Yankees can still win more games than 2018 Red Sox

In 2018, the Boston Red Sox nearly completed the greatest season in team history, winning 108 regular-season games, en route to their ninth World Series Championship. However, in 2019, the page has turned as the Yankees could potentially be on the verge of wiping that season into irrelevancy.

Ever since the opening weekend of this season, the Yankees have been dealing with monumental injuries, such as Aaron Hicks (back), Luis Severino (shoulder) and Dellin Betances (shoulder) all beginning the year on the injured list. Then the in-season plague started with both Giancarlo Stanton (bicep strain) and Miguel Andujar (labrum) going down in just the third game.

The plague made its way to Gary Sanchez (groin), James Paxton (knee), C.C. Sabathia (knee) and even Aaron Judge (oblique) before the month of April ended, sending the Bronx Zoo into a full panic frenzy, with some fans even fast-forwarding to 2020.

Not only have the Yankees persevered through the plethora of big-name injuries, they currently have the best record in all of baseball with just three weeks left to play (94-50) — and are on pace to shatter last season’s (100-62) regular season campaign.

The Bombers have been able to do this with Aaron Boone’s “next man up” mentality, thanks in large part to the unlikeliest of sources. Some of these guys had never had major league success, while others were supposed to have no success whatsoever.

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In 2018, Brian Cashman traded both Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos for St. Louis Cardinals first baseman, Luke Voit, who turned out to be the Yankees clean-up hitter throughout the conclusion of the 2018 season and playoff series’ against Oakland and Boston.

This year, the Yankees have seen Gio Urshela blossom into an everyday third baseman — one who is hitting well over .300 and finished second in the All-Star Game voting behind Houston Astros slugger Alex Bregman.

Mike Tauchman, who did not happen to play a single game for the Yankees in Spring Training, has proven to be both a solid defender and a reliable bat in the bottom third of Aaron Boone’s order, hitting .277 with 13 home runs.

Not to mention, D.J. LeMahieu, who could arguably be the league’s Most Valuable Player, wasn’t even penciled in on Opening Day, with the idea that the former NL Batting Champion to merely act as a platoon player.

Clint Frazier, Cameron Maybin, Mike Ford — the list goes on and on. With these players stepping up, the Yankees have not missed a beat, salvaging off series after series, separating themselves from the Rays (86-59) and Boston Red Sox (76-67), right out of the gate, as they currently sit 8.5 games on top of the AL East.

Despite the 2018 team’s success — winning 100 games in the process, the 2018 Red Sox were nearly unstoppable, winning 108 games during the regular season, en route to their third consecutive American League East title. During this time last season, the Sox had 97 victories under their belt.

Boston was able to reel off 11 more wins in the final three weeks of the season; however, they had a difficult schedule as well.

Fortunately, the Yankees have the benefit of a rather easy September going forward, as the club will travel to Detroit to take on the league-worst Tigers after their final visit at Fenway Park on Monday. Then the Yanks will move onto Toronto to face the Blue Jays, who they are 8-5 against in 2019.

This leads the Bombers into their final regular-season homestand, as they will face a mediocre Angels squad before taking on the Jays once more. The season then ends on the road with two games at the Trop against Tampa — and the final three games ever to be played at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas against the Rangers.

If the Yankees can win all of their series’, as well as come away with at least one sweep, the 2018 Red Sox historic season will merely be a flash in the pan to a 2019 Yankees team that bested that record by at least one game.