The Yankees’ pitching was incredible, Aaron Judge hit two big home runs, the ABS challenge system was a hit, and the Yankees swept the Giants to open the season.  By the way, for those who have asked, I decided to stop publishing at Mighty Networks. There weren’t nearly enough people who set up accounts there last year so it didn’t make much sense maintaining both the newsletter and that site. From now on, everything I post will be right here where it always has been. Lets get to it.

The primary takeaway from what happened out in San Francisco is that the Yankees’ pitching was utterly dominant, allowing just one run on 13 hits, only four of those hits coming in the first two games when the Yankees won each by shutout, something they hadn’t done since 1908.

Max Fried and Cam Schlittler were superb in their starts, Will Warren wasn’t great as he got into pitch count difficulty and lasted just 4.1 innings while giving up the lone run of the series, and then the bullpen was lights out, throwing a combined 11 scoreless innings in the series, the third consecutive season the Yankees have swept their opening series.

Granted, the Giants are a middling team that lacks power, but they do have a few notable hitters such as arch nemesis Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, all of whom were helpless against the Yankees’ staff, a combined 5-for-32.

“It was incredible - one run in three games,” Aaron Judge said of the pitching, ignoring the fact that while he definitely scuffled at the plate (2-for-13 with seven strikeouts), his two hits were huge homers which helped win the second and third games on days when the offense wasn’t very productive. “Especially an opening series, you never know what’s happening. Guys are pumped up and it’s usually high-scoring games. Our starting rotation came out there and attacked the zone and really just dictated the ballgames.”

And speaking of the strike zone, that’s the other main thing coming out of this fabulous opening series - the Yankees know the zone pretty well. They were masterful in their use of the new ABS challenge system as they challenged six calls in this series and were right to do so five times. It’s clear to me that ABS is going to have a big impact in a very positive way now that it’s finally here and I love it because now we can get some of the egregious ball-strike calls corrected. 

For instance, Saturday in Cincinnati, CB Bucknor - who may be the worst ball-strike ump in MLB now that Angel Hernandez has mercifully retired - had six calls overturned by the Reds and Red Sox. “He has one job to do. It wasn’t his best day,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after the game.

No one is happier about the advent of ABS than Judge, the man with the biggest strike zone in MLB and the victim of the worst umpiring. From 2017 through 2025, Judge and Mookie Betts were tied for the most called strikes against them on pitches that were actually out of the zone. Obviously, Judge wouldn’t have challenged every one, but think about this: How many more pitches will Judge now see, thus giving him a chance to do damage, by winning ABS challenges? Friday, the answer was two, and the result of that was game-changing. 

After Jose Caballero lost the first ABS challenge in MLB history Wednesday, Judge challenged a strike call in the sixth inning Friday and he was correct as it was a ball down low. Instead of the count being 1-1, it was 2-0 and it became 3-0 before Judge took two strikes to bring it full. Had that first strike not been challenged, would Judge have struck out looking on that fifth pitch? Maybe, but because he challenged and won, he got to see two more pitches in the at bat and after fouling off the sixth, he launched Robbie Ray’s seventh pitch over the wall in left for a two-run shot that broke up a scoreless duel.

“It’s weird,” Judge said. “It’s a new part of the game. You’ve just got to get used to it. I’m a hitter. I’ve got to focus on hitting. I’m not going to try to challenge every single one I think is close, but if there’s a big spot where I think I’ve got a chance to flip the count, I’m going to do it. It takes one pitch, just like we saw in that at-bat.”

Then on Saturday, the Yankees challenged three times, won them all, and they were all big. On the first, Trent Grisham was rung up looking in the third inning on a 2-2 pitch but he challenged and sure enough, it was a ball. Rather than striking out he wound up walking and he later came around to score on Ben Rice’s two-out, two-run double that opened the scoring. “That sets up a lot right there,” said Aaron Boone, who earned his 700th career victory as Yankees manager.

Austin Wells won the next two behind the plate as he got two balls overturned to strikes, both of which led to strikeouts for Jake Bird and Tim Hill in the seventh inning. For Hill, he was up 0-2 in the count to pesky Jung Hoo Lee and when Wells challenged and won on the third pitch, it became an inning-ending strikeout.

“I love what I’m seeing from Austin Wells back there, overturning a couple big calls to shift the momentum onto our side,” Judge said.

The Giants nearly benefited from ABS in the bottom of the ninth Saturday when Heliot Ramos challenged after David Bednar struck him out, and with new life he eventually walked. Ramos then moved to second on a single by Adames and the Giants were set up for a rally with no outs, but Bednar wiggled out to end the game and complete the sweep.

“I feel like our team makeup should lend itself to it being a good thing for us, an advantage for us,” Boone said. “That’s not a given. We got to continue to evolve with it, learn from it, and hopefully it is something that is a strength. That’s my expectation.”

➤ I can’t imagine this could have been a more perfect season opener for the Yankees, except for the fact that the game was on Netflix which subjected us to night-long stupidity. Look, I get what MLB is doing with all these streamers and different networks - they’re raking in shit loads of money, and they think they’re exposing the game to a wider group of people in the hopes or developing new fans. That second reason is complete bullshit, of course. Kids aren’t going to Netflix to watch baseball, they’re going there to watch Stranger Things. It sucks that we need like 10 different subscriptions to watch all these games, but this is the world we live in.

➤ Max Fried started rough with a leadoff walk to Luis Arraez - it’s hard to walk that guy - and then a one-out single to arch nemesis Rafael Devers. But Fried stranded them at first and third with a big whiff of dangerous Willy Adames and then a groundout. From there, the Giants never came close to scoring as Fried gave up just one other hit and no walks while pitching into the seventh. It was just the fifth time since 1969 a Yankees’ Opening Day starter threw at least 6.1 scoreless innings.

➤ The game was pretty much decided in the second inning when the Yankees crushed Giants ace Logan Webb for five runs on five hits and a hit batsmen. Jose Caballero drove in the first run of the season with a single to left, and what was amazing is that Giancarlo Stanton scored from second base. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Ryan McMahon then grounded a two-run single up the middle, and Trent Grisham lashed a two-run triple to right-center and the Yankees relaxed the way of the way.

➤ Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit except Aaron Judge who took an ugly 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. And of course, social media was ready to hang Judge by his thumbs, proving how stupid people really are.

➤ As for the bullpen, Jake Bird got two outs in the seventh after Fried exited; Brent Headrick gave up a single and walk in the eighth but got Devers on a fly to kill the inning; and Camilo Doval worked around an error by Caballero to complete the shutout.

➤ I know this generation with its access to databases that can play with numbers in any way possible is a bit much sometimes, but I had to share this little nugget that sports data site OptaStats came up with. The Yankees became the first team in MLB history to shut out their opponents in their first two games of a season by a cumulative score of at least 10-0 while allowing fewer than five hits. As I said, fun with numbers.

➤ Cam Schlittler was great. He was on a pitch count of no more than 70 which is why Boone pulled him after he got the first out in the sixth. In 5.1 scoreless innings he allowed just one hit with no walks and eight strikeouts. On his 68 pitches, 49 were strikes and he had complete command of everything while touching 100 on a few fastballs. The Giants had no chance.

➤ And then how about the bullpen? Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Doval and David Bednar combined for the final 11 outs without allowing a hit, the only blemishes being one walk each by Cruz and Bednar. Doval was particularly great as he struck out the side in the eighth on 10 pitches. The only hit the Giants had was a second-inning double by Heliot Ramos and they never had a man reach third base.

➤ Judge quieted the never-ending naysayers with his two-run homer after his ABS challenge that snapped a scoreless duel in the sixth, a big hit because before that, Giants starter Robbie Ray was having as easy a time with the Yankees as Schlittler was with the Giants. Judge’s homer essentially finished Ray and then Stanton greeted Jose Butto with a 415-foot bomb to close the scoring.

➤ One minor irritation, which never changes for me. I hate the contact play so much and once again, the Yankees used it in the seventh and ran themselves into an out at the plate. Caballero was on third with one out so the infield came in and when Wells hit a grounder right to Arraez at second, Caballero broke and he was out by 10 feet. I just don’t get why, with the play right in front of him, Caballero couldn’t slam the brakes and go back to third. 

➤ Because of the weird schedule where the Yankees played the only game on Wednesday, their three-game series ended on Saturday and gave them a rare Sunday off. Obviously, it was a pleasant short flight up to Seattle after they finished off the sweep, once again behind their pitching.

➤ Things were a little tougher as the Giants worked Warren throughout his 4.1 innings as they drove hit pitch count up to 83 before Boone pulled him. However, he allowed just one run on five hits and two walks, helped by a great escape in the first, whiffing Ramos with men on first and third. 

➤ In the third, after Grisham’s ABS-assisted walk, Cody Bellinger singled and with two outs, Rice lashed a two-run double to right-center off Tyler Mahle. The only other run came on Judge’s solo homer off Ryan Borucki in the fifth.

➤ The Giants scored their only run of the series in the third as Jung Hoo lee doubled and scored on Matt Chapman’s single, but Warren then retired the next three including strikeouts of Arraez and Devers. 

➤ Great defense always helps pitching and the Yankees turned four double plays. In the sixth, the Giants had men on first and third with no outs but Bird struck out Adames and got Harrison Bader to ground into a 4-6-3. In the eighth, Hill got Devers on an inning-ending 4-6-3, and in the ninth, after the first two men reached, Bednar got Patrick Bailey on a game-ending 4-6-3.

The Yankees now head up to Seattle for a three-game set starting Monday which will give them a very stern early test. There have been a few baseball people who project the Mariners as the best team in the American League. Heading into Sunday, they lost two of the first three games in their series against the Guardians.

Here are some of their top players to watch:

➤ C Cal Raleigh: He’s off to a very poor start, but he’s coming off an history 60-homer season, most ever by a catcher.

➤ CF Julio Rodriguez: A good second half in 2025 helped him finish with 32 homers, 95 RBI and a .798 OPS.

➤ 3B Brendan Donovan: He came over from the Cardinals in an offseason trade and he’s a terrific all-around player.

➤ 1B Josh Naylor: He re-signed with the Mariners as a free agent after having joined them at the trade deadline in 2025. In the first three games before Sunday, though, he was 0-for-11.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be: