The science, and luck, behind the early health advantage fueling the Yankees’ and Mets’ starts By Joel Sherman Published April 7, 2026, 6:00 a.m. ET Ben Rice is greeted by the Yankees after hitting a home run against the Mariners on April 1, 2026. Steven Bisig-Imagn Images I’m hesitant to write on this subject because I know the storm is coming. The Mets, for example, had been relatively healthy from the onset of spring and then in the last week had Jorge Polanco working through Achilles pain, Brett Baty dealing with a jammed thumb and placed Juan Soto on the IL on Monday with a strained calf.
At some point, the Yankees are going to be hit by injury, too.
Yet, one key element to their strong start is that they have not incurred a new IL-level setback since spring training began. They knew when camp opened that Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Anthony Volpe would begin the season on the injured list — and those still are the only four that were there midway through the second week of the regular season.
That stands out, for example, from not only their recent history (and just about every team’s recent history), but also from two of their expected main AL East rivals, the Blue Jays and Orioles, who have taken on key injuries early this season to feed disappointing starts.
