Yankees fans see the Astros bouncing back and causing problems.
The latest edition of the SB Nation Reacts survey is here, and fans have spoken in three very interesting notions.
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in New York Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
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The Yankees are currently one of the very best teams in MLB and arguably the best in the American League. They opened play on Thursday with a 38-19 record and look good, deep, and dangerous.
Most of the teams that were supposed to challenge the Yanks, however, have had disappointing seasons. The Houston Astros are 25-32, the reigning World Series champs, the Texas Rangers, are 27-29, and the Tampa Bay Rays are 28-29. You can go ahead and add the Toronto Blue Jays (26-29) and the Boston Red Sox (28-28) to that group of underachieving foes.
Fans were asked to name which of those rivals is most likely to bounce back and complicate the Yankees’ season (or postseason, potentially), and the results weren’t surprising at all.
Yankees fans may not like the Astros, but they do respect them as an opponent and probably recognize that even though their starting pitching is not particularly deep, their offensive core is virtually the same as ever.
Yordan Álvarez, Kyle Tucker, José Altuve, Jeremy Peña, Alex Bregman, and the rest of their lineup is too good not to rebound at some point. Despite their mediocre record, they are still just 5.5 games back in the AL West and that, at the moment, is still a highly surmountable deficit.
The Rangers and the Rays (14 and 12 percent, respectively) came in second and third in the voting process, and fans just don’t have a lot of faith in the Jays and Sox.
Now, let’s take a look at the MLB-wide polls for the week:
