Yankee Stadium looks like you remember it looking. There isn’t a ton different from last year, the lone exception a brighter, clearer scoreboard that is easier to read.
Roughly the same, but a bit sharper. In the Yankees’ home opener Friday afternoon, the stadium experience sure felt symbolic.
The running-it-back Yankees opened their home portion of the schedule by only using players — nine hitters and four pitchers — who wore pinstripes last season, and their belief that there is a higher ceiling within this crew gained a bit more steam in an 8-2 victory over the Marlins in front of a sellout crowd of 48,788, who arrived with winter jackets and stripped them off as the sun peeked out.
The Yankees (6-1) received power from Aaron Judge and Ben Rice, patience from just about everyone and further promise from Will Warren and their bullpen while matching their second-best start through seven decisions in franchise history. They had begun 7-0 in 1933 and 6-1 12 times previously, including in 2024.
If the energy on what is a baseball holiday was dinged by Xavier Edwards’ home run in the top of the first, the bottom of the inning felt like a party again. Judge’s first at-bat back at home was a no-doubt home run to left, launched against a Eury Pérez slider that did not slide. The two-run shot from Judge — who has begun his season strangely, with just five hits but three dingers — put the Yankees ahead to stay.
And with that, the Yankees were off and running, which we mean literally.
The Yankees scored two more in the second, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. and José Caballero combined for three steals and Pérez walked the bases loaded, then walked in a run, then drilled Judge for another run.
Despite the 2026 Yankees being a near carbon copy of last year’s team, they have seemed more aggressive: Even Austin Wells looked agile in tagging from second base on a fly ball to left field, a nifty dive eluding a tag.
The athleticism peaked in the ninth, when Cody Bellinger made a remarkable catch to steal a hit from Edwards in which the left fielder sprinted back, tried to catch the drive over his shoulder and watched as the ball hit off the heel of his glove. He then stabbed backwards with his glove and caught the ball, still mid-air, on the backhand, even Bellinger appearing stunned he had pulled off the trick.
The Yankees walked 11 times, constantly threatened and yet did not run away until the late innings, when Rice put the game away: He first visited the short porch for a solo shot in the seventh, then came through with the Yankees’ first hit with runners in scoring position, a two-run double that made it a laugher in the eighth.
Warren served up two home runs — the first two by any Yankees pitcher this season — yet was barely touched otherwise in another strong outing from a Yankees starter.
After Warren allowed those two runs in 5 ⅔ innings, the Yankees rotation has allowed a total of two runs in 39 ⅓ innings for a 0.92 ERA.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
