Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
BOSTON \u2014 The 2023 \u201cdisaster\u201d of their 82-80 season behind them, the Yankees are back to being the real Bronx Bombers again. Their tops-in-MLB 50th victory \u2014 happily won here Friday night in the city of their chief rival \u2014 provided a nice punctuation mark to a brilliant beginning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One big-time winter acquisition, a progression to the mean and steadfast belief that they\u2019d get healthier (how could they not?) marked them as slight American League favorites to start the year. But hardly anybody saw this coming. (Certainly not me, who envisioned them as a third-place team. Sorry about that call!)\u00a0<\/p>\n
At 50-22 entering Saturday, the Yankees are posting big numbers \u2014 their plus-134 run differential tells quite the story \u2014 and flat dominating their schedule. The start-to-finish heroics of former Red Sox Alex Verdugo, he of the shiny bling and original speech patterns (\u201cNines\u201d means No. 99 Aaron Judge), in their 8-1 series-opening victory over the Red Sox represented just another nice notch on a team belt that\u2019s as impressive as Verdugo\u2019s diamond-encrusted necklace.\u00a0<\/p>\n
History is in their current location, and history is on their side. Teams this dominant early often go on to win championships. Things are becoming less predictable though, as seen just two years ago when they faltered in the second half following a big start after their health took an unhappy turn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys have played outstanding baseball to start the season. But we know that\u2019s all it is \u2014 it\u2019s the start to the season,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a long way to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That 2022 team looked the part early, too, but one difference is that the great Judge has more help now than in his record-setting platform season. Here are three reasons the Yankees, fairly, are already the World Series favorite.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one wanted to pick a favorite for the award in their clubhouse. (I know; I tried asking but was shut down.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soto, though, gave thanks for Judge, the fire to Soto\u2019s ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really nice to hit in front of him,\u201d Soto said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to take my walks and swing the bat when I can. When you have a guy like Judge behind you, it\u2019s one of the best things you can have. \u2026 You don\u2019t have to be the hero every time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Judge was Mr. May (meant in the most positive way possible), but Soto\u2019s steadiness is one for the books, too. Even with his elbow scare and rare three-game respite in the middle of his current hot streak, he\u2019s reached base at least twice in 10 straight games. When this was relayed to him by The Post, Soto said he was originally unaware.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty cool,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boone, meantime, is happy to have the league\u2019s MVP co-favorites together near the top of his lineup. (Predictably, he also wouldn\u2019t say who leads that race.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen [Soto] and Judgie are doing what they\u2019re doing,\u201d Boone said, \u201cIt\u2019s just another level from everyone [else].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2. Verdugo brings something new.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boone said he spent quite a while advocating for Verdugo\u2019s acquisition, and it\u2019s becoming obvious why. Of course, left field was becoming a liability. But it\u2019s more about Verdugo, who has serious skills (hitting, fielding) and also interesting personality quirks (or maybe attributes?) that are livening up a previously sedate clubhouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boone called it an \u201cedge.\u201d You could see it in game one here when Verdugo let out a yell while rounding first base on his first-pitch home run back in his old park, then turned up the volume when he saw the reaction on the bench as his shot flew into the center-field bleachers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big-time shot of energy in our dugout,\u201d Boone noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond the nine home runs and nine defensive runs saved \u2014 the latter tops among all left fielders \u2014 Verdugo adds serious spice to a clubhouse previously inhabited almost exclusively by a band of quiet professionals. Maybe he\u2019s just what they needed. Maybe they needed a fun diversion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
3. The pitching is a plus day after day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Yankees traded half a rotation to get Soto and somehow got better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rotation that looked thin to start the spring, then lost the best pitcher in the game \u2014 Gerrit Cole says he\u2019s \u201cdefinitely\u201d coming back \u201csoon\u201d \u2014 is arguably the best in the game. And with a solid bullpen, their pitching is tops overall, with an MLB-leading 2.88 ERA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The talent is there, but nearly everyone entered with a question mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luis Gil, a late add to replace Cole, is using extraordinary stuff to become the revelation of the season, and a deserving All-Star.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Marcus Stroman, the studious one (with Cole out), has a game plan that compensates for velocity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nestor Cortes developed his changeup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Carlos Rodon, who bombed his first year in pinstripes, has undergone a makeover that\u2019s returned him to the pitcher he\u2019s supposed to be. The former two-pitch pitcher is throwing a curveball and even mixing in two-strike changeups to right-handed hitters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s becoming more of a complete pitcher,\u201d pitching coach Matt Blake said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right now this looks a complete team, and for today they look like a worthy World Series favorite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic BOSTON \u2014 The 2023 \u201cdisaster\u201d of their 82-80 season behind them, the Yankees are back to being the real Bronx Bombers again. Their tops-in-MLB 50th victory \u2014 happily won here Friday night in the city of their chief rival \u2014 provided a nice punctuation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-125329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125331,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125329\/revisions\/125331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}