Yankees Start Fast And Loud, Leaving A Mark On The Books

The Yankees didn’t just start fast. They started historically again.

For the third time this season, New York opened a game with back-to-back-to-back homers in the first inning—this time from Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton against Rays righty Shane Baz. Judge even cleared the batter’s eye for No. 40, because subtlety is for teams not named the Yankees.

This isn’t a one-off party trick. On March 29, the Yankees kicked off their home opener by going back-to-back-to-back on the first three pitches (Paul Goldschmidt, Bellinger, Judge), then added a fourth first-inning blast for emphasis. One month later, on April 29 in Baltimore, they did it again (Trent Grisham, Judge, Ben Rice) and, per MLB/Elias, became the first team in AL/NL history to open multiple games with three straight homers in the same season. Tonight makes three—all in the first inning. That logically puts them alone in MLB history for doing it three times in one season.

New York’s lineup has been a nightly Jenga tower. Right now, Judge can only play DH Stanton’s workload in the outfield to accommodate Judge has to be managed, moving parts everywhere. 

But the first inning keeps showing up with a sledgehammer. 

When the Yankees line up healthy-ish they are dangerous. That top of the lineup can change the game in a hurry.

And yes, OptaSTATS flagged the same thing you’re thinking: first team to do it in the first inning back-to-back-to-back three times in one season. MLB/Elias already planted the “first to do it twice” flag back in April; tonight just carries the logic to its loud conclusion.