About Last Night: Yanks Clinch First World Series Berth In 15 Years!

By Andy Singer

October 20th, 2024

The Big Story

For the first time in 15 years, the Yankees have a chance to win the last game of the season. I've been writing about the Yankees and baseball more generally on the internet for 8 years, and in that time, I haven't been able to write about Yankees baseball after the League Championship series, so this is entirely new territory for me. Because it's the Yankees, we couldn't have a stress free night in which we reveled in the team's dominance; no, they made us sweat right up to the bitter end of the ALCS. For those of us who made it to the end, we got a real treat in watching the Yanks knock Cleveland off with a 5-2 win in 10 innings.

The first inning was truly a bad omen, one the Yankees were luckily able to overcome. Gleyber Torres continued his excellent hitting at the top of the order with a hard single to lead off the game. Soto followed with a booming double on the very next pitch, and by all appearances, the Yankees were in business. However, 3rd Base Coach Luis Rojas decided to send Gleyber around from 3rd base with no outs. Granted, it took a perfect, laser beam throw from Gimenez at 2B on the relay to nab Torres at home, but anyone who's watched Gleyber run this season could have told you that the smart play was to hold him up. Watching Gleyber get thrown out at home just as the Yankees seemed to take the bull by the horns offensively really took the wind out of the team's sails right at the start of the game. I don't blame Gleyber here; he followed the direction of the 3rd Base Coach, who has so often been wrong this season (seriously, is it a requirement for Yankee 3rd base coaches under Aaron Boone to have no awareness on send/hold plays at 3rd base?!?!). This play proved to be pivotal, regardless of whether or not the Yankees overcame it. It's entirely likely that this game wouldn't have moved on to extra innings had Gleyber been held at 3rd base. The Yankees should have been in position to score in the first inning, but came away with nothing.

To add injury to insult, Judge got absolutely drilled by a 95 MPH sinker in his ribs in the following at-bat. Judge struggled thereafter, going 0-4 with 2 Ks, and you can't tell me that he wasn't affected by the HBP. You could see Judge wince before swings, and to my eye, it didn't look like he was holding his hands as high at the plate the rest of the night. I think he'll be quite happy to get a few days off before the start of the World Series on Friday.

Carlos Rodon started off much the way his other playoff games have started: with total domination. Rodon had his best stuff working early, with 2 strikeouts and a groundout in the first inning. Further pitching would show that while his stuff was great, he probably had just his C+/B- command, but he battled hard. Prior to the 5th inning, the only ding against Rodon was a tough stretch against the Naylor brothers, who created a run by themselves in the 2nd inning with Josh reaching on an infield single and later scoring on brother Bo's two-out double. In between, Rodon tallied another couple of strikeouts.

The stat sheet for Rodon won't look that impressive, but he largely did the job he needed to do. It was reasonably clear to me that Rodon was told he'd be on a short leash, as he clearly started to empty the tank in the 5th inning with his fastball velocity spiking close to triple digits. Rodon struck out 2 in the 5th, but multiple instances of soft contact kept the inning going and added another run to Rodon's final line. Rodon left after 4.2 innings and a 2-0 deficit, but it really wasn't fair to Rodon as he was mostly excellent. Rodon finished with 6 Ks while scattering 5 hits and a walk.

Mark Leiter Jr., who wasn't on the roster until Game 4 of this series, came into the game's most pivotal pitching moment for the Yankees. Rodon left with 2 runners on and 2 outs in the fifth inning, and Boone had Jose Ramirez intentionally walked to load the bases. Leiter showed real guts with a first pitch curveball to Lane Thomas that he weakly grounded to Torres to end the inning. The Yanks played the match-ups the rest of the way, so Leiter only got one more out, but getting that last out in the 5th inning really stabilized the game for the Yanks.

The Yankee bullpen was again outstanding the rest of the way, chucking 5.1 innings of no-run ball. It's truly incredible that a group all of us were worried about has been this good. I'm fine with looking wrong if they keep performing like this.

The rock solid bullpen held the game together for the 2nd biggest offensive moment the team has had in the playoffs this year. Torres and Soto again did their thing at the top of the order in the 6th inning, only for Judge to ground into a double-play, though Torres was still on-base with Stanton at the plate. Stanton worked a 6-pitch at-bat with Tanner Bibee, falling behind 0-2 initially on a couple of ugly swings. However, it was almost as though Stanton baited Bibee with his first swing at the slider that was way outside, as Bibee tried to get him to chase multiple times thereafter, and ultimately fell into a 3-2 count. Bibee threw the slider in the strike zone, and Stanton didn't miss. He hit a 117.5 MPH laser into left-center that cleared the fence by a mile to tie the game at 2-all. I love Stanton, and he always hits when healthy. He's clearly healthy now, and he's performing when the Yankees need him most.

The Yankee bullpen worked into and out of trouble in the 7th and 8th, but got some good defense behind them (shout out to Oswaldo Cabrera at 1B, who looked like he's played the position his whole life). The game remained tied until the 10th inning, when the Yanks won the game in heroic fashion. Torres and Wells reached base to begin the inning, though Cleveland should have gotten at least one out on Torres' groundball that was thrown away by SS Rocchio. Juan Soto worked a 7-pitch at-bat before ultimately taking a high fastball just over the wall in CF for a 3-run homer. It was the biggest moment of the season so far, by far. From there it was easy for Luke Weaver to hold it in his 2nd inning of work, and the Yankees got to celebrate.

Notable Performances

Carlos Rodon - 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 K, 5 H, 1 BB

Gleyber Torres - 2-5, 1 R

Juan Soto - 3-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R

Giancarlo Stanton - 1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R, 3 K

The Bullpen - 5.1, 0 ER, 5 K, 2 H, 4 BB

Better To Forget

Aaron Judge - 0-4, 2 K, and a rib bruise

My Take

I've waited so long for the Yankees to reach the World Series. For once, I almost have nothing more to say. Unlike TBS' broadcasters, I think the right thing to do is let the moment breathe. This is an awesome day for Yankee fans everywhere, and I hope we have more awesome days to come. I think this team has a special resilience about it, and while it's also talented, I think that resilience is more apparent in comparing it to previous teams in recent history. I think the Yanks have a real shot to add to their World Series count this year. For now though, let's enjoy the moment and wait to see who we play in the World Series on Friday. That sure sounds good to me.