The beginning of the season has been a struggle for the Yankees, who have won only 5 of their first 13 games. A large part of those struggle is that the players currently on the IL would likely win the AL Central if healthy and surrounded by replacement level players—turns out it’s tough to win games when 5 regulars, your ace starter and ace reliever are simultaneously out. The Yankee bullpen has yet to pick up the slack, with both Chad Green and Zack Britton not performing to expectations.
There is still quite a bit of noise in the data at this point in the season—seriously, it’s been only 13 games even if it feels like it’s been a lifetime—and early-season small sample size has a way of making one look like a fool by the time the weather warms up.