By Tomas McDermott & Max Pollio
The Season Recap
This year sure was a doozy for New York baseball. After the Yankees failed to make the playoffs last season, they needed to retool in the offseason. The Yankees’ biggest move was trading for superstar outfielder Juan Soto from the Padres. They had to give up a huge haul of pitchers for him, but the 4-time All-Star has been more than worth it. They also traded for outfielders Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham, who are solid outfield options. In 2023, the Yankees left field was a revolving door, with 10 different players starting in left field. They also added starting pitcher Marcus Stroman in free agency, who was a solid replacement for Michael King.
The Yankees started the season off well, with the team clicking despite ace Gerrit Cole being out until June, and Aaron Judge slumping. Slumping is an understatement for how bad Judge’s season started, with his stats after a May 2nd loss being a .197 batting average with .725 ops. After this point, Judge turned into a machine, owning a .355 batting average, 1.275 ops, and 52 home runs since May 2nd. He was able to turn it around significantly and have what should be his second MVP season.
In June, the Yankees peaked at a 50-22 record, being 3.5 games above the whole American League, and having the most runs scored and least runs allowed on June 14th. After this, the team seemed to fall apart. They kept dropping series after series, including being swept by the little brother Mets twice. Even though Cole coming back should have been beneficial, the rest of the rotation forgot how to pitch once he returned. Cole was pitching poorly himself and looked nothing like the 2023 Cy Young. The seemingly best rotation to start the season had a 5.26 ERA in June, and the offense couldn’t keep up with the other teams scoring. They had a 15-23 record from June 15th-August 1st, which was abysmal considering their strong start. Luckily, the Orioles had been slumping as well, which kept the AL East within reach for the Yankees.
At the trade deadline, they traded for infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr from the Marlins, and relievers Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs and Enyel de Los Santos from the Padres. De Los Santos was a complete flop, as he had a 14 ERA in 5 appearances with the Yankees before being DFA’d two weeks after being traded. Leiter wasn’t much better, with him racking up a near 5 ERA as a Yankee, but at least he was able to stick around for the entire season and playoffs. Chisholm was huge for the Yankees, with him having a .825 ops with the Yankees, and finally providing needed stability at third base.
They were finally able to pull it together in August, going 14-12 and take the division lead back. Cole finally looked like himself, and the team was rolling. They had some occasional games that were abysmal, including a 12-2 loss to a White Sox team that beat the record for most losses in a season. Throughout the season, Clay Holmes blew game after game, amassing a total of 11 blown saves during the season. The final straw was in September when he gave up a walk-off grand slam to rookie Wyatt Langford against the Rangers. After this, manager Aaron Boone decided to have a closer by committee and eventually found a replacement with former journeyman starter Luke Weaver.
With a new closer, the Yankees were able to keep the division lead and secure a playoff berth in mid-September, the division soon after, and then the #1 seed in the American League. Securing the first-round bye was extremely important in making the road to the World Series that much easier. After the Wild Card, they figured out their next opponent: The Royals.
Yankees Game 1
This was quite the ballgame. There were 5 lead changes, with neither team able to keep a dominant lead. The Royals opened the scoring in the second with a Tommy Pham sac fly, but the Yankees responded with Gleyber Torres hitting a two-run shot. Torres has underperformed in a contract year and has a slim chance of being resigned after this season. MJ Melendez hit a 2-run homer for the 3-2 lead, but the Yankees took it back after back-to-back bases loaded walks to make it a 4-3 ballgame. In the top of the 6th, with runners on 2nd and 3rd Garrett Hampson pinch-hit and drove both runners in with a single to take a 5-4 lead. The Yankees tied it back up in the bottom of the inning, with Wells driving in Verdugo with 2 runners on. In the 7th, a Verdugo double brought home Chisholm, giving the Yankees a 6-5 lead. The bullpen was clutch, and Weaver was able to get a 4 out save and secure a 6-5 win.
Yankees Game 2
The Yankees’ offense fell asleep during this game. They opened the scoring in the
4 th inning with Stanton singling to bring home Gleyber. In the 4 th , Rodon broke
down and gave up 4 runs and was pulled. It stayed a 4-1 ballgame until the 9 th ,
when Chisholm Jr. hit a pretty much meaningless home run to make it a 4-2 game,
but nobody else could do anything. There were some good defensive plays for the
Yankees, but it was just a bad game. Giving up a home game always stings in the
playoffs, but they needed to move on to playing at Kauffman.
Yankees Game 3
The game started off scoreless until the 4 th inning, when Soto walked, and Stanton
brought him home with a double. They scored another one in the 5 th , with a Soto
sac fly on bases loaded bringing home Volpe. The Royals answered right back in
the bottom of the inning, with them scoring 2 from an Adam Frazier single, Kyle
Isbel doubling and bringing home Frazier, and a Michael Massey triple to bring
home Isbel. This ended Clarke Schmidt’s night, who was previously pitching a solid
game. In the 6 th , well-known speedster Giancarlo Stanton stole a base, his first
time in 4 years. When I saw this, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. In the 8 th ,
Big G came in clutch, with a go-ahead moonshot gave the Yanks a 3-2 lead.
Stanton has been unreal in the playoffs, with his all-time postseason home run
ratio only trailing one person, the Great Bambino. Weaver was able to get a clutch
2-inning save for a 3-2 win.
Yankees Game 4
The game started with Gleyber doubling, and Soto knocking in a single to bring
him home. In the 5 th inning, with runners on first and third Gleyber singled,
bringing home Verdugo to bring a clutch 2 nd run. A miracle happened, with Judge
finally able to get an extra-base hit, and then scoring from a Stanton single. Cole
had been pitching well up to this point but gave up a run in the 6 th from a Bobby
Witt Jr. single and a Vinnie Pasquantino double. He was able to last another
inning, nearly giving up a game-tying 2 run homer to Isbel. Luckily Soto caught it
at the wall, but it could have been a new ballgame if the wind didn’t keep it in.
Cole ended the day with an impressive 7-inning start of one-run ball. In the 8 th ,
Judge stole 2 bases, but they couldn’t do anything with it. Cardiac Clay was able to
pitch a 1-2-3 in the 8 th , and Weaver came in for his potential third save of the
series. He made light work of the Royals, getting a 1-2-3 with 2 K’s and securing a
3-1 win. Although there were some concerns throughout the series, they were
able to get it done in Kansas City.
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