Congratulations, Yankees fans, we have made it to the halfway point of the season.  The Yankees sit on top of the American League and have the fourth-best record in baseball.  So, overall, the plan seems to be working.  Unfortunately, the Yankees have some serious injuries at this time with Aaron Judge, Max Fried, Giancarlo Stanton, and Trent Grisham missing from action.  Injuries, however, are a part of the game.  So, let’s see how the team compares to the 2025 Yankees (post-All-Star break, since the trades really changed the team).

This is literally the same team offensively

No offense to Austin Slater, but the Yankees decided to bring back literally everyone from last year, and the only player they added, they cut a month into the season (which was a mistake, as Randal Grichuk is killing it for the Chicago White Sox).  Let’s look at how the current Yankees stack up against the 2025 post-All-Star Yankees.  They are 2nd in OPS vs. 3rd; 5th in runs vs. 3rd; still tops in Home Runs and oddly still 3rd in steals; down from 6th to 7th in OBP; up from 3rd to 2nd in SLG and still middle of the pack in batting average (17th vs. 15th).  Outside of an increase in doubles (hooray), this is the same offensive team as last year. 

The pitching is better, though 

The Yankees completely re-did their bullpen, and their rotation is a little different than last year, mainly because of injuries.  Overall, the performance is much better.  The Yankees, amazingly, have the best ERA in the league at 3.32 (part of that is that a lot of their runs have been unearned).  In the second half of last season, they had a 4.03 team ERA, which was good for 13th.  The WHIP largely backs up the ERA, and the Yankees are the same in terms of strikeout ranking (11th vs. 10th).  The pitching has been solid.

Who is the First Half MVP

For most of the past decade, this has never been a question; it’s Aaron Judge.  This year, though, the team has been led by a younger star.  Paul Goldschmidt has been the surprise of the first half, but his production has just come in the past month and a half.  Overall, it has to be Ben Rice.  Yes, he has struggled without Judge protecting him, but he still has a .280/.371/.582 slash line with 22 Home Runs.  That will work.

Who is the First Half LVP

Last year, most of us would have said Anthony Volpe.  He has actually played decently after returning to the lineup (.262/.363/.364).  The obvious “winner” this year is the man behind the plate, Austin Wells.  We always knew he wasn’t going to hit for average, but a .164/.268/.252 slash line with just 4 homeruns and 9 RBIs is absolutely atrocious.  Minimally, you would expect him to hit some homeruns.  At least, he only has 7 fewer walks than all of last season; that is the only good thing to say about him offensively.

So, in the end, the Yankees decided to run it back, and so far, they are on pace to do what they have done the last two years (94 wins in each of those seasons and 96 projected this year).  Of course, the injury to Judge could dampen the pace, but overall, with much better pitching, the outlook for this team is better.  It’s even better in the postseason, as a short rotation of Cam Schlittler, Max Fried, Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Rodon can rival any other rotation in baseball.  Of course, injuries can scuttle that too.  Let’s go, Yankees, and let’s hope for a solid second half (and also hope the Yankees will be their first squad in 50 years and second in 100 years to steal more bases than games, I couldn’t leave my favorite stat out, ha).