4 ways Yankees’ AL East rivals could get scarier in 2022

For now, we’re in the clear. The New York Yankees‘ AL East competitors aren’t any better than they were last year.

In fact, they’ve been legally barred from playing games or making moves. Looks like we all tie! Exhale.

When the veil of the MLB Lockout is lifted, though, there’s reason to believe that every single team in the division could be better-positioned for success than they were on Opening Day 2021 … except the Yankees.

Remember, a year ago, we thought the Red Sox were two years away before their offense, Nick Pivetta and Garrett Whitlock proved us wrong. A year ago, we thought the Jays had a punishing lineup and half the necessary pitching. We didn’t understand anything about the Rays’ rotation strategy (trading Blake Snell?!), which didn’t come back to bite them at all until the postseason arrived.

And last Opening Day, Cedric Mullins was a replacement player. Even at the bottom of the barrel, things changed fast.

While it seems like the scariest thing possible right now is the ongoing lockout, just remember how peaceful things feel right now when you could be watching an overworked Yankees bullpen surrender multi-run leads in Boston, Toronto or Tampa.

The 2022 season could result in a Yankees triumph. They have the financial flexibility to change this roster for the better during the free agency frenzy. There are a number of trade irons in their fire. Next year’s version of the Yanks isn’t good enough at the moment, but there are obvious paths to getting them up to speed.

However … at the moment, every one of the four other teams in the American League East profiles as more dangerous than they did 365 days ago, and could also reach a different level in the weeks to come.

How Yankees’ 4 AL East rivals could get even scarier in 2022. Yes, all 4 of them.

4. Yankees vs. Orioles: Promote Adley Rutschman for Opening Day

We’re not going to pretend the Orioles will vault directly into AL East contention, but an infusion of talent — yes, combined with the left-field wall moving back — will make them less of a pushover in 2022.

If you’re a Yankees fan, you already knew they were a uniquely dangerous matchup for the Bombers in 2021 (vomit). The O’s went 8-11 against the Yanks last season, securing 15% of their total wins on the season against a team that theoretically should’ve won the AL East. Cool. Just … so cool to be alive.

Whatever secret sauce Baltimore had last season will probably show up once again in 2022. After all, the pitching can only get better. Beyond John Means, there wasn’t a single qualified starter on this roster who should’ve had what it took to master the Yanks so consistently, and yet … here we are. If the O’s improve their pitching by even 5-10%, then add Adley Rutschman to their Opening Day roster, they could certainly look more like a classic last-place team rather than an historic bottom-feeder that only the Yankees can’t solve.

Rutschman, the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball, is now 24 years old. In other leagues, he would’ve been up directly out of Oregon State. At the MLB level, even calling for a tanking team to promote their shining beacon of light one year before he hits 25 feels like a difficult ask.

If the O’s do the wise thing and let Rutschman start the regular season behind the plate, they’ll be adding a tone-setting captain who hits tanks at the toughest position in baseball to lock down. It wouldn’t even take a fanciful offseason packed with Carlos Correa additions to level up the Orioles. Elevating Rutschman to his rightful position will make them a tougher out automatically.

3. Yankees vs. Blue Jays: Berrios/Gausman/Manoah > Robbie Ray

Let’s face it: the Toronto Blue Jays are already plenty scary.

In fact, in parsing out the results of the 2021 season, we still can’t figure out how they weren’t able to outflank the Yanks, especially as the Bombers gave them every chance in the world to power past them.

Somehow, whenever it came to be nut-cutting time, though, the Jays faltered and the Yankees survived. Robbie Ray had a chance to flip the Wild Card at home to end the season, and he fell victim to a home run barrage. At their lowest point in the season, the Yanks somehow went to Buffalo and three-game swept Toronto, with Aroldis Chapman pulling a great escape, Giancarlo Stanton hitting a series-flipping homer, and Michael King inducing a triple play.

If not for some wonderful theatrics, we’d be writing formally about New York having to catch up to Vlad Jr., Bo Bichette and Co. instead of just theorizing they might have to.

Toronto’s terrifying lineup isn’t going to be getting any noteworthy farm system reinforcements, and may lose an ounce of oomph after letting Marcus Semien go to the Texas Rangers in their wild free agent sprawl. They also lost Ray, and it’s difficult to argue they’re going to benefit from letting the 2021 Cy Young winner go, but … he also had the gumption to peak immediately before free agency. Genius!

Ray, who’s struggled with command and control all his life — and also collapsed in the most important start of the year against the Yankees — reduced his WHIP to 1.045 last season after it hovered in the mid-1.3s in 2018 and 2019, reaching the hilarious small-sample-size total of 1.897 in 2020.

Perhaps Ray has turned a corner for good, and will be the most fearsome left-hander in baseball for the next five seasons with the Seattle Mariners. Or, perhaps, the Jays made the intelligent decision to instead extend Jose Berrios, sign Kevin Gausman and plug Alek Manoah into the rotation after a promising 2021 cameo.

We’d bet on the latter. Toronto’s pitching looks more fearsome, and deeper, in 2022 and beyond.

1. Yankees vs. Rays: 162 Games of Wander Franco, a Year Older

And speaking of beating the projection systems.

The Rays always know how to squeeze an extra four or five wins out of a stone because they are the projection systems. They personify uncovering talent, switching arms in and out of the bullpen, and simply making it work.

That’s why we were surprised last season when they paid a pretty penny to trade for one-dimensional slugger Nelson Cruz and put themselves over the top, and it didn’t exactly work. It’s why we were also shocked when they entered the ALDS with a rotation full of rookies, going from one extreme to another. That also failed.

One thing that went 100% right — so right, it convinced Tampa Bay’s front office to pony up and keep things working long-term — was the promotion of Wander Franco, who lived up to the hype, especially under the postseason lights.

In just 70 games in 2021 (as a 20-year-old), Franco posted a 129 OPS+ and 3.5 WAR, and is now under control (including a team option) through 2033, a real year that is difficult to conceptualize.

If the Rays operate like they have been, they’ll utilize one of the many escalators in his contract to ship him out of town, like they did when it came time to pay the piper on Blake Snell.

If they decide to operate in good faith, he’ll be here to dash the Yankees’ dreams for a very long time.

Regardless, 162 games of Franco vs. 70 could make all the difference in returning Tampa Bay to scary prominence, yet again, in 2022.

Yankees: 5 moments from 2021 that should reignite rivalry with Red Sox

The New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox rivalry just doesn't feel like it's totally there. We need to reignite it. And we think enough happened in 2021 to help.