HOUSTON — Juan Soto, the future $500 million man, and Oswaldo Cabrera, the third-string third baseman, are the dynamic duo no one could have predicted.
While the Yankees’ comeback storylines in three straight victories here to open the season have varied, the stars have not.
The superstar Soto and super sub Cabrera play the hero daily in a Yankees start that is not to be believed. They made it three straight come-from-behind wins against their nemesis Astros in a ballpark that has been the site of a lot of unhappiness over the past several seasons.
“The way we’ve been winning has been incredible,” said Soto, who leads the league in incredible.
Unless it’s Cabrera, of course.
Soto is considered one of the top two or three hitters in the game. Although he always says it’s Aaron Judge and Yordan Alvarez, that’s up for debate.
“A killer,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone complimentarily called Soto.
Cabrera, meantime, only got the first of three straight starts when new pickup Jon Berti’s plane arrived late and Boone worried about his sleep. Now they can’t get Cabrera of there.
Soto will carry a 1.433 OPS into Sunday afternoon’s series finale here after his go-ahead home run followed Cabrera’s game-tying homer by two batters in the seventh inning. Cabrera’s OPS is even a bit higher, at 1.614, while no other Yankees player has an OPS even the equal of their career mark. To say these two are carrying the team is obvious.
No one but the terrific tandem is hitting much. But those two are more than the Astros can handle.
Cabrera’s homer Saturday night off the Astros’ hard-throwing reliever Bryan Abreu, which settled into the second row in right field, set off a wild celebration in the Yankees dugout. It’s hard to believe their positive karma here this week.
A few minutes later, Soto’s opposite-field home run, also off Abreu, flew into the Crawford Boxes, giving the Yankees the lead in a game they would win 5-3. Soto’s drive set off, “Let’s Go Yankees,” chants here in a place they generally are detested (even all-around nice guy Judge consistently receives unwarranted boos).
Following a 2023 season that was an admitted disaster, this has to feel sweet for the Yankees, who need to show that last year’s 82-80 “disaster” of a season was a fluke, and, of course, that they can beat the hated Astros, an American League Championship Series entrant seven years running.
The schedule makers did baseball’s most storied franchise no favors by starting them here, in the world’s largest ghost town — there are no people downtown! It’s a place where for most of the last decade the Yankees have come to disappear.
The Yankees are flipping the script with their rousing start, thanks to one incomparable pair.
Soto is aiding a salary drive that’s sure to result in the biggest contract ever once two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani’s $680M in deferrals are factored in. Meanwhile, Cabrera may just have won a role with a three-day performance out of the blue.
It was announced Saturday that starting third baseman DJ LeMahieu has a non-displaced fracture in his foot, and while the Yankees aren’t ruling out an April return, that seems to be an exceedingly optimistic view for a fellow who’s been hampered by foot issues for years. As for Berti, while the Yankees were overjoyed to get such a speedy and versatile player, he may be a spectator until Cabrera cools off.
The latest Yankees comeback took debuting starter Marcus Stroman off the hook for a potential loss, which was only justice since he was outstanding. Stroman was undermined by early errors by Cabrera and Volpe, the Gold Glove-winning shortstop. As fate would have it, both guys would make amends in a weekend of good feeling. Volpe homered late to provide insurance.
Stroman was actually quite efficient, using his nice six-pitch mix to last six innings despite the lack of cooperation by a couple fielders. Stroman is probably the team’s de facto ace with reigning Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole out at least two months — the whispered target date for his return is June 1 — with an elbow issue.
Cole says he’s “feeling good,” which is great news. And Stroman is looking good. He allowed only four hits and no earned runs and continues to impress his rotation mates, both on the field and off. The erudite Stroman, who was reading a book hours before his start, has a few Twitter beefs in his past — who hasn’t! — but they absolutely love his professionalism in his new clubhouse.
“You hear things, but ever since he’s been here he’s been frickin’ great,” said Nestor Cortes, who got the Opening Day start since Stroman preferred to stay on his schedule.
Right now, the whole Yankees team looks and feels great about how things are rolling. The odd couple of Cabrera and Soto are producing magic daily and the team is understandably loving it.
