I know: 13-9 is a good record for April, and it projects to a 96-win season. Most teams would sign up for that in March. SU has watched its share of games and has a good feel for the team. Consider:

1. 16 of the 22 games that the Yankees have played have been at home. They are not as good on the road as we know.
2. Like many teams, they have their share of injuries – especially to the starting pitchers. Schmidt was much better yesterday which apparently is very important as Rodon is not near making his return. Nor is Severino. Donaldson is on the IL although SU does not consider that to be a loss. The Stanton injury is more significant as he will likely get hurt again later in the year. Bader may be back in a week or so which will help a lot.
3. The Yankees are something like 23rd in MLB in runs scored. If you watch them, they don’t hit in the clutch (continuing a 10-year run) and don’t even put that many runners on the bases. They are playing 3 rookies now and you have to get through their growing pains phase. But the big bats are not exactly producing so far. Judge’s monster season in 2022 covered up some other shortcomings that are still short this year.
4. The more balanced schedule is a good thing for 2023 as the AL East is very good.

The positives are the faster games. So, in those games where they are not hitting, they end pretty quickly. SU says keep an eye on the team over the next couple of weeks with more road games and Tampa Bay looming on the schedule. The current record may move closer to .500 very quickly.

SU is officially on the Knicks’ bandwagon. They are playing an exciting brand of basketball. Yesterday, you had to give Tom Thibodeau credit for keeping Julius Randle on the bench for the whole 4th quarter as Toppin was playing very well and Randle’s head was not in the game. SU is not a fan of walking the ball up the court and waiting until 8 seconds are left to run a play. You get the lead by pushing the ball and moving it on offense. Cleveland is going to figure out how to stymie those late play calls on the shot clock.

The best series is Golden State vs. Sacramento. Both teams look to push the ball, and scores in the 120s are fun games to watch. Steph Curry almost blew the game yesterday calling a timeout when they didn’t have any which results in a technical foul and loss of possession. He then shot with 10 seconds left instead of running the clock down. The Warriors were lucky to escape with the win. Sacramento is really good and well-coached. If they advance, no one in the West is going to want to play them.