Yankees keeping their spectacular start in perspective

TORONTO — Aaron Boone said more than a few times during spring training that he thought the 2022 Yankees had a chance to be a “special” team.  

But even the fifth-year Yankees manager didn’t see something like this: a 47-16 record and 10-game lead in the AL East, generally regarded as the sport’s roughest division,  entering the three-game series against the second-place Blue Jays that started Friday night at Rogers Centre.

What would Boone's reaction have been if someone had told him in spring training  that the Yankees would have a double-digit game lead in mid-June? “I would have dismissed it, and I would have said, ‘I’m not going to play that game,’ ” Boone said Friday afternoon,

He quickly added: “And I really don’t want to now. I understand where we are, I understand the kind of start we’re off to and the kind of position we’re in and I’m thrilled about that, obviously. But we also understand as a team and as a group, we ain’t done nothing yet.”

Still, building a 10-game lead in a division that far and away is the deepest in the game, while not guaranteeing anything, is remarkable.

The Blue Jays, for example, came into the season tabbed by many as a prohibitive favorite in the division, with the Rays not far behind. Many preseason prognosticators (full disclosure: including this one), had the Yankees and Red Sox fighting it out for third place.

Instead, after a 5-5 start that has all but been forgotten, the Yankees have steamrolled everyone. They brought a seven-game winning streak into Friday and had won 14 of their last 15 games and 40 of their last 50.

The AL East is the only division that has four members sitting over .500. Even the Orioles, coming off a dreadful 2021 in which they went 52-110, have been respectable at 28-37 going into Friday. They split a four-game series with the Blue Jays here earlier this week.

“We certainly feel like we play in the toughest division,” said Boone, whose team is 22-10 against the AL East. “When you’re talking about the Blue Jays, the Rays, the Red Sox, you know you’re up against it. And now what we’re seeing with Baltimore. It’s not the same Orioles team it’s been the last few years. That’s a better team. So the depth of it [the division] now overall is better.”

But while it’s been a dogfight among those teams, the Yankees have beaten all comers, and it doesn’t take a deep dive to figure out why. They not only have one of the best offenses in the game but one of the best, if not the best, pitching staffs.

Though on the surface it’s been mostly smooth sailing, Boone said that’s not necessarily the case.

“There’s things that happen that go on behind the scenes that always present challenges,” he said. “But the one thing is, and I think everyone would probably speak to this, we love going through it with this group. I feel like we’re of singular mind in that room of what we want to accomplish, what we’re here for. We want to be champions, and that’s what it’s about. And guys have routinely walked through those doors, I feel like, with that team mentality of, ‘What can we do to win today?’ That’s the environment you want to be a part of, and I feel like we certainly have that.”

And so, win or lose — and it’s been mostly win — regardless, it’s on to the next game. Celebrations are for October, not for being 31 games over .500 in June.

“We’re starting another big series against a really good team and we look forward to going out and trying to get a victory tonight,” Boone said. “That’s probably boring, but that’s how we’re rolling.”