NEW YORK — The Yankees went into this season without Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon or Clarke Schmidt. They lost Luke Weaver and Devin Williams from the bullpen over the winter. The injury list before Opening Day was long enough to fuel real doubt.
Seven games later, the Yankees are 6-1 and allowing runs at a pace that has not been matched in the history of Major League Baseball.
Friday’s 8-2 home-opening win over the Miami Marlins was another example of the same formula this team has used all week: the starter goes as deep as he can, someone cleans up whatever mess gets left behind, and the lineup does just enough damage at the right moment. It is not always elegant. But it keeps working.
Historic pitching numbers make serious case
Through seven games, the Yankees have surrendered eight runs. That matches the fewest runs allowed through seven games in MLB history, tying the 1993 Atlanta Braves and the 2002 San Francisco Giants.
The starting rotation has been even more remarkable. Yankees starters have given up just four runs in those seven outings, tied for the best mark since 1900, matching the 2018 Boston Red Sox and that same 1993 Braves squad.
That is happening without three of the projected top starters in the rotation.
Cole, Rodon and Schmidt are all on the injured list. The Yankees have gotten through the first week using Warren, Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers as the front of the rotation, backed by a bullpen that lost two of its most reliable arms in the offseason.
“They’re dictating at-bats,” Aaron Judge said of the pitching staff. “They put pressure on guys at-bat after at-bat. We’re feeding off them.”
Warren navigates trouble, bullpen takes it from there
Will Warren was not perfect on Friday. He gave up solo home runs to Xavier Edwards in the first inning and Owen Caissie in the fifth. But he retired 12 batters in a row between those two blasts and worked into the sixth before leaving with two runners on base and one out.
That was the moment Tim Hill stepped in. The left-hander induced a soft comebacker from Marlins catcher Liam Hicks to end the inning and the threat.
Jake Bird followed with a clean inning in his Bronx debut. Left-hander Brent Headrick retired his batters in order. Ryan Yarbrough closed it out in the ninth after Ben Rice gave the Yankees their final two-run cushion with a double in the eighth. The bullpen combined for 3.1 shutout innings. The Yankees did not walk a single batter and struck out 10.
Warren spoke about the approach that allowed the staff to operate that way.
“We’re attacking early and throwing strikes and have confidence in our stuff to put us in a position to be successful,” Warren said. “If we attack early, the odds are in our favor. Our lineup is a beast. We know they’re gonna put up runs.”
Bird and Headrick emerge as the latest Yankees bullpen finds
Manager Aaron Boone offered specific praise for Bird and Headrick after the game. Both pitchers are part of a long pattern in the Bronx of taking reclamation projects and turning them into reliable relievers.
Jake Bird, a right-hander who was released by the Colorado Rockies organization before the Yankees signed him, has not allowed a run through his first appearances of 2026. Headrick, a left-hander acquired via trade, has been used in key spots and delivered.
The pattern matters. Weaver won a World Series ring with the team in 2024 before departing in free agency. Williams was acquired and then injured before he ever threw a pitch in pinstripes. The Yankees moved on, found new pieces, and the results have been seamless so far.
The offense answers every time the staff needs it
The pitching has carried the Yankees, but the lineup has not let anyone down either.
Judge homered in the first inning to hand Warren an immediate lead after Edwards put Miami ahead. The Yankees scored twice in the second without recording a hit, drawing four walks from Eury Perez and benefiting from stolen bases by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jose Caballero.
Rice struck out three times, then redirected the afternoon with a 110.9-mph solo homer in the seventh and a two-run double in the eighth. The Yankees drew 11 walks on the day.
Cody Bellinger summed up the dynamic between pitching and offense from his vantage point.
“We’re playing great baseball,” Bellinger said. “It’s unbelievable. Starting with the starters, all four, and the bullpen coming in every time, it makes it easier on the offense.”
Yankees depth absorbs injuries and keeps winning anyway
The larger story behind the 6-1 record is not just the wins. It is what those wins say about roster construction.
Cole went into the season rehabbing from elbow surgery. Rodon has been managing a back issue. Schmidt is dealing with shoulder soreness. All three are expected back at various points in the season, potentially converting a rotation that has already been historically good without them into something even deeper.
The bullpen lost Weaver and Williams but added Bird, Headrick, Hill and Yarbrough, all of whom contributed in the home opener. The Yankees have not walked a batter in the entire home series so far.
“It’s early, but you love the fact that you get off to this kind of start because wins are precious,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Each win adds context to the argument. A team that swept San Francisco, took two of three from Seattle and opened at home without drama is not hiding anything. The Yankees look like a club with multiple paths to a win on any given night.
That is usually what World Series teams look like in April.
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