Bronx Bombers Obliterate Brew Crew

Last year when the Yankees won their first AL pennant since 2009, they began the season with a mammoth four-game sweep of the Astros in Houston. As they begin defense of their pennant, they opened 2025 with a raucous three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium over the Brewers, and made some history across three crazy days. Lets get to it.

Well, that was quite a show the Yankees put on over the weekend in the Bronx as they pummeled the defending NL Central champion Brewers by a combined score of 36-14 which has vaulted them to the top of the AL East standings as the only American League team still undefeated.

“I don’t know if you guys watched, but if you did, the Yankees are good, and they kicked our ass,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Sunday, having watched the Bronx Bombers slug 15 home runs over the three games, tied for the most in MLB history by any team in its first three games of a season, the Tigers of 2006 having done it first.

There wasn’t much more Murphy could say after the beatdown his team received. Opening Day was competitive, and Milwaukee very nearly rallied against its former closer, Devin Williams, before he got his shit together just in time to save the Yankees’ 4-2 victory.

But after the off day Friday, the Yankees got serious on Saturday and wow, was that something to see as they had the stat nerds digging deep to keep track of all the superlatives. Twenty runs courtesy of a team single-game record nine home runs, three of those coming in succession in the first inning, on the first three pitches of the game off old friend Nestor Cortes, and ultimately three off the bat of Aaron Judge.

That was as nutty a start to a game as we may ever see, and in case you’re wondering, baseball has been played in this country going back to the 19th century, and no team, ever, has opened a game by hitting a home run on each of the first three pitches. Ever.

“Wow, what a performance,” Aaron Boone said. “It was kind of a weird, crazy game. Obviously we’ve got to catch the ball better, but there were a lot of really great at-bats. Good to get a win.”

And what I liked best about this weekend? It’s that the Yankees did not take Sunday off, satisfied with winning the first two. They came right back out and embarrassed the Brewers again 12-3 as Judge crushed a two-run shot in the first inning to start the Sunday slaughter, while Jazz Chisholm hit a pair and Ben Rice had one.

“Most of the guys are in a pretty good place with their swings,” Boone said. “They’ve done a really good job of executing the game plan and taking tough at-bats. You’re not always going to have days like this, obviously, but I like the approach and the frame of mind every day.”

So, how were the Yankees able to hit 15 home runs in three games? Obviously, they have some mashers in their lineup. The Brewers pitching staff, thinned by injuries, was terrible. And then there was the issue of whether the Yankees are cheating with the new “torpedo” bats that some of the players are using.

That was the hot topic ever since it was pointed out on the Saturday YES broadcast that Anthony Volpe and Chisholm are using strange-looking bats featuring a design that pushes some of the meat of the barrel down closer to the label and away from the end of the bat. The change came about after the Yankees’ analytics staff did a study on where each player was contacting the ball and they found that Volpe in particular was too often hitting the ball below the sweet spot.

Chisholm saw the “torpedo” bat as it’s being called, and he had some made for himself. Using the new-style bat, Chisholm homered three times and Volpe twice against the Brewers and suddenly, the baseball world was wondering if the Yankees were cheating.

In fact, they aren’t. Per the rules, as long as a bat is not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at any point, and it is not longer than 42 inches, it’s a legal instrument, and these bats meet those measurements.

Brewers slugger Rhys Hoskins took notice and he wants in on the action. “They figured out a way to make it work,” he said. “Logically, it makes a lot of sense, but I’m not a physicist. But how could I not want to look into it more? I’ve already talked to some bat companies since the game to see if I could get my model made like that, just to see what it’s like. We’ll see. Just because it worked for somebody doesn’t mean it’ll work for everybody. Hitting is such a feel thing. But I’d try it.”

By the way, Judge declined to try the new bats. He said he was good with his wood and why wouldn’t he be? There’s no reason for Judge to change anything, not after winning the MVP award two of the last three years and starting this season the way he has.

There’s never a dull moment in Yankee Land.

March 29: Yankees 20, Brewers 9

➤ Cortes certainly helped the Yankees’ cause by throwing batting practice fastballs during his disastrous return to Yankee Stadium, but no one else Milwaukee tried had much better luck. Oh, except position player Jake Bauers who blanked the Yankees in the eighth inning. That was one of only two innings where the Yankees didn’t score and Bauers, who played briefly for the Yankees in 2023, tossed 55 mph meatballs up there and was smiling all the way through, especially when he got Judge to line out to left.

➤ Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger greeted Cortes by launching their first bombs as Yankees, and then Judge completed the three-pitch hat trick. It was just the 17th time in Yankees history they hit back-to-back-to-back home runs, but it’s the first time it was the first three batters of a game. Their last back-to-back-to-back came on Aug. 25, 2024 when Juan Soto, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton did it.

➤ Oh, and the Yankees weren’t done in the first because with two outs, Austin Wells homered, making this the first game in team history where they hit four bombs in the first inning. Think about that for a second: More than 120 years, with players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Reggie Jackson and Alex Rodriguez, and this was the first four-homer first inning ever.

➤ The Yankees are just the third team in MLB history to hit nine-plus home runs in a single game, joining the 1987 Blue Jays (10 vs. the Orioles on Sept. 14, 1987) and the 1999 Reds (nine on Sept. 4, 1999 against the Phillies). And here’s an interesting tidbit: Boone hit the first of the Reds’ nine homers in that 1999 game.

➤ As for Judge, he enjoyed the third three-homer game of his career, tying A-Rod and Joe D, one behind Gehrig who has four games with at least three including the Yankees’ only four-homer game which happened in 1932. Judge nearly tied Gehrig when his sixth-inning rocket to right hit off the wall, and then he flubbed his chance in the eighth because he couldn’t square up a Bauers soft toss. “I’ve been in the National League, so I didn’t get to see it too often, but then you see it with your own eyes. It’s special,” Bellinger said of Judge. “It’s the best in the game, and the consistency and the way he handles himself. There’s just not enough positive things to say about it.”

➤ Boone admitted he didn’t revel in the fact that his team pummeled Cortes, a popular player when he was with the Yankees, one the Yankee Stadium crowd gave a hearty welcome home cheer to both on Opening Day and then Saturday. “I mean, look, we’re in competition out there, and it’s the game once that happens,” Boone said. “But I want him to have a great year, and there’s no reason he won’t go and have a great year.” Based on what we saw in this one, it’s tough to see Cortes having a great year because MLB may have finally caught up to him.

➤ When you do the things the Yankees did on offense, I guess I can forgive them for their shoddy fielding as they made five errors and looked like very much like the bumbling fools we saw in the fifth inning of Game 5 in the World Series. It looked like there were Gleyber Torres impersonators all over the field. As Boone coyly understated following a game in which the Yankees became just the second team in 50 years to score 20 runs and make five errors in the same game, “Obviously, we didn’t catch the ball great.”

➤ The atrocious fielding led to four unearned runs off Max Fried who didn’t help his own cause with his lack of command in his Yankee debut. He didn’t even get through the required five innings to qualify for the win as Boone pulled him at 94 pitches with two outs in the fifth. He gave up six runs on seven hits and two walks and struck out only four.

➤ Right after the Yankees’ four-homer first, Milwaukee got three back in the second inning thanks to three singles, a hit batsman, and errors by Fried and Volpe. In the fourth, third baseman Pablo Reyes made an error that led to a run, and in the fifth Reyes’ second boot and one by Chisholm on the next batter helped the Brewers score twice.

➤ Reyes had a nice spring, but I was still surprised he got the start in this game over Oswald Peraza, who had an awful spring at the plate. Fried is a noted ground ball pitcher, so why not go with Peraza’s glove at third since both players are right-hand hitters? Thankfully, by the time the Yankees made their fifth error, they were still leading 16-6.

➤ Peraza did get into the game late, and he was the man who hit the record-breaking ninth home run, crushing a Chad Patrick pitch to left, so that was a nice moment for a kid who needs a few if he hopes to stay with the Yankees.

➤ Like Wells on Opening Day, Goldschmidt batted leadoff for the first time in his career, and like Wells, he homered, making the Yankees just the second team in history to hit a leadoff homer in each of their first two games of a season. Ian Kinsler hit leadoff homers in the Rangers first two games in 2011. Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Judge went a combined 9-for-14, scored 10 runs and drove in 13.

➤ Carlos Carrasco was thrown into the game to pitch the last two innings because with the off days Friday and Monday, he wasn’t going to get a start the first time through the order. The Yankees treated it like his bullpen throw day, and that’s what it looked like as he got tagged for three on five hits. The end of this rotation could be a real problem if that was any indication.

March 30: Yankees 12, Brewers 3

➤ The bats kept crushing in the finale as the Yankees completed the sweep. After Marcus Stroman gave up a run in the top of the first, Judge’s two-run shot off Aaron Civale gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead which they never relinquished. Rice homered in the second, and after Civale intentionally walked Judge with two outs in the third, Chisholm roped a homer down the line in right to make it 5-1.

➤ The homers are nice, but I love when the Yankees manufacture runs and that’s what they did in the sixth after Milwaukee had pulled within 5-3. Judge led off with a walk and Chisholm singled him to second. Here, both men advanced a base on Volpe’s deep fly to center, then Judge scored on a wild pitch and Chisholm came home on the contact play when Wells grounded to first. The rout was completed in the seventh when they scored five times, as Rice, Oswaldo Cabrera and Goldschmidt all singled for one, Bellinger hit a sac fly, and Chisholm pounded a three-run bomb, all of that off reliever Joel Payamps.

➤ Like Fried on Saturday, Stroman fell one out shy of qualifying for the win when Boone pulled him at 81 pitches which was the right call. At the time it was only 5-3 and dangerous lefty Christian Yelich was the batter with two outs representing the tying run. Boone brought in lefty Tim Hill and he whiffed Yelich on three pitches. Hill also worked a 1-2-3 sixth and he was awarded the victory.

➤ Mark Leiter had another strong inning as he did on Thursday, while newcomer Fernando Cruz - who struggled terribly in the spring - made his debut and after throwing six straight balls, he recovered to retire three straight men. Ryan Yarbrough, who the Yankees just signed a few days ago, also made his Yankee debut and he allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth.

➤ The Brewers best pitcher of the weekend was Bauers. He pitched the eighth inning again Sunday and held the Yankees off the scoreboard.

After a day off Monday, Arizona comes to Yankees Stadium for three games to start the week. The Diamondbacks split a four-game series at home against the Cubs, winning 10-6 on Sunday by overcoming a 6-2 deficit in the eighth by scoring eight runs. Last season, they went 89-73 and led the NL in runs scored (That’s right, it wasn’t the Dodgers) but they never fully recovered from a poor start and narrowly missed the playoffs. This is a really good team. Here’s a look at some of the Diamondbacks best players:

➤ 3B Eugenio Suarez: Signed as a free agent in the offseason, what a start for him as he hit four homers and drove in seven runs against the Cubs;

➤ OF Corbin Carroll: The 2023 NL rookie of the year slumped last season, but he still led MLB with 14 triples and he was 4-for-14 against the Cubs;

➤ 2B Ketel Marte: He’s one of the best players in MLB who you probably don’t know. Last year he was third in the NL MVP vote and he had a .372 on-base with 36 homers and 95 RBI;

➤ 1B Josh Naylor: He came over from Cleveland in a trade to replace departed free agent Christian Walker and he started 6-for-15 with three RBI against the Cubs.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

➤ Tuesday, 7:05, YES: Will Warren vs. Corbin Burnes who will be making his debut after signing with the Diamondbacks in the offseason;

➤ Wednesday, 7:05, Amazon Prime: Carlos Rodon vs. Zac Gallen, the ace of the staff who gave up four runs in four innings and lost his first start of the year;

➤ Thursday, 7:05, YES: Carlos Carrasco vs. Merrill Kelly who won his first start, going 5.1 innings and allowing one run on three hits.