The New York Yankees are so back — and we can officially say that now that the team has departed the swamps of Florida for the bright lights of NYC.
Last year was supposed to be the year, with Gerrit Cole in the fold. Unfortunately, things went south quickly, in ways that were largely out of the team’s control.
Smash cut to the end of a 60-game season, and someone else was holding the trophy yet again.
It’s safe to say that players and fans alike have been itching for something like this moment ever since the temporary curtain went down on 2020 midway through spring training, and on the eve of a real, genuine season beginning with crowds in the stands, the Yankees are as ready as you are.
The team plane arrived in New York late Monday night after the team played out the spring training string, and most players felt the urge to capture the moment.
After all, they’re hoping it’s the first step on a monumental journey this season.
The Yankees landing in NYC got us … ready for Opening Day.
Giancarlo Stanton seems like the Yankee who’s most ready to reenter the jungle this season. After a postseason full of mammoth homers and ridiculous clutchness, Stanton’s effortless swing has produced more of the same this spring.
All the team needs is for it to translate to the regular season, and the first step arrives Thursday (rain pending). We believe he’s ready to show off in Year 4 (already!) in NYC.
Gleyber Torres, another Yankee who’s been smoking hot this spring with plenty to prove, caught the exact moment the team’s flight attendant cheekily told them where they could spot Yankee Stadium from the skies.
Y’all ever seen that place before?
Rife with symbolism, every single one of these posts — and oh, there were more, from Gio Urshela to Aaron Boone — reminded us that the city’s lights are back on, after 365 days of dimness. The 2020 Yankees struggled, at times, with an almost-impossible season.
They trained all winter, then all summer, ramping up on a strange timeline that left all the usual suspects injured and left behind. They tried to impress stadiums full of cardboard cutouts, entirely un-buoyed by their wonderful fans. They played their “home” playoff games in sunny San Diego, where only Stanton seemed like himself.
Even when 2020 was good, it was still wholly dissatisfying and mostly heartless. But 2021 feels real. The city is awake, and the Yankees are back. Every single post made us more optimistic for the upcoming campaign.
Well, every post except one.
Why is Tyler Wade on this plane?
Yankees: 3 biggest X-factors for 2021 season
The New York Yankees have some fairly clear X-factors ahead of the 2021 campaign. So who can we believe in? Who freaks us out?