McDonald: The Yankees May Have Lost Masahiro Tanaka Because The NL Doesn’t Have The DH

The Yankees won the battle tonight against the Mets, winning 4-1 over Jacob deGrom and the hitless wonders in Queens, but did they just lose the war?

With the Yankee rotation already down Jordan Montgomery to Tommy John surgery, Masahiro Tanaka, left the game tonight with tightness in both hamstrings.

“Just both hamstrings tightened up on him, so I’m not sure of the severity of it really or if it’s cramps or whatever,” Aaron Boone said. “We got an IV in him when he came out of the game. It’s one of those things that we’ll evaluate tomorrow.”

It could be cramps and it could be something more. For the Yankees sake, they hope it’s the former and not the later, but still this is a concern.

If Tanaka misses any significant time, the Yankees will be looking for at least two starters at the deadline and not just one. Already, they don’t have Montgomery and Sonny Gray is pitching his way off the team.

The problem is that it’s the beginning of June and struggling teams are not open for business just yet.

So the Yankees will have to endure.

If the Yankees are going to win the World Series this year, they will need more than just Luis Severino and C.C. Sabathia healthy. They will need Tanaka and another front line pitcher. All teams go through injuries, but the Yankees need to keep the rotation healthy.

That said, it’s a problem for tomorrow. Tanaka could just be dehydrated and the Yankees would have dodged a bullet. However the argument could be made American League pitchers, who are not used to hitting, should not be under any circumstances.

“As I sit here now, I love the DH for both leagues,” Boone said and added that the issues comes up in Interleague play because of the pitcher running.

You can argue the designated hitter until you are blue in the face. It’s been an issue for 45 years, but why put American League teams at a disadvantage in National League parks?

Or even better, with so much money invested into pitcher, why put him into harm’s way?

It would make sense if the National League won’t adopt the DH to at least have it during all Interleague games. It would be easier for the Mets to have say Jose Bautista be the DH or even Yoenis Cespedes when he comes back to take it easy and not play the outfield.

Right now, though, the Yankees need to have their pitcher hit and tonight may have lost Masahiro Tanaka because of it.

About the Author

Joe McDonald

Editor-in-Chief
Joe McDonald is the founder and former publisher of NY Sports Day. After selling to i15Media in 2020, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief and responsible for the editorial side of the publication. In the past, Joe was the managing editor of NY Sportscene magazine and assistant editor of Mets Inside Pitch. He has covered the Mets since 2004.

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