How do 2018 Yankees compare to 2017 Yankees? ‘We’re a lot better’

Yankees reached the 50-win plateau in their 72nd game by completing a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.

NEW YORK — Yankees reliever Dellin Betances, once again darn-near unhittable after unimaginable struggles, always has been a tell-it-like-it-is guy.

When he stinks on the mound, he says so.

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His honestly came out again Thursday afternoon after his latest lights-out outing, one in which he protected a one-run lead pitching a two-strikeout scoreless eighth inning in the Yankees’ 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.

Standing at his Yankee Stadium locker while dwarfing over a crowd of reporters, the 6-foot-8 righty talked up his powerhouse club, which had just swept three games from a very good Mariners ballclub to improve its best-in-baseball record to 50-22.

Betances had an immediate response when he was asked if he’s already convinced these Yankees are better than the 2017 Yankees, a 91-win team that made the playoffs as an AL Wild Card and then went on a run that ended one win short of a trip to the World Series.

“I would say another year and adding a guy like Giancarlo Stanton … that makes us a lot better,” Betances said. “Obviously Gleyber Torres and (Miguel) Andujar coming up and doing what they’ve been doing … I would say we’re a lot better obviously.”

It does seem obvious.

Although Aaron Judge was homering a little more frequently as a rookie last season and Gary Sanchez’s sophomore season was almost as good as his first, the 2017 Yankees were a lot more inconsistent than this year’s club.

A year ago, the Yankees were 10 wins short of the pace of this year’s club with a 40-32 record after 72 games.

Last season’s Yankees also went through a few tailspins, some lengthy. They were 38-23 at one point, then lost seven in a row and nine of 10. They also lost eight of 12 from Aug. 1-13 and dropped five of seven from Aug. 24-30.

The 2018 Yankees still haven’t lost three in a row, which might be their most amazing stat considering we’re now officially into summer.

“We’re strong,” catcher Austin Romine said. “It’s no secret that we’re strong. We’re pretty deep one through nine in the lineup and the bullpen’s been lights out for us and the starters have been giving up six-seven innings every time they’re going there. You can’t really ask for much more when it’s all rolling.

“You just keep riding that wave.”

The Yankees are hoping they’re still on that wave come October because that’s when we’ll find out if they’re truly a great team. That’s when we’ll find out for sure if they’re better than the 2017 Yankees because no amount of regular-season wins can match playoff success.

But so far, the Yankees are doing everything they can. They’ve won five of seven from the Astros, who beat them in last year’s ALCS on their way to winning the 2017 World Series. They’ve also sweep a three-game series from the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians and they split their first six with the Boston Red Sox, who are just two games back in the AL East.

“We’ve obviously played well and racked up a lot of wins, but you also realize every night how precious those wins are and how hard they are to come by,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I don’t care who we’re playing, but when you look at it, it is gratifying to know that we’ve played pretty well against some of the elite teams and some of the hot teams.

“I think it just speaks to what we believe our team is capable of, and the confidence these guys have no matter who the opponent is.”

The Yankees to a man said in spring training that they were hungry to achieve more this year than the 2017 club, and thus far we’re seeing focus, determination and talent coming out almost every day.

“We know where we rank in the league and we’re excited about it,” Romine said. “Every day we come to the field, we expect to win.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.