The Yankees are back in the World Series for the first time in 15 years after New York (AL) defeated the Guardians in five games. Now, a Fall Classic with the Dodgers awaits. The 2024 AL pennant for the Yankees marks the culmination of several big moves, as well as smaller ones, that paid for the American League champions.
A Pair of Blockbuster Trades
Since the 2017 season, the Yankees have been hellbent on adding bats to support homegrown star Aaron Judge. The Yankees’ front office added former MVP Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins in 2018 and this past December, Juan Soto. Needless to say, both moves worked out.
Stanton continued his excellence in the playoffs this October, as he hit five home runs over the first two rounds, tied for first in the Majors during the playoffs. Four of those five came in the ALCS and almost all of those home runs came at pivotal times. A case in point was in Game 5, when Stanton hit a hanging slider off Tanner Bibee to tie the game.
Stanton won the 2024 ALCS MVP award.
Juan Soto, meanwhile, hit arguably one of the biggest postseason home runs in Yankees history — and that’s saying something — in extra innings, a three-run home run in Game 5 to send New York to the Fall Classic.
Both Stanton and Soto gave Judge and the rest of the Yankees’ offense much-needed protection. Protection that Judge hasn’t had his whole career.
Look, Judge didn’t have a great run leading up to the World Series. Although, he hit two massive home runs against Cleveland, shaking off the bad vibes despite an overall slash line of .161/.317/.387 over nine games. But, it’s nearly impossible to task one star to get a team to the World Series.
Let’s go back in time two years. During the 2022 ALCS, the Yankees hit a combined .162/.232/.269 in the Astros’ four-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers. Judge went 1-16 with four strikeouts and Houston pitched around him all series. Astros pitchers threw 92 of the 165 pitches (55.7%) Judge saw in that series out of the zone, 14 of which resulted in whiffs.
Houston could afford to do that with Judge in 2022. The reality is that while the Yankees did have hitters, like Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, and a scorching-hot Harrison Bader, in their lineup who could do damage, their depth then is nothing like what New York (AL) has now.
Add a healthy Stanton with Juan Soto, a surging Gleyber Torres who is 11-37 in the postseason, Austin Wells, and Anthony Volpe, it’s a very different team compared to past years.
Strong Pitching — and an Unheralded Pickup
The Yankees had the pitching depth heading into October. Yes, Luis Gil — who didn’t have his A-stuff in Game 4 of the ALCS — threw more innings than ever before in 2024. However, the Yankees’ trio of Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Gerrit Cole did enough to get the Yankees to the World Series.
Gerrit Cole got hit around in the ALCS, including five hard-hit balls in Game 2, but did enough to keep the Yankees up in the game. The same could said for Clarke Schmidt. Carlos Rodon, meanwhile, struck out nine in Game 1 and looked arguably the best out of their four starters in the ALCS.
Cole and Rodon, the latter of whom signed in December 2022, were both marquee pickups for the Yankees several moons ago. New York paid those two to come through in October, and that’s exactly what happened in 2024.
However, quite possibly their biggest pitching pickup over the last two seasons was reliever Luke Weaver.
Weaver had mixed success as a starter from 2016-23 but did throw well for the Yanks later in 2023. New York brought him back last winter and moved him to the bullpen. The results were excellent.
The 31-year-old worked with a simplified arsenal, ditching the slider and largely avoiding his knuckle-curve. Weaver stuck with his four-seamer that played up out of the pen, along with a cutter and dancing changeup. That changeup recorded a 48.0% Whiff% rate this season and used it against both lefties and righties.
Weaver took over the closer’s role from Clay Holmes late in the 2024 campaign and despite some hiccups in the ALCS, has been excellent in it by and large.
Taking Advantage of Their Competition
The vast majority — if not all — of teams that make the World Series usually have things go just right for them. The same can be said for the Yankees, who faced two AL Central teams — the Royals in the DS and Cleveland in the CS — with flaws.
The Royals had one of the game’s best in Bobby Witt Jr. in their lineup, plus a fantastic rotation. Kansas City’s pitching staff did a good job of styming the Yankees’ offense, limiting New York to three or fewer runs in three of the four games. The problem for the Royals, though, was their offense wasn’t deep enough to crack through the Yankees’ pitching staff.
Given the Royals had just four above-average hitters on their roster per OPS+, that shouldn’t have come as a shock.
As for the Guardians, the Yankees benefitted from imploding performances from Emmnauel Clase and an average rotation on paper. Not to mention, Cleveland was a team that New York took advantage at the plate.
Yankees pitchers threw 200 pitches out of the zone, 104 of which were whiffed at. Cleveland has long been an aggressive team at the dish, as the Guardians finished fifth in Chase% (30.4%) this season. Just three of those pitches were well-hit and eight resulted in hits.
What to Expect in the Fall Classic
The Yankees now face the Dodgers in the World Series. The Dodgers took two of three from the Yankees in the regular season.
Aside from the hype surrounding an Ohtani-Judge matchup, it’s also a test to see which of the two teams aced the offseason. Both teams added arguably the two biggest available names in Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto.
New York has the advantage — at least on paper — in the rotation. However, their pitching staff will be tasked with stopping a Dodgers lineup that hit 20 home runs over the first two rounds.
That won’t be an easy task, especially since New York has just one lefty starter and two left-handed relievers to silence Ohtani. But if the Yankees will keep the Dodgers off the board, it’ll be through changing speeds and keeping them off balance.
As for the Yankees’ offense, their bats didn’t get a look at Jack Flaherty this season. They did see Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who twirled seven scoreless against the Bronx Bombers on June 7. Both Flaherty and Yamamoto are among the better pitchers in terms of getting batters to chase. However, the Yankees chased the least in the regular season (24.7%) this year and were disciplined in the postseason up to this point.
Staying patient will be key for the Yankees’ offense.