If the AL East is going to be a talented division, odds are the Yankees are in the middle of the drama.

That’ll be the case again this season, and it’ll be a very similar group of Yankees looking to knock the Blue Jays off the AL East throne. Let’s take a look at New York’s 2025 season, their offseason work, and one man’s opinion on how they head into 2026.

The Yankees finished last year with a 94-68 record, tied with the Blue Jays for the best record in the AL East and the American League as a whole. An 18-7 record in September and an eight-game win streak to close the season put a bunch of pressure on the Blue Jays to keep winning. Unfortunately for the Yankees, though, a 5-8 record against the Jays swung the tiebreaker in Toronto’s favour, meaning the Yankees would have to play in a Wild Card series.

They scratched by the Red Sox in three games, headlined by a 12-strikeout performance in the win-or-go-home tilt by rookie pitcher Cam Schlittler. They would be bounced in the ALDS by the Blue Jays, however, being outscored by Toronto 34-19.

Unsurprisingly, the Yankees, who led the majors in home runs and runs scored, were headlined by Aaron Judge, who won the third AL MVP award of his career, all coming in the previous four seasons. Judge slugged 53 home runs with 114 RBIs, accompanying a ridiculous .331/.457/.688 slash line. While the slash line numbers led all of baseball, his home run and RBI totals were rivalled by Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, making for good MVP discourse among baseball fans. In the end, however, it was Judge who emerged victorious.

While Judge’s value cannot be questioned, he did have several worthy contributors around him. Six other Yankees hitters eclipsed the 20-home run mark, including Trent Grisham, who kept the Juan Soto trade in a positive light. Grisham had a career year, doubling his previous single-season home run career-high with 34 homers, 74 RBIs, and an .811 OPS. It was the perfect way to head into free agency for Grisham, who wound up accepting the qualifying offer to remain with the Yankees.

Alongside Grisham, fellow lefties Jazz Chisholm Jr. (31), Ben Rice (26), and Austin Wells (21) also set career-highs in home runs, which certainly don’t help the short porch allegations. Cody Bellinger also put together a nice season across 152 games, hitting 29 home runs, 98 RBIs, and 25 doubles.

New York’s pitching staff was headlined by Max Fried, their biggest acquisition of last offseason. He led the majors in wins (19) to go along with a 2.86 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and an 8.7 K/9 over 32 starts. The length of Fried’s contract drew a lot of criticism from baseball fans, but a durable and effective opening season of the contract will quiet some of the doubters for now.

Veteran lefty Carlos Rodón also churned out a solid season for the Yankees, posting a 3.09 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and an AL-best 6.1 H/9 over 33 starts. It marked the second consecutive season in which Rodón made 30+ starts for the Yankees. Fried and Rodón’s efforts were badly needed for a New York team that didn’t have Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery) for the entire season, Luis Gil (lat) and Clarke Schmidt (elbow, internal brace operation) for parts of the season, and much effectiveness from Will Warren in his 33 starts.

Schlittler, who was called up in July of last season, earned himself a spot in New York’s rotation going forward after owning a 2.96 ERA and 10.4 K/9 over 14 starts, including a 98 mph fastball and a 27% whiff rate on his low-90s cutter.

New York’s bullpen got a substantial overhaul at the trade deadline with the additions of Camilo Doval, David Bednar, and Jake Bird, something that was much needed after struggling campaigns from Mark Leiter Jr., Devin Williams and Luke Weaver. This overhaul wound up being somewhat of a substitution; the latter three of those names are now on new teams, with the former three still with the Yankees.

Even with that being said, Bednar was the only acquisition that performed well during the final two months of the season. He recorded 10 saves with a 2.19 ERA and 0.93 WHIP over 22 regular-season appearances in New York. He’s in line to enter 2026 as New York’s closer.

94 wins minus the head of their rotation snake sounded pretty good, so the Yankees opted to re-sign about as many players as they could from their 2025 team…literally. As mentioned in the above section, Grisham was one of the first to rejoin the club by accepting the qualifying offer.

Just a few days later, they brought back Ryan Yarbrough on a one-year, $2.5 million deal. Despite missing a good chunk of the season with an oblique strain, Yarbrough continued being a “utility man” on the mound, working in 19 games in a multitude of roles. He posted a 4.36 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and a 7.7 K/9; however, he also had the highest single-season home run rate of his career. With a pitching staff that will be fighting injuries to start the year, this is a move that made sense.

The Yankees also re-signed utility man Amed Rosario and pitcher Paul Blackburn to one-year deals. Rosario was acquired near the trade deadline last year from the Nationals, hitting .276 across 62 total games with a .302 average against left-handed pitchers. Blackburn was also acquired mid-season last year after he was released by the Mets, but he only appeared in eight games with the Yankees last season, giving up nine earned runs over 15 1/3 innings.

Those were the minor moves, but the Yankees also decided to run it back with a pair of bats that both started over 145 games for them last year. One of those bats was Bellinger, who re-upped with the Yankees on a five-year, $162.5 million deal with opt-outs after the ’27 and ’28 seasons. Bellinger finished third on the team in home runs and second on the team in RBIs last year, both figures being at their highest since his 2019 MVP campaign with the Dodgers.

The second of those bats was first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, whose 2025 was a tale of two seasons. The 38-year-old veteran, whose contract is worth $4 million over one year, slashed .338/.394/.495 over 57 games through the end of May. However, between June and the remainder of the year, Goldschmidt hit just .226 with four homers and 17 RBIs. After starting the season batting cleanup for a good majority of games, he spent the latter parts of the year hitting in the bottom half of the order.

While that’s a lot of familiarity, the Yankees won’t be a complete carbon copy of last year’s squad. They made a trade with the Marlins in mid-January, acquiring starting pitcher Ryan Weathers in exchange for prospects CF Brendan Jones, OF Dillon Lewis, 1B Dylan Jasso, and SS Juan Matheus.

Weathers, who started only eight games last season due to a flexor muscle strain, pitched to a 3.99 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and an 8.7 K/9 through 38 1/3 innings. It was the second straight season that an injury kept him out for a lot of the year; in 2024, a strain to his left index finger limited him to just 16 starts. He boasts a five-pitch mix, headed by a 97 mph fastball and an 87 mph changeup that induced a 40% whiff rate last season.

Weathers had a tough go of it on Sunday afternoon against the Mets, but he still figures to start the season in New York’s rotation. When the rotation gets fully healthy, that gives the Yankees a sufficient mix of righties and lefties in their starting staff.

The Yankees also acquired RP Angel Chivilli from the Rockies in exchange for minor league first baseman TJ Rumfield. Chivilli has been a member of Colorado’s organization since 2018, and he made his major league debut with them in June of 2024. Between that season and ’25, Chivilli appeared in 73 games, owning a 6.18 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 7.1 K/9, and 3.3 BB/9.

Even with his fastball sitting at 97 mph last year, opponents hit that pitch at a .338 batting average with six homers. His changeup and slider both produced whiff rates of over 40%, with the former pitch being his most effective. Chivilli has also produced ground ball rates of 49% and 50% between these two years at the major league level. You could still consider Chivilli a project at 23 years old. While he still has several years of team control, he has just one minor league option remaining.

On the under-the-radar side of things, the Yankees acquired 3B Max Schuemann from the A’s via trade, they claimed former A’s pitcher Osvaldo Bido off waivers from the Angels, and they also signed veteran reliever Rafael Montero to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

They also signed several former Blue Jays to minor league deals: C Ali Sánchez, P Adam Kloffenstein, INF Paul DeJong, and OF/DH Randal Grichuk.

At the rate that Aaron Judge has been playing, there’s no more “let’s wait and see how he does” or “can he keep it up?” to his game. He’s consistently been one of the game’s best hitters, and because of that, the Yankees will always find themselves competing for postseason play. They should be in the same boat this year.

Asking if the Yankees did enough in the offseason is a fair question (and one I would ask myself), but like we saw last season, they are willing to trade away several prospects at the trade deadline to get better. They’ll get acquisitions of sorts as they progress through the season, from impact pieces recovering from injury, but there’s no guarantee that all of that will go smoothly. Cole has been facing hitters and pitching in simulated games, but based on varying reports, his return won’t be until the summer months.

Rodón, who had some loose bodies removed from his elbow after last season, is on a similar track, but it sounds like he’ll be ready before Cole, barring any setbacks. Anthony Volpe (shoulder surgery) and Oswaldo Cabrera (ankle) are also recovering from injuries, but the latter is already back in game action. All that to say, the Yankees still have a lot up in the air with their personnel.

Due to the above, there are going to be some uphill battles for the Yankees to fight this season. The best way to fight the injury bug is with quality depth, and I’m not sure the Yankees have that right now.

The AL East has gotten better, and the road back to a division crown can’t and won’t be travelled overnight. I digress back to where I started this section, however. A team with a healthy Aaron Judge is still going to compete for a postseason spot. Division crown? Not as currently constructed. Postseason worthy? Definitely.

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