The Evil Empire

[LopaKa]

16 years ago, the Yankees signed Jose Contreras, and the 'Evil Empire' was born

By Chris Landers, mlb.com/cut4

New York had just been bounced in the ALDS by the Angels, the first time they'd missed the World Series since 1997. The team's response? First, they signed Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui. The real prize, though, was Jose Contreras -- a 31-year-old righty regarded by just about everybody as one of the best pitchers to ever come out of Cuba -- and George Steinbrenner wasn't about to take no for an answer. "He told his people, 'Lose Contreras and you're done,'" a source told the New York Times.

Sure enough, The Boss got his man -- to the tune of four years and $32 million. Contreras' deal took New York's already massive payroll into the stratosphere -- $158 million to be exact, easily the highest in baseball and far above the luxury tax threshold of $117 million.

As for the team New York outbid for Contreras' services? None other than the Boston Red Sox, who had finished second to the Yankees in the AL East for five consecutive seasons. Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, frustrated at watching New York throw a fortune at yet another marquee name, had had enough. When the New York Times reached him for comment on the signing, he initially declined. And then, well, he changed his mind: "No, I'll make a comment," Lucchino said. "The evil empire extends its tentacles even into Latin America." And just like that, a nickname was born.

Game: MLB The Show 18

Rosters: OSFM v1.5

Difficulty: Hall of Fame

Season Length: 162 Games

[LopaKa]

New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays
Series Recap: Series #1 -- Games 1, 2, 3, 4


GAME #1


Giancarlo Stanton knocked two homers in his Yankee debut

New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays
Mar 29, 2018	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (1-0)	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	0	2	10	17	0
Toronto (0-1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
W: Luis Severino (1-0) L: Marcus Stroman (0-1)

New York Yankees
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Ellsbury, CF	6	1	3	1	0	1	0	.500
Gardner, DH	4	0	0	1	0	1	0	.000
Sanchez, C	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	.200
Judge, RF	5	2	2	3	0	0	1	.400
Stanton, LF	5	3	3	3	0	0	2	.600
Walker, 2B	4	1	3	1	1	1	0	.750
Gregorius, SS	5	1	3	0	0	1	0	.600
Drury, 3B	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	.200
Bird, 1B	5	1	1	1	0	2	0	.200
BATTING: 2B: Judge, Walker, Gregorius HR: Judge (1), Stanton (2) RBI: Ellsbury, Gardner, Judge (3), Stanton (3), Walker, Bird HBP: Gardner SF: Gardner

Toronto Blue Jays
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Travis, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Hernandez, CF	3	0	1	0	1	1	0	.333
Donaldson, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	.000
Smoak, 1B	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
Solarte, DH	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	.666
Grichuk, RF	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Granderson, LF	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
Tulowitzki, SS	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000
Martin, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
BATTING: GIDP: Donaldson, Grichuk
FIELDING: E: Tulowitzki

New York Yankees
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Severino (W, 1-0)	9.0	3	0	0	2	11	0	0.00
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	3	0	0	2	11	0	0.00

Toronto Blue Jays
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Stroman (L, 0-1)	6.0	6	3	3	0	4	2	4.50
Tepera	1.0	6	5	5	1	1	1	45.00
Barnes	2.0	5	2	1	0	2	0	4.50
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	17	10	9	1	7	3

GAME #2


Brandon Drury drove in the game-winning RBI in the 10th inning

New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays
Mar 30, 2018	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Extras	R	H	E
New York (2-0)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	11	0
Toronto (0-2)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
W: Chad Green (1-0) L: Tyler Clippard (0-1) S: Aroldis Chapman (1)

New York Yankees
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Ellsbury, CF	4	0	0	0	1	1	0	.300
Gardner, DH	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	.111
Sanchez, C	5	1	3	0	0	0	0	.400
Judge, RF	5	0	2	1	0	1	0	.400
Stanton, LF	3	0	0	0	2	1	0	.375
Walker, 2B	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	.428
1-Torreyes, PR-2B	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
Gregorius, SS	5	0	2	0	0	1	0	.500
Drury, 3B	4	0	2	1	0	0	0	.333
Bird, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.111
BATTING: 2B: Judge RBI: Judge, Drury GIDP: Sanchez, Stanton

Toronto Blue Jays
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Travis, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.125
Hernandez, CF	4	1	1	0	0	2	0	.285
Donaldson, 3B	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	.250
Smoak, 1B	3	0	0	1	0	1	0	.000
Solarte, DH	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	.500
Grichuk, RF	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000
Granderson, LF	3	0	0	0	1	3	0	.000
Tulowitzki, SS	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Martin, C	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
BATTING: RBI: Smoak SF: Smoak GIDP: Grichuk, Tulowitzki
BASERUNNING: SB: Hernandez

New York Yankees
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Tanaka	7.0	4	1	1	2	7	0	1.28
Green (W, 1-0)	2.0	1	0	0	1	2	0	0.00
Chapman (S, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

Toronto Blue Jays
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Sanchez	8.0	5	0	0	2	4	0	0.00
Osuma (BS, 1)	1.0	3	1	1	1	1	0	9.00
Clippard (L, 0-1)	1.0	3	1	1	1	1	0	9.00

Game #3


Aaron Judge hits his second home run of the season

New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays
Mar 31, 2018	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (3-0)	0	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	7	0
Toronto (0-3)	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	9	0
W: Sonny Gray (1-0) L: J.A. Happ (0-1) S: Aroldis Chapman (2)

New York Yankees
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Torreyes, DH	3	0	2	0	2	0	0	.750
Gregorius, SS	5	1	0	1	0	2	0	.333
Sanchez, C	5	0	0	0	0	5	0	.266
Judge, RF	4	1	1	2	0	1	1	.357
Stanton, LF	3	0	1	0	0	2	0	.363
Walker, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.272
Drury, 3B	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	.333
Hicks, CF	3	1	1	0	1	2	0	.333
Bird, 1B	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	.166
BATTING: 2B: Bird HR: Judge, Drury RBI: Gregorius, Judge (2), Drury, Bird HBP: Stanton SAC: Bird

Toronto Blue Jays
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Travis, 2B	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	.153
Hernandez, CF	4	1	1	0	0	1	0	.272
Donaldson, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	3	0	.250
Smoak, 1B	4	1	2	0	0	1	0	.200
Solarte, DH	4	0	1	1	0	1	0	.400
Grichuk, RF	3	0	1	0	1	1	0	.111
Granderson, LF	3	0	1	1	1	1	0	.111
Tulowitzki, SS	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
Martin, C	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	.090
BATTING: 2B: Grichuk RBI: Solarte, Granderson GIDP: Hernandez

New York Yankees
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Gray (W, 1-0)	5.1	6	2	2	0	8	0	3.37
Betances (H, 1)	1.2	2	0	0	2	3	0	0.00
Kahnle (H, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Chapman (S, 2)	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0.00

Toronto Blue Jays
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Happ (L, 0-1)	4.0	7	5	5	0	4	2	11.25
Ramirez	3.0	0	0	0	1	6	0	0.00
Tepera	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	22.50
Barnes	0.1	0	0	0	3	0	0	3.85
Clippard	0.2	0	0	0	0	2	0	5.40

Game #4


Jordan Montgomery pitched a gem, throwing a complete game with 9 strikeouts and 2 earned runs

New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays
Mar 31, 2018	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (4-0)	1	0	3	0	4	0	0	0	0	8	12	0
Toronto (0-4)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	1
W: Jordan Montomery (1-0) L: Marco Estrada (0-1)

New York Yankees
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Ellsbury, CF	5	2	3	1	0	1	0	.400
Gardner, DH	5	2	2	0	0	0	0	.214
Sanchez, C	2	1	1	5	0	0	1	.294
Judge, RF	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.277
Stanton, LF	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	.400
Walker, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.200
Gregorius, SS	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.263
Drury, 3B	4	1	3	1	0	0	1	.437
Bird, 1B	3	2	1	1	1	0	1	.200
BATTING: 2B: Ellsbury, Stanton HR: Sanchez, Drury, Bird RBI: Ellsbury, Sanchez (5), Drury, Bird SF: Sanchez (2) GIDP: Ellsbury

Toronto Blue Jays
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Pillar, CF	4	1	2	0	0	1	0	.500
Travis, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.117
Donaldson, 3B	4	1	1	1	0	0	1	.250
Smoak, 1B	4	0	1	1	0	1	0	.214
Morales, DH	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Tulowitzki, SS	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
Pearce, LF	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Grichuk, RF	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.166
Martin, C	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.142
BATTING: 2B: Pillar, Grichuk HR: Donaldson RBI: Donaldson, Smoak GIDP: Travis, Donaldson

New York Yankees
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Montgomery (W, 1-0)	9.0	6	2	2	0	9	1	2.00

Toronto Blue Jays
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Estrada (L, 0-1)	4.0	8	7	7	1	4	2	15.75
Tepera	2.0	3	1	1	0	1	1	13.50
Clippard	2.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2.45
Loup	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

[LopaKa]

Tampa Bay Rays @ New York Yankees
Game Recap: Series #2 -- Game #5


GAME #5


After falling behind 0-3 early on, Greg Bird answered with a 2-run homer


Giancarlo Stanton tied the game in the 3rd inning with a 446-foot solo home run


Brett Gardner hit his first HR of the season, a 2-run shot to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead


Stanton gave New York an insurance run in the 7th with his 2nd HR of the game

[LopaKa]

Tampa Bay Rays @ New York Yankees
Game Recap: Series #2 -- Game #6








Gary Sanchez throws out Mallex Smith in the 1st inning



Giancarlo Stanton hit his 3rd home run in the past two games, putting New York up 1-0. His five home runs this season leads the league



Adeiny Hechavarría hits his first home run of the campaign, a grand slam to give the Rays a 4-2 lead



Gary Sanchez helps the Yankees get within 2 thanks to his solo home run in the 5th inning



Jacoby Ellsbury gets his first home run of the year to make it a 1-run game in the 7th



Aaron Judge drills a 3-run homer to give the Yankees a 7-5 lead



Sanchez hits his second home run of the day, a 3-run shot to put the Yankees up by six

[LopaKa]

Game Recap: Series #3 -- Game #7
Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees







Masahiro Tanaka started the game red hot, recording six strike outs in the first three innings



Aaron Judge is safe at home after an Adam Jones fielding error led to an inside the park home run




Manny Machado gets the best of Tanaka and hits a grand slam to give the O's a 4-1 lead in the 6th




Gary Sanchez makes things a little more manageable with an RBI-double



Trey Mancini gives the O's an insurance run in the 9th with his 2nd home run of the season



Giancarlo Stanton struggled in the Yankees first loss of the year, going 0-for-4 with 3 strike outs

[LopaKa]

Game Recap: Series #3 -- Game #8
Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees







Coming into the game, Gary Sanchez is 2nd in the league with 10 RBI's




Aaron Judge hit an RBI-double in the 4th, which was followed by two consecutive RBI ground outs to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead



The Orioles have been completely shut down by Sonny Gray through seven innings




Sonny Gray pitched an absolute gem, not allowing a single run while striking out nine batters. He improves to 2-0 on the year.

[LopaKa]

The Yankees have been one of the hottest teams in the league through the first two weeks of the year. They lead the league in many statistical categories, but their success is mostly due to their hot bats and strong pitching.

[LopaKa]

Game Recap: Series #3 -- Game #9
Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees







Manny Machado makes a beautiful diving catch to rob Aaron Judge of a lead-off single in the 2nd inning



Gary Sanchez drills his 4th dinger of the year, a 426-footer in the 4th inning to give the Yankees the 1-0 lead



Colby Rasmus has struggled, recording only his 5th hit in 28 at bats to start the year, but it was an RBI single to tie the game in the 5th



In the next half inning, Giancarlo Stanton made solid contact on a fast ball and drilled it for a solo home run to put New York up 2-1






Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner hit back-to-back homers with 2 outs in the 5th to extend their lead to five

[johnstone1987]

Re: The Evil Empire

Great start bro 8-1

[LopaKa]

Re: The Evil Empire

Great start bro 8-1

appreciate that bro, i'm enjoying your Pirates/Mariners chise!

[johnstone1987]

Re: The Evil Empire

appreciate that bro, i'm enjoying your Pirates/Mariners chise!

Awesome thank you for the kind words hope you keep following along!

[LopaKa]

Game Recap: Series #3 -- Game #10
Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees













With Brandon Drury resting, Top 10 prospect Gleyber Torres gets his first career start at 3B



Both teams are scoreless through the first five innings thanks to tremendous pitching and great defensive plays like this diving catch by Didi Gregorious



Gleyber Torres records his first career MLB hit in the sixth inning



Dellin Betances replaced starter C.C. Sabathia and retired all eight batters he faced, recording three strike outs





In the top of the 9th, with 2 outs, Beckham doubled to right, Jones singled to left, and Rasmus reached first on a fielding error by Gregorius, bringing home the game's only run thus far





With their backs against the wall, Judge singled, Stanton doubled, and Greg Bird hit a sac-fly to drive in the tying run





Adam Warren came in and gave up the game-winning home run to Tim Beckham, who had himself a huge game going 4-for-5, with a home run and 2 doubles

[LopaKa]

Game Recap: Series #4 -- Game #11
New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox







Things got going early for the Yankees, as Sanchez singled and Judge hit a 2-run homer with 2 outs in the first inning



Second baseman Neil Walker makes a sensational diving catch to end a Red Sox rally



With two outs in the third inning, J.D. Martinez took a high fastball into the stands for a go ahead 3-run homer



Aaron Judge answered right back with a solo home run in the next half inning, his second of the game




After a ground rule double by Brett Gardner, the Yankees took the lead back thanks to an RBI-single by Aaron Judge, his 3rd hit of the game and 4th RBI



Gardner gets to first safely in the ninth for an RBI-single




Gary Sanchez nails a 3-RBI double to give the Yankees some breathing room

[LopaKa]

Game Recap: Series #4 -- Game #12
New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox









Gleyber Torres hit a lead-off single, Didi Gregorius doubled, Aaron Judge hit a sac-fly RBI, then Giancarlo Stanton followed with an RBI-single to left field




Stanton hits a solo home run off the foul pole to extend the Yankees lead to three



Masahiro Tanaka sat down eleven straight batters and recorded five strike outs




Aaron Hicks adds some insurance for the Yankees with a 2-RBI double in the 6th



Aroldis Chapman came in and recorded the final five outs to record his 4th save of the year



The Yankees improve to 10-2 and become the first team to reach 10 wins this season

[Stout]

Re: The Evil Empire

Great to see Giancarlo and Judge mashing it for you. What's your plan with Gleyber since he's already up in the big leagues? Is it try to start him as much as you can and see how it goes?