The start of the 2026 season for the New York Yankees began on the road. A six-game West Coast road trip with stops in San Francisco to play the Giants and Seattle to play the Mariners. The six-game trip proved quite fruitful for the Yankees as they will finish the trip and head back home to the Bronx for the home opener with a 5-1 record. But even more important than just the record was how the team played. And that’s what we’re going to focus on in this article. Yes, the season is still in its infancy, and there is an extremely long way to go to really make any determinations about the 2026 “Run it Back” Yankees. Yet, that’s exactly what we’re going to do and give you some “Far Too Early Takeaways from the Yankees season opening road trip.

TAKEAWAY #1: PITCHING HAS BEEN WILDLY SUCCESSFUL

In watching these first six games, one thing was abundantly clear: the Yankees’ starting pitching has been the early story. Whether you want to discuss the twenty consecutive scoreless innings streak to begin the season. Or maybe you’d like to discuss that Yankees pitchers held down both the Giants and the Mariners to a lowly six runs. Yes, you read that correctly. Yankees pitching has allowed an average of just one run per game through the first six games. And while that is likely an unattainable feat to accomplish over the course of an entire season, the fact that it has happened so far is noteworthy. Over the course of a Major League Baseball season, there are approximately 1458 innings that must be pitched to meet the required minimum nine innings and 162 games played (not including any extra innings). So, for the Yankees, 54 innings have been pitched out of the minimum 1458 with just six runs given up. Which means if Yankee pitchers can hold down the fort for the next 1404 innings, the Yankees will likely find themselves not just playing October baseball but potentially hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy for the 28th time in franchise history. (And yes, I know the trophy hasn’t actually been a thing for all of the previous 27 championships, I’m speaking metaphorically.)

TAKEAWAY #2: POSITIVE RUN DIFFERENTIAL

Through the first six games of the 2026 season, the Yankees are at +18 in the run differential column. Across those six games, New York has totaled 24 runs scored, and we already detailed the lone 6 runs surrendered. Thus, the Yankees are AVERAGING six runs a game. To average six runs a game and give up an average of just one run a game would put the Yankees on an absolutely wild pace. Again, yes, it’s far too early to speak about the pace of the run scoring and run prevention. But witnessing what this team was able to do over their first six games was intriguing to dream on for the 2026 season. If the Yankees were to average 6 runs per game (972 runs scored) and 1 run per game (162 runs allowed), that would leave a massive run differential of +810. For context, the largest run differential of any season in the “modern era” (defined as after 1920) would be the 1939 New York Yankees with a run differential of +411. If the 2026 Yankees kept this pace, they would nearly double the greatest run differential of the modern era.

TAKEAWAY #3: THE FIGHT IS THERE

The Yanks would lose the opening contest to the Seattle Mariners 2-1 in walk-off fashion. It was a rather heartbreaking defeat as the team had just swept the Giants and wanted to keep the good times rolling. The offense was stymied, as they usually are, by Luis Castillo. And New York just could not find their footing. But instead of sulking their way to a follow-up poor performance against the de facto ace of the M’s insanely good pitching staff, Logan Gilbert, the Yankees hung a five-spot on Gilbert. And followed up with another five-run performance in the rubber match, with four runs being pegged to George Kirby. The Yankees battled and kept fighting and did not allow themselves to get down about the situation at hand, the heartbreaking walk-off loss, or the tough battle against two of the best pitchers in today’s game. New York just kept battling, grinding, working tough at-bat after tough at-bat, and that bodes well for the rest of the season.

TAKEAWAY #4: YANKEES ARE GOOD AT THIS ABS THING

So no matter where you come down on the Automated Ball and Strike system (ABS) or the challenge system, if you prefer to call it that. One thing was made absolutely clear after these two series: the Yankees are pretty good at using it. New York was so wildly good at using the ABS system that they went a perfect 5-for-5 in a single game against the M’s on March 30th. For many, the ABS system is seen as the first step to removing the human element from the umpiring ranks. However, the reality is that it ISN’T about the umpires, it’s about the calls. It’s about getting the egregious calls right. And while every run change instituted by MLB has unforeseen and unintended consequences, the ABS system could prove to be the best of all potential outcomes.