Full Team Effort Has Made New York Yankees Lineup One of Best Units in MLB

There wasn’t a team in baseball that suffered as major of an individual loss in free agency as the New York Yankees.

They knew the risk that was involved when they acquired star right fielder Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres in a blockbuster trade ahead of the 2024 season since he was set to be a free agent the following winter and had every intention of hitting the open market.

Record-setting contract offers were expected even before Soto put together another magnificent campaign with the Yankees.

His sky-high value only increased after he had career-highs in hits (166), runs (128) and homers (41). He added 31 doubles, four triples and 109 RBI to go along with a .288/.419/.569 slash line.

That was good enough to earn his fourth trip to the All-Star Game, win the Silver Slugger Award and finish third in the American League MVP voting.

Soto thrived and took full advantage of hitting ahead of Aaron Judge, who won the AL MVP Award for the second time in three years.

Given that production, his track record and future projections, it should come as no surprise that he reset the market with a historic 15-year, $765 million contract that he agreed to with the New York Mets in free agency.

That was a huge blow for New York to overcome, and replacing that amount of production with a single player was an impossibility.

A complete team effort was going to be required to help offset the Soto loss.

That is easier said than done, but through the first month of the season, the Yankees have been able to do just that.

Shockingly, they haven’t missed a beat through April.

Having Judge as the anchor to the lineup certainly helps, given his capability of being a one-man wrecking crew. But he has received a lot of help with New York having one of the most prolific lineups in the sport.

Their excellence has been recognized by Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report, ranking the team’s starting nine No. 2 in the MLB, with only the Chicago Cubs ahead of them.

Entering play on April 30, they are averaging 5.77 runs per game, which is second in baseball behind only the Cubs, who are averaging 6.03.

The Yankees are first in the MLB with 51 home runs and sixth with 56 doubles.

Their team slash line is impressive -- .269/.352/.481 with an OPS+ of 136 -- which are all first in the sport.

Producing at that clip despite losing one of the best hitters in the world from the lineup is a remarkable feat.

They have come up huge, especially with the team battling through some issues on the pitching staff.