{"id":114140,"date":"2026-02-15T19:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=114140"},"modified":"2026-02-15T19:36:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:36:40","slug":"yankees-starting-rotation-will-dominate-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/15\/yankees-starting-rotation-will-dominate-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Yankees’ Rotation Might Look Like by Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite having a fairly quiet offseason, the New York Yankees are still one of the best teams in the American League, at least when healthy. Their offense, which ranked first in MLB in slugging, OPS, and home runs last season, carries a lot of star power in players like Aaron Judge<\/a>, Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a>, Giancarlo Stanton<\/a>, and Ben Rice<\/a>. However, the strength and depth of their starting rotation is quietly among the best in all of MLB as well. They will be without Gerrit Cole<\/a>, Carlos Rod\u00f3n<\/a>, and Clarke Schmidt<\/a> to begin the year, though, and all are on different timetables to return.<\/p>\n

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Cole, whose bullpen session went viral on social media after touching 96 mph, is aiming to be back in June at the earliest. Rod\u00f3n should return in late April\/early May, and Schmidt will be out until at least July. These three pitchers gave the Yankees 355 1\/3 innings with an average ERA of 3.62 the last time they all pitched in the same rotation (which was in 2024). Still, even without these key arms, New York’s rotation should be just fine thanks to the sheer amount of depth they carry.<\/p>\n

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Gerrit Cole’s first bullpen of the spring pic.twitter.com\/WhPoU1woht<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) February 13, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n