New York Yankees Editorial: Which Superhero Does The Yankees Rotation Take After?

With Masahiro Tanaka set to miss a start, this is another glaring reminder that this Yankee rotation has never been healthy from opening day. It started with Ivan Nova rehabbing from Tommy John, another Tanaka scare, followed by a Michael Pineda DL stint, then CC Sabathia with a potential career-ending injury, and ending with a season-ending Nathan Eovaldi elbow injury. Despite all these injuries, the Yankees have stayed in the race, and have shown a characteristic of a certain superhero played by Hugh Jackman.

If you didn’t know, Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine in The X-Men movie franchise. One of Wolverine’s most famous trait is his ability to heal at an accelerated rate. A similar trait the entire Yankees pitching staff has shown from opening day.

Now I know this metaphor isn’t quite the best, but I believe it holds lots of merit. For the Yankees pitching staff, it’s ability to heal is not the health of the pitcher, but it is next man up attitude that has culminated this year. When Nova started on the DL, the next man up was Adam Warren, and he pitched so well that the Yankees thought about going to a six-man rotation when Nova returned. Eventually Warren went back to the bullpen, but that mind set was started right there.

When Andrew Miller went down with an injury, it was next man up, Dellin Betances, and he continued to dominate to help the Yankees win. When Michael Pineda went down with an injury, the next man up was Luis Severino. When Cashman did not make a deal at the deadline he knew that his major move was calling up the Yankees top prospect. Luis Severino stepped in the rotation, and kept the Yankees a float, and continued the next man up attitude that this Yankee team has built for the 2015 season.

With the season winding down, and you start to reflect on the Yankees season, it is amazing the amount of injuries this pitching staff has had over a year. I don’t know if any team this year has lost all five starters and closer for an extended period of time over this season. And of they did who knew if they would endure like the New York Yankees?

On a side note, if the pitching staff is Wolverine, that makes Larry Rothschild Charles Xavier right?

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