Featured
Why Yankees Can Win 1st World Series in 13 Years
Do the New York Yankees have what it takes to win their first World Series Championship in 13 years after their trade deadline frenzy?
USA TODAY Sports
The New York Yankees are the most decorated franchise in Major League Baseball (MLB), with 40 American League pennants, 20 American League Division titles, and, more importantly, a record 27 World Series titles. However, you have to go all the way back to 2009 to see when the New York Yankees last lifted the famous Commissioner’s Trophy. Is the 13-year wait for glory going to end this season?
According to the latest online MLB betting markets, the New York Yankees are the second-favorites for World Series glory this season; only the Los Angeles Dodgers have shorter odds right now. That fact may surprise a few baseball fans because of the New York Yankees’ poor record in the playoffs since defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in the 2009 World Series.
Last season, the New York Yankees finished third in the American League East with a 92-70 (0.568) record that put them eight games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees’ third-place finish set up a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in the American League Wild Card Game. The Red Sox had finished with the same win-loss record as the Yankees in the American League East but finished second in the standings courtesy of winning more home fixtures. However, the Boston Red Sox continued the New York Yankees’ playoff hoodoo and brushed them aside 6-2 in a rather one-sided affair.
Whatever the Yankees management team did during the offseason looks to be working because the Yankees find themselves at the summit of the American League East standings with a most impressive 70-35 (0.677) record. The Toronto Blue Jays are currently 11 games behind the Yankees, and only the Los Angeles Dodgers have won 70 games already this season.
Part of that impressive win-loss is due to the Yankees embarking on a 15-game winning spree between May 24 and June 23. The Yankees last won 15 straight games in 1961. That 1961 Yankees team is considered one of the greatest baseball teams in history. They, of course, won the World Series that year; is history about to repeat itself?
The renowned statistics and data company FiveThirtyEight gives the New York Yankees a greater than 99% chance of reaching the playoffs and a 97% chance of winning the division. They also predict a 19% chance the Yankees will win their 28th World Series title. FiveThirtyEight predicts the Los Angeles Dodgers have a 28% chance of World Series glory. Only the Houston Astros (12%) and New York Mets (11%) have chances in double figures.
Joey Gallo is one man who will not be in a Yankees uniform if the team progresses to the 2022 World Series. The Yankees acquired the 28-year-old outfielder from the Texas Rangers in July 2021, but the move did not work out for Gallo, a two-time All-Star. Yankees fans repeatedly booed him at the Yankees Stadium, and he recently lost playing time to Matt Carpenter. The Yankees brought in Andrew Benintendi from Kansas City Royals last week, making Gallo expendable. Minor league right-hander Clayton Beeter has joined the Yankees as part of the Gallo trade.
In addition to bringing in Beeter and Gold Glove winner Benintendi, the Yankees have added several players to their roster as they bolster their squad for a World Series charge. Right-handed reliever Scott Effross joined from the Chicago Clubs, with right-handed starting pitcher Frankie Montas becoming a Yankee after six years with the Oakland Athletics.
Outfielder Harrison Bader is now a Yankee after being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals. Bader plus a yet-to-be-named player of cash consideration have headed to Yankees Stadium with left-handed starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery going the other way, ending Montgomery’s eight-year stay with the Yankees organization.
Everything points toward the Yankees topping the American League East. This Yankees team looks full of self-belief, and the coaching staff has been shrewd with their trades. If, and it is a big if, the Yankees can break the playoff curse that has plagued them since 2009, they have every chance of becoming World Series champions for the 28th time.
