Entering the 2018 season, the Yankees made the conscious decision not to bolster their rotation depth. Their top five looked pretty strong, with ace-caliber talents like Luis Severino at the top and solid back-end arms like CC Sabathia and Jordan Montgomery rounding out the group. There wasn’t much backup, though, and when the likes of Montgomery and Masahiro Tanaka went down with injury, the Yankees pressed a variety of young arms into duty.
By the end of the year, the Yankees’ choice not to add more starting pitching looked shaky.