The Yankees went 47-29 in American League East games last season, securing nearly half of their 99 wins against divisional foes. The .618 winning percentage against the four other AL East teams — who were no slouches, evidenced by a combined 339-309 mark — was legitimately impressive. Their division was the best in the American League and the Yankees still emerged with a winning record against each of Toronto, Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Boston.
Things will change for this upcoming season, when instead of playing 18 or 19 games against their AL East friends, the Yankees (and every other team in the league) will only share the field for 13 games with their divisional opponents. Instead of the calendar being loaded with intradivision matchups, each team now gets additional interleague fixtures and at least one series vs. every team in Major League Baseball.
Get ready to see the Giants and Phillies descend on the Bronx in April and the Yankees squaring off with Arizona and Pittsburgh down the stretch in September. It will take some getting used to — as will the newfound feeling of not seeing the Red Sox seemingly every other week — but the move has some sense behind it as well. In the interest of fairness, evening out the schedule creates a better chance for teams from stacked divisions to remain in the race. Consider the 2022 Giants, who tangled 19 teams each with their neighbors in Los Angeles and San Diego. The Giants had a miserable time, winning just ten of those 38 games and getting outscored by 46 runs.
