It’s hard to know what to expect from a striker coming back from a serious injury. In addition to speed and rotation rate, jumping is also about rhythm and feel, and that can take time to recover from a long layoff. But there was little rust for Gerrit Cole to shake off in his season debut Friday night at Yankee Stadium. In his first major league appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery on March 11, 2025, Cole silenced the first-place Rays, allowing two hits and three walks while pitching two six scoreless innings. His only real trouble came in the first inning, when he gave up a leadoff single to Chandler Simpson and walked Junior Caminero to score two with nobody out. After Jonathan Aranda’s flyout, Cole singled off the speedy Simpson at second base and then hit Yandy Díaz on an infield fastball to end the inning. From there, he entered the street. He averaged 96.1 mph with his four-seamer, and threw 50 of his 72 pitches for hits.
Cole left the game with the lead, but the Rays scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to take the series opener, 4-2. They now lead the Yankees in the AL East by 5.5 games. Watching the Rays play Friday night, I couldn’t help but think how annoying it would be to play against them. They pitch well, put the ball in play, and are aggressive on the bases. One Yankee told me before the game that they reminded him of the Blue Jays of last year because of the team’s lack of composure and refusal to quit. I’m still not sure how good the radiation is, but I have a feeling it will always be better than I think.
In this week’s postbag, we discuss another incredible team in the first two months of the season. We’ll also answer your questions about how many players in baseball have the ability to win MVP, how good Randy Johnson and some of the best starters of all time could have been, and why the beer for the 9-9-9 challenge is so small. But first, I’d like to remind you that this post bag is only available to FanGraphs members. If you are not yet a Member and would like to continue learning, you can sign up for Membership here. It’s the best way to experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with tons of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question about a future mailbag, email me at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
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