Yankees: 3 biggest differences between 2019 and 2020 Yankees

2. Inconsistency of the Offense

Despite injuries, the Yankees’ offense hasn’t lived up to its potential in 2020.

Among players on the Yankees with at least 80 at bats, only DJ LeMahieu (.355) and Clint Frazier (.288) have a batting average over .275. We fully understand that the prolonged absences of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have put a dent into the depth of the lineup, but the two sluggers missed a combined 206 games last season and the club was still churning out wins.

As of this writing, the Yankees currently have six close-to everyday players — Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, Mike Ford and Tyler Wade — slumping to a .235 or below average. Three of those players (Gardner, Sanchez and Wade) are hitting well below The Mendoza Line.

According to FanGraphs, New York’s offense ranked 18th through Wednesday’s play with a 4.7 WAR, 16th in runs scored and 21st with a .234 BA for the season. For context, the Yankees finished third, first (!) and fourth in those respective categories in 2019. Again, those stats would likely be different if Judge and Stanton were in the middle of the lineup everyday, but, just like it did last year, this team has plenty of firepower to get by while the two studs work their way back to the diamond.

The difference is that the Yankees’ current horses aren’t getting the job done. The defending AL East champs are too talented to rank last in the division in OPS.