After being bounced out of the 2020 playoffs earlier than they had hoped, the New York Yankees are planning on winning their division en route to another postseason appearance. The franchise that hasn\u2019t been able to claim a World Series in 11 years hopes to finally break that streak during the 2021 MLB season. Will they be able to do so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Happened Last Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Yankees had a solid season, but it was still deemed a disappointment after their very high expectations were let down. Before the 2020 year began, reporters were labeling the Yankees as a team that could win the World Series and instead, they exited the postseason early. They came out of the gates really hot, starting the year 16-6 and looking like they were going to be World Series favorites. Then they slipped a small bit, going 5-15 before following that up with a 10-0 stretch. Then once again a bad finish at just 2-6 in their last eight games. Finishing the season with a 33-27 record and second place in the AL East. They beat the Cleveland Indians in the first round of the playoffs but were knocked away in the ALDS by the Tampa Bay Rays, the eventually AL Champions and their division rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offseason Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Yankees were able to lock up their primary target when free agency first began by signing DJ LeMahieu to a six-year, $90 million contract which should cement the team\u2019s offensive production. However, the Yankees opted not to pick up any of the top free agent pitchers, but they did pick up Corey Kluber, who is still expected to be a top player in the league despite suffering from various injuries the last two years. Lastly, they chose to part ways with a few players including James Paxton, J.A. Happ and Masahiro Tanaka. When the offseason first began it was likely that all three would be playing elsewhere in 2021 but the team had to try to get themselves under the luxury tax and letting them go was the best option available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2021 Outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This team is primed for the World Series and anything less than that will be considered a failure. That has just been the mentality heading into the season for the Yankees and they hope to live up to those expectations. They are coming back with Gerrit Cole, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to give themselves the best chance possible of making a deep postseason run. Not to mention the fact that they had an eventful offseason that they believe filled in the majority of the gaps in their roster. They have a proven lineup and their pitching rotation is expected to be vastly improved, they have all the pieces in place to battle it out for first place in their division and should win it. Some teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays may make that division title more difficult to obtain but their roster should be them over the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pick: 1st<\/sup> In Atlantic League East<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After being bounced out of the 2020 playoffs earlier than they had hoped, the New York Yankees are planning on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":16416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t