Spring Training performances will play a key role in Aaron Boone‘s decision on how to set up theNew York Yankees‘ starting rotation for the first two weeks of the 2026 MLB season, especially with at least two of their top pitchers sidelined or recovering.
A somewhat slow start for the Yankees
The New York Yankees open the season on March 25 and will have off days on the traditional MLB Opening Day (March 26) as well as March 29. This means they’ll play three games over five days, with travel from San Francisco to Seattle.
New York’s early MLB schedule is quite unusual: they debut on March 25 but sit out the standard Opening Day on March 26.
This setup poses a challenge for manager Aaron Boone, who wants to avoid giving his starters excessively long rests, as continuity is crucial in Major League Baseball. For example, ace Max Fried can’t pitch once, get five days off, then wait another seven days for his next start.
The top options in the Yankees rotation currently appear to be Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, and Will Warren, while Ryan Weathers and Luis Gil have shown struggles in spots during Spring Training.
During a full MLB season, teams often feel fortunate to get even one off day per week. However, the Yankees’ 2026 schedule gives them a notably relaxed opening stretch with multiple built-in breaks in the early weeks.
Reports indicate Max Fried will start on Opening Day (March 25 at San Francisco), with Cam Schlittler likely following in the next game of that series. This would position Will Warren as the probable starter for the series finale, while Ryan Weathers could make his Yankees debut in the first matchup against the Seattle Mariners.
Under normal circumstances, the team would turn to Luis Gil for the fifth spot in the rotation. But that alignment would give Fried a full five days of rest, so Boone might opt to repeat his ace in the second game of the Seattle Mariners series and then bring back Schlittler to close it out-effectively using a four-man rotation approach early on to maintain rhythm.
Once the series in Seattle wraps, the Yankees get another off day. They then host the Miami Marlins for a three-game series and have yet another rest on April 6 before facing the Oakland Athletics.
From that point, the schedule ramps up significantly with 13 straight games, so Luis Gil will need to be ready to make his 2026 season debut and help stabilize the Yankees pitching staff as workloads increase.
Spring Training results-particularly how pitchers like Gil, Weathers, and the rest of the Yankees rotation candidates perform-could still shift these plans. But the early MLB off days give Aaron Boone valuable flexibility to prioritize pitcher health, rotation rhythm, and early-season performance.
Read the full article here
