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| The Yankees celebrating ALDS Success (Photo Credit: NY Daily News) |
Yankees Advance to Next Round by Royally Winning…
The Yankees are back where they belong…the American League Championship Series. The Yankees have made more ALCS appearances than any other American League club. Their total of nineteen appearances leads the Boston Red Sox, the team with the second most, by seven. The team is 11-7 in the eighteen completed championship series. They have won fifty total ALCS games, leading Boston by eighteen wins. Unfortunately, the Yankees have not won the ALCS since 2009 despite appearances in 2010, 2012, 2017, 2019, and 2022. The sixth time is a charm!
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| Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, & Jazz Chisholm, Jr (Photo Credit: NY Post/Charles Wenzelberg) |
The Yankees now await the winner of the deadlocked ALDS battle between the Cleveland Guardians and the Detroit Tigers. On Saturday, they will play their winner-take-all ALDS Game 5 finale in Cleveland, Ohio. If the Tigers advance (likely…considering Tarik Skubal will be on the mound), the Yankees will get a chance to avenge the ALCS sweep by the Tigers in 2012. Cleveland last advanced to the World Series in 2016 before they made Anthony Rizzo and his then-Cubs teammates immortal in Chicago for the rest of their lives.
I do not care who the Yankees face. To be the best, you beat the best, so let the best team emerge from the final ALDS, whichever team that may be. Not that facing an awakening Jose Ramirez would be fun, but trust the men in Pinstripes. If the Yankees are the best team, they will beat whoever shows up for Game 1 of the ALCS in the Bronx.
With no disrespect to Captain Aaron Judge, the Yankees are in the ALCS, thanks primarily to Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole, Gleyber Torres, Luke Weaver, and Jon Berti. Berti’s name looks like an outcast in this group, but he stepped in and did an admirable job at first base for a non-first baseman. He could have quickly (and excusably, without experience) butchered the position. Clay Holmes was dominant in his new bullpen role. I am happy that he has rediscovered magic, but it does not mean that I would want him to reclaim his old job as the closer. I am 100% behind Luke Weaver and his quirky personality, zany sense of humor, and electric arm as the team’s designated closer. I was a little surprised in the offseason when the Yankees re-signed Weaver. I had no complaints about his work last year, but I thought the pitcher and the team would part ways in the offseason. There was nothing special about his 2023 performance, at least not what stood out to make him a “must sign” player. Yet, he stepped up to fill a tremendous void in the bullpen, first through setup and, lastly, through the back end of games. People say the Yankees should sign Kenley Jansen this winter through free agency. I like Kenley, even if he has many miles on his arm, but Weaver should be the man until he proves he cannot sustain the position. In other words, I would rather have Weaver over Jansen or virtually any other potential replacement. If the Yankees had a chance for an elite closer, Weaver should not stand in their way, but I do not believe the current Yankees regime will pay top dollar for the bullpen like they once did. So, the combination of the team’s current fiscal conservatism in the bullpen and Weaver’s emergence led me to believe Weaver was the right man at the right time.
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| Oswaldo Cabrera & Luke Weaver (Photo Credit: AP Photo/Adam Hunger) |
It is too early to talk about next season, but I hope the Yankees can find it in their budget to sign Gleyber Torres to a new contract. He took so much heat early in the season, and a poll of Yankees fans would have favored letting him go in free agency. But his placement atop the batting order later in the regular season coincided with a resurgence that has made him a vital player for October. He will always botch a routine play now and again, but even the great and legendary Derek Jeter was not immune from making those. The hustle concerns are correctable, and he has shown improvement. Players like Aaron Judge help to elevate Gleyber’s play and performance. The body of work, at least what Gleyber showed over the second half of the season, warrants his return.
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| Gleyber Torres (Photo Credit: Brad Penner/Imagn Images) |
Caleb Durbin may be an All-Star second baseman one day. Good for him. He has yet to prove it at the Major League level. Gleyber is playing like he wants to be the team’s starting second baseman today, tomorrow, and next year. Let him. If he suddenly becomes Daniel Jones after he gets the big money, that is the risk you face with anybody. If it happens, the team will have to deal with it at that time, but it should not stop the team from bringing him back based on what he currently means to the organization and the players he has gone to war with. Juan Soto will be a Yankee next season if the team pays him the most money in free agency, yet I think how they treat other players, like Gleyber, in the offseason will draw Soto’s attention. If Gleyber is treated poorly, it could be a deciding factor if, for example, the Yankees and Mets offered the same amount of money, causing Soto to jump to Queens. That might be an unlikely scenario, but Soto cares about his friends.
There were times this season when Gerrit Cole disappointed me. His late start out of the gate for health reasons (not his fault) was the primary cause. He certainly was not the ace he was in 2023 when he won the AL Cy Young Award, but he showed up for the series clincher against the Kansas City Royals. That is why he is paid big bucks. I always fear a Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde performance by any pitcher, ala Carlos Rodón, but Cole brought his “A” game (despite tiring late) when it mattered most. I am sure I will have anxiety in his upcoming starts, but he did what he needed to do against the Royals. I hope it continues when he faces either the Guardians or the Tigers.
I hope we get the best of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto for the ALCS. I am happy when the team wins, regardless of who makes the necessary hits, plays, and pitches, but the world is a better place when Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are the Kings of the World. For Judge’s Yankees legacy, I want to see him come up huge in the postseason. Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera will forever be remembered for what they did in October. Judge will never match their number of rings, although I certainly would not complain if he did, but he can make a name for himself in the franchise’s long history of postseason success. He is in a position that the great Don Mattingly could never reach. I loved Mattingly as a Yankee and feel the same about Judge. I do not want to see Judge come up short and never experience the feeling of being a World Champion in Pinstripes.
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| Aaron Judge (Photo Credit: NY Daily News) |
Is this the year we can quit talking about 2009? I hope so. Keep it going, guys. Eight more wins to your destiny.
As always, Go Yankees!
