2006
Yankees Spring Training, like all clubs this year, is elongated by the World Baseball Classic. Sponsored by Major League Baseball, the exhibition series is marketed as a vehicle to promote the sport. While it does accomplish that, it also has its detractors who point mainly to the possibility of teams losing key players to injuries while they are away from watchful eyes of the team.
There’s another problem, though, and it surfaced for the first time with the Yankees in 2006. For the next few weeks, the team will be playing their spring schedule without Didi Gregorius and Dellin Betances, who are both participating in the tournament.