The Yankees’ season will depend on Gerrit Cole

Throughout the 2025 season, whether in the regular season or the playoffs, things did not go very well for the New York Yankees against the Toronto Blue Jays.

While there are many reasons for this slump, one of them is certainly the loss of former Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole, who is undoubtedly the ace pitcher in the Bombers' rotation. Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, and young Cam Schlittler tried their best to hold down the fort, but it wasn't enough.

With Carlos Rodón & Gerrit Cole working their way back to the rotation, the @Yankees are feeling good about how their staff looks heading into Spring Training.

https://t.co/iXax8hx4iO pic.twitter.com/oWgcsCuguX

— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) February 8, 2026

The last time the Yankees saw Cole on the mound was in 2024, when he posted a minuscule 0.71 ERA in two World Series starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 35-year-old then underwent Tommy John surgery last March and missed the entire 2025 season. Perhaps if Cole had been healthy, the Yankees would have won the division title and home-field advantage against the Blue Jays. The entire complexion of that series could have changed. We'll never know.

What we do know, however, is that the Yankees' next campaign will depend largely on Cole's performance on the mound. One of the big questions will be what the pitcher will look like when he returns to the game, which is impossible to predict.

But the biggest question won't be about the regular season, because in the Bronx, it's October that counts. In fact, in twelve playoff games with the Yankees, Cole has a 2.93 earned run average.

And it's that same level of performance that will need to be replicated for them to return to their 2024 standards.

This content was created with the help of AI.