Four Takeaways for New York Yankees Through Fantastic First Month

Here are four takeaways from a fantastic first month of the season for the New York Yankees.

May 2, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried (54) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning at Yankee Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

With the first month of the season coming to a close for the New York Yankees, the team has to be very pleased with how they have performed.

Currently, the Yankees are in first place despite multiple key players being out. The depth of the franchise has certainly been tested, but this was a World Series contender coming into spring training for a reason.

However, due to all the injuries, things could have started off poorly for New York. There were a lot of new faces joining the roster, but that didn’t stop them from building some early momentum.

With May underway, the Yankees will want to continue performing at a high level into the summer.

Here are four takeaways from the first month of the year.

Ace Has Emerged

When Gerrit Cole suffered a season-ending elbow injury, things could have gone south quickly. However, New York’s offseason decision to sign Max Fried paid off right away, with him emerging as the team's new ace.

Even though Fried has been an All-Star in the past and a very good pitcher, he has been far better than advertised so far.

Pitchers sometimes struggle to adjust to the pressure of pitching in the Bronx. The southpaw doesn’t appear to be one of those guys, as he looks fantastic through the first month.

Rotation Needs Work

Even though Fried has been excellent at the top of the rotation, there hasn’t been a lot of help behind him. Fortunately, despite some early season ups and downs, Carlos Rodon pitched well for the Yankees in April. However, things after him in the rotation haven’t been great.

The back end of the rotation of Will Warren, Carlos Carrasco, and Marcus Stroman have all struggled, leaving a void and putting a lot of pressure on the bullpen.

While it hasn’t hurt them nearly as much as it could have so far, the unit still needs to be much better overall.

Offense Still Elite

Coming into the campaign, there was a lot of concern about whether or not the lineup was going to be good enough to compete post-Juan Soto. Through April, the team has exceeded expectations in that area with one of the best units in the league still.

Aaron Judge is off to an MVP-caliber start, and he’s got a good amount of help behind him.

Not only has the offense survived without Soto, they have thrived and been one of the best in baseball.

Team To Beat in AL East

Coming into the year, the AL East was expected to be one of the best divisions in baseball. While that might end up being the case, it doesn’t appear like it as of now.

One of the main competitors for New York in the last few years the Baltimore Orioles have fallen off significantly in 2025 and look like they are a franchise heading in the wrong direction.

Furthermore, with the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays hovering around the .500 mark, the division appears to be the Yankees’ for the taking early on.