serious and right now Solarte is expected to be ready to go tomorrow as well.

- He isn't hurt, but Derek Jeter went without a day off all weekend despite a Friday night/Saturday afternoon schedule in the first 2 games.  He had the quad issue a few weeks back that the day off on the 14th really helped.  A day off his feet today should do his body good.

- Also not injured, but D-Rob has pitched in 3 of the last 4 days and threw 24+ pitches on Saturday and Sunday.  If the Yanks were playing tonight, he probably wouldn't be available.

New York's next scheduled off-day is Thursday, May 8th, when they'll travel from LA to Milwaukee.  The day off today should be enough to prepare them for the next 9-game stretch.

Time To Make Some Hay

The Yankees went 4-7 on their 11-game AL East gauntlet, nearly sweeping the O's and then getting swept by the Sawx in the final 7 games.  That put them in a really deep hole with respect to the Wild Card race, but they've got an opportunity to climb out with their remaining schedule.

The Yanks have 12 games left, 6 home and 6 on the road.  They start off tonight in Toronto, against a team they've owned this season, before heading home for 3 against the San Francisco Giants, staying there for 3 against the Rays, and then finishing up on the road against the lowly Astros.  9 of the 12 remaining games are against sub-.500 teams and the other 3 are against the team they're chasing in the playoff race.  For as daunting a task as it is for them to come back and make the playoffs, that schedule does make it a bit easier.

89 wins is the number being thrown out as the key number to make the playoffs.  The Yankees need to go 10-2 in this last week plus to reach that number.  It's hard to see them sweeping the Rays, even at home, so they basically have to go 8-1 in those other 9 games to have a chance.  It's not impossible, but it is a longshot.  If there's one more run left in this tired, tattered group, it needs to start tonight in Toronto.

2014 Schedule Released

Major League Baseball released the 2014 schedules for all teams today, without game times of course.  There's plenty to discuss with respect to the Yankee schedule for next year, but with the focus still being on their dwindling playoff chances in 2013, let's just hit the highlights for now.

- Season opens on the road on April 1st, 2014 against the Houston Astros.  It ends on September 28th on the road against Boston.

- Home opener is April 7th against the Orioles.

- Subway Series will be May 12th-15th with the first 2 games at The Stadium and the last 2 at Citi Field.

- Interleague play will take place against the NL Central, including 2 home series against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, 2 road series against St. Louis and Milwaukee (!!!), and a 4-game split with the Cubs.

- As is usually the case, the start and end to the regular season will be primarily AL East opponents- 17 of the first 22 games and 26 of the final 29.

Looking At The Remaining Schedule

A sweep of any division rival is sweet, but the Yankees got slapped back into reality last night in the first game of their weekend series against the Rays.  Beating up on the AL East doormat Blue Jays was a huge help in bringing the Yankees back into the playoff picture.  If they really want to stay in that picture, however, they have to beat the good teams in their division too.  Heading into the final 5 weeks of the regular season, they'll have plenty of opportunities to do so.

The Yanks have 34 games remaining this season, 25 of them against AL East opponents.  Only 10 of them will be at home, with 15 on the road, and 19 of them are against the Rays, Orioles, and Red Sox.  They're in the middle of a 16-game stretch against nothing but AL East teams and even after last night's loss they're still 6-2 in those 8 games, so they're off to a good start.  They've got 3 more against the Jays on the road and then 3 against the O's at home after this series, and if they want to keep moving forward in the playoff race they can't have more results like last night's.

6 back in the division, 4 back from the second Wild Card, and plenty of games against 3 of the teams ahead of them in those races.  The Yankees have done a great job dragging themselves out of their grave these last 2 weeks, and they now control a small part of their destiny.  If this is really a playoff-caliber team, they need to prove it against their main playoff chase competition.

How's That Early Second Half Schedule Looking?

The Yankees resume their regular season tomorrow night and they'll start it deep in enemy territory with a 3-game weekend series in Bahhhston.  At 51-44, they currently sit 4th in the AL East , 6 games behind the Sawx (5 in the loss column) and 3 games behind both the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays for the Wild Card.  As luck would have it, the Yanks play their first 10 games of the second half against those 3 teams in what could be the make-or-break stretch for their postseason hopes.

After Baahhhston, the Yanks will travel to Texas for 4 before heading right back east for a 3-game home set against Tampa.  Then it's travel off day to the West Coast, 2 games against the Dodgers, travel off day, 3 at San Diego, 3 at the White Sox, travel off day, and 3 back at home against the Tigers.  21 games, 15 on the road, the first 10 against the 3 teams they're chasing in the playoff race, and the final 3 against the reigning AL champs.  The extra off days are nice, but that's still a tough stretch.  There's the soft underbelly of the 6 against the Padres and White Sox, but after going 3-4 against KC and Minnesota last week even those games can't be called gimmes anymore.

The end of this first second half stretch will bring the Yankees to August 12th.  The trade deadline will pass in that span, and perhaps a player or 2 will return from the DL.  By that Monday, we should know if the Yankees are serious postseason contenders or packing up the tents for the season.  They don't necessarily have to gain a ton of ground in the next 3 weeks, but they can't afford to lose much more.

Looking At The Yankees' Interleague Schedule (Updated)

The Yankees kick off their 20-game interleague schedule tonight when the Arizona Diamondbacks come to town.  It'll be New York's first series under the new interleague scheduling setup that MLB implemented this season, and to be perfectly honest, I hadn't given much thought to the team's interleague schedule and how it can work for or against them this season.  Every team is going to be impacted differently with the way MLB set this up, so now's as good a time as any to take a quick look at how things stack up for the Bombers and educate yourself if you're like me.

Back-To-Back Rain Outs Kinda Suck

Axisa already beat me to it, but obviously back-to-back postponements in Cleveland the last two nights are going to pose some problems for the Yankees as they move forward through what is still a very long season ahead.  The team was only scheduled to make this one road trip to Cleveland this season, and now they'll have to chew up two scheduled off-days to make the trek back out to complete these games.  For an older team like the Yankees, off-days are an incredibly valuable resource and it will not be helpful losing two of them sometime in the middle of the grind.

It's not all bad news, though.  This second canceled game allows the Yankees to put their rotation back in its original order if they choose.  Phil Hughes will be skipped today so that CC, Hirok, and Andy can stay on schedule and pitch against Baltimore this weekend, then after a scheduled off-day on Monday they can come back with Nova and Hughes.  Personally, I hope that's the route they choose because I think it's important to give Nova at least another couple of starts before pulling the plug.

The rescheduling battle still has to be fought at a later date, and Mike had an idea for what scenario would work best for New York, but at least the bad weather combined the Yanks' resulting rotation juggling hasn't resulted in too much of a shakeup in that department.

Analyzing The Early Season "Sans-Granderson" Schedule

(Coach 'em up, guy.  Courtesy of Ron Antonelli/NY Daily News)

For all the talk about the projected strengths and weaknesses of this year's team, and the adjustments that now have to be made to make up for the loss of Curtis Granderson, nobody out there (myself included) has really looked at the schedule to see how difficult or easy a time the Yankees will have making those adjustments.  It's easy to say that every team in the AL East has gotten better (not all of them have) and the Yankee have gotten worse, but what teams the Yanks play and when they play them can have just as big an effect on their early-season success or failure as the makeup of their own club.  With that in mind, and as a way to tie together all the "what are they going to do to get by without C-Grand?" talk and this morning's sobering offensive projection, let's take a look at the early schedule and set some realistic expectations for what the Yankees can do.