Audacious observations on the baseball season after just one week:

Shades of the 1954 Cleveland Indians — The Yankees may have the greatest and deepest array of starting pitchers in history

They’ve started the season with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon, their 1-2 starters from last year who earn a combined $63 million, on the injured list and not due back until May, but they have hardly been missed. Instead, led by their new 1-2 starters, Max Fried and Cam Schlittler, Yankee starters had a 0.53 ERA, the lowest ERA in the first six games of the season since 1909 when earned run average became official in both leagues (courtesy of MLB historian/statistician Sarah Langs). Schlittler, who began his second full season penciled in as their No. 3 starter, became the second pitcher in the modern era with 15-plus strikeouts, 0 runs allowed and 3 or fewer baserunners.

But the most intriguing aspect of this Yankee starting pitching is that potential 3-4-5 starters — Carlos Lagrange, Elmer Rodriguez and Ben Hess — all of whom have already proven to have bona fide No. 1-2 stuff, are all on the verge at Triple-A and Double-A and could be knocking on the door when Cole and Rodon come back. Through the years there have been a number of teams with at least three No. 1 starters, but never one like the 1954 Indians who, en route to a then-American League record 111 wins, had three future Hall of Famers — Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Bob Feller — in their rotation and another, Hal Newhouser, as a long reliever, along with Mike Garcia who won 19 games and led the league in ERA (2.64) that year.

For all of David Stearns’ changes, the Mets still appear to have internal issues, rendering Carlos Mendoza ‘The Most Endangered Manager In Baseball’

They opened up 3-4 and didn’t look very good in any of them, particularly the three games in St. Louis when they went 1-for-29 with runners in scoring position, and in last Wednesday’s 11-inning loss in which Francisco Lindor made two costly mental mistakes. As good a player as Lindor is, the media drama surrounding him — not being named captain, friction with Juan Soto, etc. — never seems to end. Stearns’ biggest offseason lineup moves — parting ways with fan favorites Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso — looked ominous after one week.

Only one homer from first base while the Nimmo for Marcus Semien exchange with Texas has started out one sided with Nimmo going 11-for-29 (.379) with a homer, a stolen base and four RBI in his first seven games at the same time Semien struggled mightily in his first week as a Met (6-for-28 and nine strikeouts). I know the baseball people in Texas are thrilled with the deal for a lot of reasons, the least of which they viewed the 35-year-old Semien as a player in sharp decline who also had clubhouse issues, especially with shortstop Corey Seager.

In Stearns’ mind, he did his part to change the clubhouse culture and has sufficiently upgraded the Mets’ starting pitching to make them legitimate World Series contenders. If the Mets’ play continues to too much resemble last year’s, it’s going to be Mendoza (who tellingly was not even consulted on the Nimmo trade) to take the fall.

Believe It Or Not: The 2026 White Sox might actually be worse than the 121-loss team in 2024

In their season-opening six-game road trip, it seemed like White Sox manager Will Venable couldn’t find a single pitcher who could get anyone out — which does not bode well for the continuing rebuild on Chicago’s south side. White Sox pitchers gave up 52 runs (47 earned) in the first six games for an 8.63 ERA — the major league worst by a wide margin (to the Diamondbacks’ 5.25). Biggest culprit was Shane Smith, the White Sox top starter for most last season, who in his first two starts gave up 10 runs in his 4 2/3 innings

Konnor Griffin will be reporting directly to Cooperstown

Quite a debut for the Pirates 19-year-old wunderkind Friday. Down 0-2 in the count to the Orioles’ Kyle Bradish in his first big league at-bat, Griffin rifled a double to left-center and then used his blazing speed to come around and score on Jared Triolo’s ensuing single to right. He later added a walk and even successfully challenged a called third strike call. The ninth overall pick in the 2024 draft, Griffin slashed .333/.415//527 with 21 homers and 65 stolen bases across three levels of the minors last season. After the game, he was set to sign a nine-year, $140 million contract, making him the first teenager ever to sign a $100 million contract.

IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD

In the opinion of this admitted old school baseball purist, the new ABS automated ball-strike challenge system is a smashing success. Technologically the challenge results are almost immediate and the fans are loving it. More importantly the ABS is providing real accountability for umpires. MLB has had a ratings system for umpires for years, but never reveals them. Although everyone in baseball pretty much knows who the worst umpires are, they are never fired or demoted. Ever since arriving in the majors in 1996, C.B. Bucknor consistently ranked as the worst umpire in baseball which is why he’s never been promoted to a crew chief and has never been assigned to an League Championship Series or a World Series. But during the first week of the challenge system, Bucknor’s incompetence was on display for everyone to see as six of his eight challenged calls last Saturday in the Reds-Red Sox game were overturned and then the next day from the bases he egregiously blew a checked swing call on Boston’s Trevor Story that resulted in an ejection of Sox manager Alex Cora. Then last Tuesday in the Brewers-Rays game, Bucknor blew a call at first base that was so obviously wrong, both managers could be seen laughing at the replay on the scoreboard. The next day Bucknor was hit in the mask by a foul tip and was forced to leave the game. MLB should use that as a reason to have Bucknor retire and save them from any further embarrassment thanks to ABS.