The New York Yankees’ pitching depth is already being stretched thin, and with over 150 games left in the season, the last thing they need is unnecessary risk — especially from circumstances beyond their control.
Friday night’s game against the Giants should never have been played. While MLB rules give the home team — in this case, the Yankees — the initial authority to delay the start (which they did for 30 minutes), the power shifted to the umpires once the lineup cards were exchanged.
Manager Aaron Boone admitted conflicting weather reports made the decision murky. With limited flexibility in the schedule and the Giants being a rare East Coast visitor, it’s understandable the Yankees wanted to get the game in. But what unfolded was a reckless two-hour ordeal in miserable conditions that endangered players — and, of course, it was the Yankees who suffered.
Despite the game becoming official after five innings (with the Yankees down seven), officials chose to press on, which directly led to reliever Yoendrys Gomez showing a concerning drop in velocity before the game was finally called. Gomez claimed he wasn’t injured, but his diminished stuff and the awful mound conditions suggest otherwise — and if he escaped injury, it was more luck than anything else.
Brad Ausmus and Aaron Boone both said the conditions were some of the worst they’ve ever seen in decades of professional baseball. MLB, worried about future weather, gambled with player safety in the present. They lost — and they should be held accountable for it.
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