1. It’s hard to believe I could feel any better about the Yankees after their season-opening series than I do right now. Three games, three wins and one run allowed to begin the season is about as good as anyone could ask for. Yes, the opponent was the destined-to-be-.500 Giants, but beating up on mediocre and bad teams is how you win the division and avoid having it settled on a tiebreaker.
2. “One thing from the past couple of years we’ve struggled at was finishing series and sweeping series,” Aaron Judge said. “Pregame, we talked about it … That’s what’s going to make the difference between winning the division or ending up tied. Every game matters.”
Well, well, well. All it took was the Yankees losing the AL East on a head-to-head tiebreaker and then getting humiliated in the ALDS because of that tiebreaker for them to realize every game matters. I have always believed a game on March 28 is as important as September 28 and have always wanted the Yankees to operate with the same mindset and urgency and it seems like they may finally be doing that.
4. Ben Rice gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the third with a booming double to right field. The Giants got one run (their first of the season) back in the bottom of the third to make it 2-1, but Judge hit his second home run in as many games to increase the lead to 3-1 in the fifth and that’s how it would stay as the Yankees swept the Giants, outscoring them 13-1 in the series. It’s amazing the Dodgers get to play 52 games against the Giants, Rockies, Padres and Diamondbacks.
5. Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Will Warren threw 16 innings of one-run ball in the series and the bullpen put up zeros in the other 11 innings. That will work. Please keep doing that.
“Our starting rotation came out there and attacked the zone,” Judge said, “and really just dictated the ballgames.”
6. The Giants had 12 baserunners to the Yankees’ nine, but four inning-ending double plays kept the Giants off the board except for their lone run.
“You can’t get enough of those,” Rice said. “I’m just happy to be on the end of each one of those and finish it off.”
7. What a day behind the plate for Chad Whitson who had seven ABS calls overturned against him. Yes, the ones that barely graze the zone are hard to fault an umpire for, but some of his calls were really bad, and the ones that went in the Yankees’ favor changed the game.
8. Warren was OK for 4 1/3 innings. He put seven runners on, but kept the damage to a minimum, allowing just one run. It was a respectable outing for his first of the year.
“My command was a little wonky today,” Warren said. “They did a good job fouling stuff off and making me work.”
9. Brent Headrick, Jake Bird, Tim Hill and David Bednar combined to throw 4 2/3 scoreless innings, and the bullpen has been unbelievable so far. The bullpen was easily the biggest question mark going into this season since we knew the rotation would be great (if healthy) and we knew what to expect from the same offense, but the bullpen is full of mysteries. (Again, the Giants aren’t very good, so everything needs to be taken with boxes worth of salt.)
10. “I love that we played well,” Aaron Boone said, “but it’s March.”
Yes, it is. But to me these games are just a continuation of last season because it’s the same roster. So while it may be March on the calendar, everything happening is an extension of last season, and so far the first games of 2026 are much better than the last games of 2025, even if the opponent was the Giants for the first three games.
10. The next opponent won’t be as easy: the Mariners. (The Yankees went 5-1 against the Mariners in 2025). Many have the Mariners finally getting to the franchise’s first World Series in 2026. I don’t see it, but what I do see is a very strong rotation that is likely second in the AL to the Yankees this year. Ryan Weathers will get the ball for his Yankees debut in the series opener against Luis Castillo, who has always been a problem for the Yankees. The Yankees and Mariners always play weird, tight, low-scoring games, especially in Seattle, and I’m expecting the same over the next three days.
Last modified: Mar 30, 2026
