Wait...wait. Come on man. Look at the holes in the Yankees starting rotation. Yeah, Severino was great last year, but he has yet to throw 200 innings as a starter. The common assumption is that someone that throws as hard and consistently as hard as Severino ultimately will face some arm problem in the near, not distant future. Simply put, he's great, but untested and therefore unqualified to be given the distinction of ace, even if he's the ace of the Yankees, even in spite of his Cy Young run last year.
Then you have Jordan Montgomery. Unproven. Could be good...could get blasted in Yankee stadium.
Then you have Sonny Gray. He's a legit groundballer is there ever was one. But are we talking about the Sonny Gray from last year, or two years ago? His tendency to suddenly grow wild, over the scope of a year in Yankees stadium, does not bode well. Pitching in Oakland is vastly different than New York. His rate of giving up home runs doubled after he made it over to the Yankees.
Then there's CC Sabathia. He's old, washed up. That he's still pitching astounds me, and you cannot rely on him for a full season.
Tanaka was abysmal last year. Yes, he flashed those strikeout brilliant moments, but the long ball, how he suffered at the hands of the long ball. There's no indication that Tanaka isn't what he's pretty much always been. Inconsistent, with flashes of ace like ability.
Fortunately for the Yanks, they have the best bullpen in baseball. Unfortunately, their pitchers, none of them besides Severino, have a track record of lasting longer than six innings, as they all get shelled the third time through the lineup.
Now stack this lineup against the Astros. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the Astros have been perfectly crafted to win championships. Solid hitting, solid pitching, solid bullpen. There are no cracks in the ship. Heck, I think the Cleveland Indians have a better shot at winning the championship than the Yankees. In this modern era where everyone can hit for power, you need power pitchers to win, to get those k's, eliminating the homers to solo shots. The Yankees simply don't have the starting pitching to do so.
Yeah. OK. Disagree. Go write your own article!