Daily Report – 3/31/26
Yankees
The Yankees aren’t going 162-0. That’s for sure. Last night in Seattle, the Mariners handed them their first loss of the season, 2-1, thanks to a walk-off single by Cal Raleigh. The Yankees, with just five hits and one for extra bases, were quiet at the plate.
Playing in cold weather at large ballparks to start the year, the Yankees haven’t found their offensive stride yet. So far, their bullpen has been their greatest asset, but their best arms have been overworked. Starter Ryan Weathers, who struck out seven batters while allowing one in his Yankees debut, only lasted 4 1/3 innings. That came after neither Cam Schlittler nor Will Warren could eclipse five innings over the weekend.
Sunday’s off day helped the bullpen reset, but manager Aaron Boone did not want to overuse his relievers. Before Paul Blackburn gave up the game-winning run in the ninth inning yesterday, the Yankees had used four relievers across 2 2/3 frames. We’re talking about a bullpen with one trustworthy left-handed middle reliever – Tim Hill – who might have fared better against Raleigh, who prefers righties.
However, using Hill in that ninth-inning spot would have required the Yankees to use a high-leverage arm in extras. Although the Yankees have an extra pitcher in their bullpen because Luis Gil is in Triple-A, they do not seem to trust Rule 5 draft pick Cade Winquest. He is one of two relievers, in addition to Paul Blackburn, who have yet to debut for the Yankees this season.
Here is a look at the Yankees’ bullpen, in order of leverage:
LR: RHP Paul Blackburn
LR: LHP Ryan Yarbrough
MR: RHP Cade Winquest
MR: RHP Jake Bird
MR: LHP Brent Headrick
MR: LHP Tim Hill
MR: RHP Fernando Cruz
SU: RHP Camilo Doval
C: RHP David Bednar
Since the Yankees had already used Brent Headrick in yesterday’s game, they only had two lefties available, but really only one, because Ryan Yarbrough rarely gets deployed with runners on base, especially in the ninth inning. The argument against putting Hill in that position would be that Boone was rolling with Blackburn because he forced ground balls in the eighth inning.
If Blackburn wasn’t getting groundouts in the ninth, then Hill, a groundball pitcher, might not have, either. Also, Boone would have gone with his closer, Bednar, in the 10th inning, who used 19 and 20 pitches on Friday and Saturday, respectively, to record his first two saves. He needed another day to rest.
All of this being said, the Yankees would not have been in this position if their offense had broken through at any point in yesterday’s game. They struggled against starter Luis Castillo, a tough customer on the slab, who held them to two hits over six scoreless innings.
“We were having a hard time with [Castillo’s] fastball,” Boone said. “That slow slot, he’s able to generate some swings and misses at the top. With his fastball, he was getting us to swing through some pitches.”
However, the Yankees continued to excel with the ABS system. Their batters went a perfect five-for-five at the plate, improving to 10-for-11 this season. Despite their poor results against Seattle’s pitching, at least they were seeing the ball and the strike zone well.
“Those are razor-thin pitches sometimes,” Boone said. “You don’t want to always have to be challenging, but good on the guys for hammering the strike zone right now.”
In the fourth inning, Ben Rice, Giancarlo Stanton, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. challenged pitches in succession. Stanton’s challenge helped him nail a base hit on a misplayed popup, but he got tagged out as he tried to advance to second base.
Things got iffy in the bottom of the fourth when Weathers exited with runners at first and second base. With one out recorded, Fernando Cruz used his superb splitter to send Dominic Canzone and Julio Rodríguez down swinging. It wasn’t enough, however, to energize the Yankees’ offense, which went down in order in the sixth inning.
The Yankees finally got on the board in the seventh thanks to a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Amed Rosario. After Rice singled, Stanton reached on a fielding error and got put out on a groundball by Chisholm, moving Rice to third base. Rosario flied out to center field to bring him home.
More trouble ensued in the bottom of the seventh as Seattle put runners at the corners with one out against Brent Headrick, and Raleigh came off the bench to hit. With five pitches, Headrick struck out Raleigh, and Camilo Doval ended the inning with a two-pitch at-bat against Julio Rodríguez.
“The whole pitching staff has been doing well, starters and relievers,” Weathers said. “We’ve given up three runs as a whole entire pitching staff. That’s really good. Hopefully, we can keep getting outs and keep it rolling.”
The Yankees’ bullpen’s scoreless streak ended in the ninth inning, though. They will try to get back in the win column tonight as LHP Max Fried (1-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his second start of the season against the righty Logan Gilbert (0-0, 5.06 ERA).
Rangers
Color me confused. The New York Rangers, who have occupied the basement of the Eastern Conference for months, have scored the second-most goals in the NHL since March 2. Perhaps even crazier is that the reigning two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers hold the second-worst record in the East.
In what has been nothing short of a forgettable season, at least the Blueshirts are trying to go out with a bang. Over the weekend, they won the first two games of their seven-game homestand, including a 3-1 defeat over Florida on Sunday afternoon. Due to injuries, the Panthers looked different, but so did the Rangers.
It doesn’t make any sense, but the Rangers seem to be playing with purpose. Despite being the first Eastern Conference team to face postseason elimination, they seem to be playing for something. At least, their rookies are.
Players like Noah Laba, Adam Sykora, Gabe Perreault, Jaroslav Chmelar, Matthew Robertson, Drew Fortescue, and Dylan Garand – just to name a few – have played their first NHL games as if they were their last. These seven players have been a breath of fresh air for a dwindling squad of Blueshirts that broke up its core before announcing a retool earlier this season.
No rookie has been happier than Sykora, whose smile after scoring his second career goal on Sunday might have eclipsed the one he flashed after netting his first on Friday.
“It’s hard not to like that guy,” Sullivan said. “The energy he exudes, I don’t think he’s ever had a bad day in his life.”
Sykora’s best friend and fellow first-year, Chmelar, has embraced Sullivan’s style of play as well as any of his veteran teammates. In a confusing, weird, and indirect way, Sullivan is transforming the Rangers into a difficult team to play against. The fact that they have scored the second-most goals in the league since March 2 is certainly shocking, but it is also proof that something is working, and the future is… bright.
That’s right, bright. I said it. There you go. No matter what happens this season, tanking for Gavin McKenna is officially off, and it’s a good thing. That is because the Rangers seem to be heading toward a favorable draft position anyway, which means they can afford a few more wins in their last eight games.
The first and second periods of Sunday’s game were scoreless, and five minutes into the third, Sykora tipped Adam Fox’s wrist shot past Sergei Bobrovsky for New York’s first goal. Filled with excitement, he thrust himself into the corner boards before embracing his teammates and skipping to the bench with glee.
“I saw him presenting his stick,” Fox said. “There are other times when you just throw it into the mix and hope it hits something, but that was one of those where we kind of saw each other, and I was looking for his stick.”
The best thing about Sykora’s goal was that he did the dirty work to create the scoring play. Sykora had to win a battle in the corner boards against two hard-checking Panthers forwards, and once he emerged from the challenge, he found a speck of open netfront ice and put his stick down.
“When you play against a team like Florida that plays, really, a no-nonsense, straight-ahead game, they skate, they hit, they close on you,” Sullivan said. “They have big, mobile defensemen with long reaches, and they don’t give you a lot of time.”
With nine minutes remaining in regulation, the Rangers had 18 seconds left to kill on a penalty. Tye Kartye, one of the most physical, productive young Rangers, didn’t have a stick, so he kicked the puck to clear it. As Kartye went to the bench, Florida tried to reenter the attacking zone, but JT Miller played the puck at the blue line off Matthew Tkachuk’s skate.
Miller passed the puck to Conor Sheary, the shortest and oldest Rangers skater, and on a breakaway, he fired a wrist shot past Bobrovsky for a shorthanded tally.
“I think if [possession] was 50-50, I might be a little more timid to get going on the breakaway,” Sheary said. “But their [defense was] way up on the blue line, and I saw an opportunity to go.”
With 3:54 remaining, Fox recorded his second point of the season with an empty-net goal off a 200-foot shot. He and his teammates were unable to help Igor Shesterkin earn a shutout, since Florida scored in the final minute, but Fox was happy with his team’s effort.
“We’re competitors,” he said. “We all go out there to win, and I think you’re always playing for something. For us, it would be a disservice to our teammates, fans, and the organization to go out there and not give what we have.
“Obviously, it’s a tricky spot when you’re eliminated, and there’s draft position and everything like that, but for us in here, we’re not focused on that.”
The Rangers will try to win their third straight game tonight as they aim to snap a six-game losing streak against the New Jersey Devils (7 PM, 6 PM CDT – MSG, Gotham Sports). Before tonight’s game, one Ranger will be awarded the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, elected by the fans, for going “above and beyond the call of duty.” I voted for Mika Zibanejad.
Schedule
7:00 PM (6:00 PM CDT): NYR vs. NJ; MSG, Gotham Sports
8:00 PM (7:00 PM CDT): Coast 2 Coast Tuesday – NYK at HOU; NBC, MSG, Peacock, Gotham Sports
9:40 PM (8:40 PM CDT): NYY at SEA; YES, Gotham Sports; SP: LHP Max Fried (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
