Another night, another win for the New York Yankees. Baseball's best team improved to 47-16 thanks to Anthony Rizzo's walk-off home run against the AL East rival Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night (NY 2, TB 1). The win is New York's seventh straight overall and their 14th straight at Yankee Stadium. It is their longest home winning streak since 1961.
New York has eight walk-off wins this season, three more than any other team. Here is Rizzo's walk-off blast:
The Yankees won Thursday's game despite losing Luis Severino, their scheduled starter, to the COVID list prior to the game. Four pitchers combined to hold the Rays to three hits and one solo homer in the win. Clarke Schmidt tossed the first three innings and journeyman Ryan Weber, who replaced Severino on the roster, allowing the one run in 3 2/3 innings.
With the win, the Yankees have opened up a 10-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East, and they have a six-game lead over the rest of baseball. The New York Mets have baseball's second best record at 42-23, and they're closer to having the 10th best record than the first best record. The gap between the Yankees and everyone else is significant.
The 47-16 start is tied with 1998 for the third best 63-game start in Yankees history, trialing only 1939 (49-14) and 1928 (48-15). The Yankees won the World Series in 1928, 1939 and 1998. This is the eighth home winning streak of at least 14 games in Yankees history. Here are the other seven:
May 3 to June 6, 1942: 18 gamesJune 22 to July 27, 1941: 16 gamesJune 9 to July 17, 1938: 16 gamesAug. 16 to Sept. 26, 1961: 15 gamesApril 23 to May 18, 1932: 15 gamesJuly 25 to Aug. 29, 1954: 14 gamesJune 26 to July 28, 1927: 14 gamesThis is the Yankees' longest home winning streak in the new Yankee Stadium and their longest home winning streak since the year Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. Overall, the Yankees are 28-7 at home and have outscored their opponents 181-96. That's an average of 2.4 runs per game.
The Yankees begin a three-game series against the Blue Jays at Toronto on Friday night. Their next home game is next Thursday, June 23. That will be the first game of a four-game series against the Houston Astros.
