New York is by far the leader in runs scored with 746 (the next closest is Cincinnati with 684) and also leads the league in OPS (.797) and on-base percentage (.352).
The Yankees have so much depth on offense that, even when star third baseman and cleanup hitter Alex Rodriguez missed 14 games with a strained left calf, they were able to go 11-3 averaging almost seven runs per game during that span.
It's no surprise that the Bronx Bombers are once again sitting atop the AL East and are coasting into October. But if the Yankees have a weakness, it's their starting pitching.
In 2009, Yankees manager Joe Girardi relied on just three pitchers — CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte — in the postseason en route to the franchise's 27th World Series title.
This year, Sabathia (19-5, 3.02 ERA) is once again earning every penny of the $161 million contract he signed before the 2009 season. Other than the ace, though, Girardi's starting pitching options are starting to look a tad bleak.
Burnett has been somewhat of a disaster in his second season in New York. With a loss to the Orioles on Monday, Burnett fell to 10-13 with a 5.15 ERA. The right-hander is a miserable 3-6 with a 5.94 ERA since the All-Star break.
Pettitte was great for the Yankees in the first half of the season, going 11-2 with a 2.70 ERA and making his first All-Star team since 2001, but the 38-year-old went down with a strained groin in the third inning on July 18 and hasn't pitched since. And even though Pettitte is targeting a Sept. 13 return date, there's no telling what kind of production he'll be able to give the team in the postseason after suffering a major injury.
The wild card of the Yankees' rotation is Phil Hughes. The 24-year-old has been inconsistent in his first full season as a starting pitcher, going 11-2 with a 3.65 ERA before the break but just 5-5 with a 5.47 ERA since.
Perhaps the most optimistic thing about Hughes is that he's young, durable and has shown an ability to be lights-out for long stretches of the season. The Yankees will just have to hope that he can revert to his April and May form in October.
If Burnett, Pettitte and Hughes are all struggling, Girardi doesn't really have anyone else to turn to. Javier Vasquez (10-9, 5.01) has been disappointing, to say the least, in his return to New York and Dustin Mosely (4-2, 4.83 ERA) doesn't really scare anyone.
Twenty-three-year-old Dominican fireballer Ivan Nova (1-0, 2.89 ERA) has been mildly impressive in his three starts, but it's unlikely that Girardi will hand the ball to a raw kid in the postseason.
It's not impossible for the Yankees to make a deep run in the playoffs and win the World Series, even if their starting pitching doesn't hold up. Sabathia should get at least two starts per series, and New York will just have to win the remaining games with its bats — something Girardi's team knows how to handle.
After all, scoring more runs than the other team is the point of the game, right?
