No matter how the New York Yankees are playing at any given time, the fan base is always pushed to one extreme side of the fence or the other. Either the Yankees are playing well and their fans are declaring them invincible, or they're scuffling and the Bronx Zoo are calling for heads. After their season-opening four-game sweep of the mighty Houston Astros, we're all certain to see talks of World Series or bust and offering Juan Soto a 20-year extension all over Yankees Twitter. But here's the thing: They might really be right this time.
Through four games, it's evident that this Yankees team is different from last year's. It's different from the team that crumbled in the second half of 2022. And it might even be a cut above the best teams they've had since their last title in 2009. From what they showed on the field this weekend, this is a Yankees team that really can break through and win that elusive title.
What's changed for the Yankees?
The dirty secret of the entire last decade of Yankees baseball is they've never really been that close to a championship, no matter how much money they've spent or how many home runs Aaron Judge has clubbed. The closest they've come, officially speaking, was 2017, when they made it to Game 7 of the ALCS despite starting the year off with the intent of a “bridge year” with their youngest roster in decades.
The Yanks were thwarted by the Astros then and they've been thwarted by them ever since, with a couple losses to the Red Sox thrown in as well. It isn't that they've been bad, 2023 aside. The best team in the AL has always just been markedly better, and it's driven Yankee fans crazy. The team has had talent, but they've always been just poorly constructed enough for those flaws to be exposed when the cards are down.
It may be early, but watching this Yankees performance over the weekend highlighted all the ways in which the moves they made this offseason addressed the team's fatal flaws from years past. The team had a stunning lack of left-handed power hitting, particularly in a ballpark that gives up more home runs to right field than virtually anywhere else.
Well, here comes Juan Soto. The outfield defense was horrendous, especially in left field, where they were constantly playing converted middle infielders or even first basemen. Well, in walk Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham. Marcus Stroman pitched well enough to earn a win in his first Yankees start Saturday night. And the internal improvements may have been even more noticeable.
New beginnings
The most encouraging performer of the series, apart from Soto, who essentially had the winning moments in three of the four games, was Anthony Volpe, who looked like the star he was touted to be as a top-ten prospect coming into last season. He went 4-for-10 at the plate, drew four walks, showed a ton of discipline on his swing decisions, then cranked a deep solo shot to left field in the eighth inning of Saturday's game, giving the Yanks the insurance run that sealed their third straight win.
In 2023, Volpe was constantly tinkering with his swing, looked to be sacrificing contact for power, and finished with an abysmal .283 on-base percentage. Through three games in 2024, he seems to be letting the at-bat come to him, trusting a line-drive approach and allowing his power to come naturally when the frustrated pitcher makes a mistake. His development into one of the top young shortstops in the game, at a time when the position has never been deeper, would be a game-changer for the outlook of his team.
Even deeper down the roster, there was so much more to like. Oswaldo Cabrera, who looked unfit for the big leagues a season ago, batted .438 with two homers. Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres, and Giancarlo Stanton had team-first at-bats despite not lighting up the stat sheet. Heck, the worst offensive player they had in the series was Aaron Judge, who will certainly heat up sooner than later. If the team can play this well until Gerrit Cole comes back, they'll be terrifying to deal with once he debuts.
The Yankees' X-factor vs. the Astros
But for all that's been said so far, the real key to the entire season, to the viability of the Yankees as true title contenders, is Juan Soto.
The 25-year-old is on pace to be a slam dunk, first-ballot Hall of Famer and is already the most disciplined hitter in the entire league. Against Houston, he showed that he has the it-factor, winning Game 1 with an outfield assist in the bottom of the ninth, Game 3 with a go-ahead solo homer off Bryan Abreu, and Game 4 with a go-ahead single off Josh Hader.
It was evident these past couple seasons — to even the most ardent Yankees supporter — that the offense would go only as far as Aaron Judge would take them. No one was having good at-bats against the toughest relievers and no one had the upside to carry the offense by themselves if Judge was scuffling. Now, in Soto, they have both in one body. The Yankees, who struggled to find the key hit in countless big moments the past few seasons, landed themselves a giant slayer.
Getting over the hump
Ultimately, it's way too early to say with any certainty that the Yankees will win in October this time around — the thin starting pitching depth could crumble, Judge could get hurt again, or young guys like Volpe and Cabrera could come back to earth. But the early signs are so positive. It's impossible for Yankee fans, reactionary as they are, to not get excited about the potential.
And for the fans of the other 29 teams, be warned. We've all been getting in a lot of digs at the Yankees' expense, from the backbreaking home runs Aroldis Chapman served up to Aaron Boone showing his team highlights of the 2004 Red Sox as a motivational tactic.
But revenge may soon be coming because it sure does look like the 2024 Yankees are for real this time.
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