The Yankees held their annual team bonding event on Friday. Players wrapped up their workouts early and moved into a pavilion tent next to the practice fields. Aaron Boone and the rest of the coaches constructed a March Madness-style, 64-person ping pong tournament.
The team has held this type of event every year for a while now. It is a good opportunity for returning players to reacquaint with one another and for new players to get to know their new teammates. One of the new guys is Gerrit Cole. “It’s a cool environment for everybody to disarm them a little bit,” the $324 million man said.