Author: Deesha Thosar

<!–>

DALLAS — Talk about a New York City robbery. It wasn’t just the top free-agent jewel that the Mets stole from the Yankees; Steve Cohen hijacked the crown, too. 

Less than two months after Juan Soto helped take the Yankees to the World Series, Cohen’s Mets blew him away Sunday with the largest contract in professional sports history. Soto did end up going to the highest bidder — the Mets’ reported pact with the slugger is for $765 million over 15 years. But the Yankees’ offer apparently wasn’t too far behind, bringing into question whether Soto wanted to play in Queens all along. 

If that’s the case, then there could be a couple of factors that swayed him one borough over. 

The Yankees’ reported offer of $760 million over 16 years would’ve given Soto an average annual value of $47.5 million, which is just $3.5 million shy per year of what he’ll earn with the Mets. Soto’s Mets deal also reportedly includes a $75 million signing bonus. If that difference in dollar amount is all that mattered to Soto, then it makes sense that he agreed to the highest offer on the table. But since the Yankees’ offer was pretty close to what he ended up agreeing to, it sure seems like Soto wanted to make a statement that both fan bases in New York won’t take lightly. 

RELATED: Ten biggest contracts in MLB history: Juan Soto’s $765 million with Mets tops list

The Mets — not the Yankees — represented the more appealing long-term destination to Soto in part because of how much they were willing to spend, no doubt. But Cohen also prioritizes getting to know the people in his organization — from players, to front office personnel, to security staffers — on an intimate level. He forms that relationship by routinely appearing on the field, walking through the Mets clubhouse, and just simply being available and around. Cohen’s wife, Alex, spends time around the Mets dugout, catching up with players during batting practice, too. It’s rare for any owner in professional sports to be as visible as the Cohens are with the Mets. Just take a look at the situation across town. 

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t mingle in the clubhouse, and is rarely spotted around Yankee Stadium to talk with his players. One former Yankees player who spent eight seasons in pinstripes said he spoke to Steinbrenner just once or twice during his time in the Bronx. Steinbrenner has a closer relationship with captain Aaron Judge, particularly after Judge’s frenzied 2022 free agency that resulted in Steinbrenner getting on the phone and completing a long-term pact with the Yankees slugger. Judge confirmed as recently as last month that he has an open line of communication with Steinbrenner, and he appreciates that availability from the owner. 

Apparently, Steinbrenner doesn’t share that same dynamic with many in the building, let alone the guy who was his No. 1 priority this winter. Soto asked Steinbrenner, when the two sides met in California last month, why he didn’t approach him during this past season in the Bronx, and he wondered why the owner didn’t try to form a closer relationship with Soto. Steinbrenner, fairly or not, said he wanted to give Soto space because he was so clearly locked in, enjoying his best career season, and he didn’t want to get in the way of that.

In the end, waiting to form a close relationship with Soto might have been a colossal mistake on Steinbrenner’s part. 

Cohen’s players routinely voice how much they love playing for the Mets because it feels like a family. There’s an open trust around Citi Field, particularly during this David Stearns/Carlos Mendoza era. Mets players have said they feel like they can be themselves in Queens. 

One recent moment that painted a picture of the Cohens feeling like “one of the guys” to left-hander Sean Manaea was when Alex Cohen’s dad, affectionately known as Mets grandpa, was doused in champagne in the middle of their clubhouse after they advanced to the National League Championship Series.

Through that everyday visibility, Cohen sends the message that he cares about his team. And for the players that go through the 162-game grind of a season, in hopes of reaching October and ultimately being the last team standing, having that open relationship with the top brass in the organization matters a great deal. Shortstop and de-facto captain Francisco Lindor says it all the time: It takes every single person in the organization to win, and that includes the responsibility of the ownership to form a close relationship with players, the front office working hard to fill roster holes, and the manager sticking up for his clubhouse. 

As MLB’s winter meetings unfold in Dallas this week, Cohen’s commitment to winning has never been clearer. 

No one was going to stop him from acquiring Soto, certainly not the crosstown rival Yankees nor MLB’s luxury tax penalty, when all he had to do was continue to increase his offer. When Cohen bought the Mets franchise in 2020, he said he wanted to win the World Series in the ensuing 3-5 years. The upcoming season will be Year 5. Snatching Soto from the Yankees was a statement-making step in that championship-caliber direction, and the Mets are a threat to win it all with the generational slugger suiting up in the orange and blue — for the next decade and a half.

Welcome to the newest era of Mets baseball, where the little brother might have just become the bully.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

–>

---

---

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

<!–>

NEW YORK — The feeling of heartbreak consumed the Yankees as they said their goodbyes.

Players were still in full uniform 55 minutes after they saw their championship dreams come to a halt, giving long hugs and clapping hands with the trainers, staff members, coaches, and clubhouse attendance who were on the 170-game journey with them. Some players had tears in their eyes as they embraced each other, others were still in shock. Some of them smiled in gratitude for how far they had come, others were static and pissed off at the bitter end.

–>

“I think falling short in the World Series will stick with me until I die,” Aaron Judge said.

“This is as bad as it gets,” Gerrit Cole said. “It’s the worst feeling you can have.”

“I’ll remember the way I feel right now for the rest of my life,” Anthony Volpe said.

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

The loss desolated the clubhouse. A special season that started 5-0 effectively ended in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the Fall Classic. The worst defensive inning in World Series history will stick in the minds of the Yankees and their fans for however many more Octobers it will take for the club to follow through on its promise to deliver the franchise’s 28th championship. Yes, the cracks that led to their tragic ending were that unforgettable, that unforgivable.

Judge’s dropped catch on a routine fly ball to center field. Volpe’s fielding error at shortstop. Anthony Rizzo’s unhurried reaction to a ground ball. Cole’s failure to cover first base.

The Yankees became the first team in Major League Baseball history, across the regular season and the postseason, to blow a five-run lead, surrender at least five unearned runs, commit three errors, a balk and a catcher’s interference all in the same game. Any one of those misplays would be bad enough in the excusable setting of a 162-game season. But this was a World Series game where the Yankees were facing elimination, and they embarrassed themselves out of a chance to extend the series back to Los Angeles. The Dodgers will be enjoying a championship parade on Friday, the same day Game 6 of the World Series was supposed to occur.

When asked what the Yankees have learned from the World Series, Giancarlo Stanton said: “Just never to have this feeling again. Any type of focus, miscues, or anything, just to up the level in all aspects.”

The 2024 Yankees entered the postseason as one of the worst defensive teams in the major leagues. Their 93 errors were the third-most in the American League, and seventh-highest overall. All year long, we saw New York’s stars take bad angles on fly balls and commit fielding and throwing errors in the outfield and the infield. Judge had the worst metric on the team for Outs Above Average with -6, and Juan Soto was right behind him with -5. Gleyber Torres‘ 18 errors were the most among all qualified second basemen in the majors. Judge’s -9 Defensive Runs Saved ranked 14th out of 16 qualified center fielders in MLB. Their .984 fielding percentage as a team ranked 24th in MLB.

The Yankees left the World Series showing the national audience that, until the very end, they were incapable of playing sound fundamental baseball. 

“I think from a PFP (Pitchers Fielding Practice) standpoint we’re pretty good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on that horrific fifth inning. “It’s always magnified when obviously in a moment it doesn’t happen. I’d have to look for sure, but from a pitching standpoint, we’re pretty good at those kinds of things. Those are tough plays to be super consistent at, especially when you have 12, 15, at times 20 different pitchers kind of rolling through with different skill sets. Some we work hard at. Obviously, we had a rough inning tonight.”

Where do the Yankees go from here?

They can start by cleaning up their act. As much as Boone is beloved in the Yankees organization, his response to his team’s inability to play sharp baseball is as much a problem as his apparent indifference to their lack of discipline and preparation. The Yankees need a fearless leader and a coaching staff that will criticize their misplays and help fix the smaller details that can prevent a meltdown like the fifth inning of Game 5. We saw too many mental mistakes and lapses in focus this season that could’ve been avoided. The Yankees need someone to keep applying pressure in order to maximize their efforts, not someone who will nonchalantly accept the status quo.

This was the final guaranteed year of Boone’s three-year deal. The Yankees have a team option on him for 2025, and it remains unclear if they’ll take it.

Beyond leadership, the Yankees face questions about the strength of their roster with key players hitting free agency.

Soto, the guy who had the best OPS (1.085), the highest batting average (.313), drew the most walks (7) and scored the most runs in the World Series for the Yankees no longer has any loyalty to the team. It will be brutal for the Yankees if they lose him to another club (worse still, if he goes to the crosstown rivals) this winter. Outfielder Alex Verdugo could also leave in free agency, so the Yankees could be faced with the task of replacing both of their corner outfielders, with only top prospect Jasson Dominguez as an obvious alternative.

Torres has been involved in trade rumors seemingly every offseason in his seven years with the Yankees. He’s now a free agent, and even though he was solid in the final month of the regular season and in the playoffs after moving up to the leadoff spot, it has always seemed likely that he would sign with another team. Rizzo likely played his final game in pinstripes, too. With the calamity of that fifth inning fresh in their minds, it would be in the Yankees’ best interests to prioritize a younger, faster, and more athletic first baseman to post up every day.

Cole could theoretically opt out of his contract and reach the open market. But since he’s in line to continue earning $36 million every year through 2028, he seems likely to stay with the Yankees. It’s tough to imagine a scenario where another team matches or tops that average annual value. Right-hander Clay Holmes is now a free agent, and after the Yankees demoted him from closer duties for the more lights-out performances of Luke Weaver, it’s unlikely there will be a reunion in the Bronx.

There will be a lot of changes this offseason. 

“The way we handled ourselves in the clubhouse, I think it was really special for me,” Soto said. “That was one of the things I enjoyed most. Coming in every day and hanging out with guys that I literally can call them family.”

The 2024 Yankees family went through it all this year. Volpe broke out in the playoffs, and he and rookie catcher Austin Wells provided hope for the future. Stanton became the first Yankee player ever to hit seven home runs in a single postseason. Weaver’s unexpected late-game dominance was a welcome surprise. Right-hander Luis Gil could be an important staple of the Yankees rotation for years to come. Jazz Chisholm Jr. fit right into the mayhem that is the Bronx scene, and he’s under team control for two more years.

So, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Yankees, even though it might feel that way for a while. But they have a lot of work to do this offseason and beyond to get back to the World Series and try and close the gap with the Dodgers. Once pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a few months, the Yankees will have no choice but to turn their pain into motivation and try to move on from a feeling they said they’d remember forever.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

<!–>

---

---

–>

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

<!–>

NEW YORK — It was an hour into Halloween before Juan Soto finally divulged his thoughts and feelings about his free agency. The time was fitting, since the scariest thing that could happen to the Yankees would be the generational talent walking away and signing with another team. 

That’s certainly more of a reality now than it was when the Yankees walked into the stadium Wednesday morning. Moments after the Yankees lost the World Series to the Dodgers, Soto was already talking about New York in the past tense.

“Leaving any place that is a winning team is always hard,” Soto said. “Definitely, this place was very special. It’s been a blast for me. I’ve been really happy. Definitely, if I’m here or not, I’ll be really happy for the things that happened and the people that I got to know in here. This was a really special group. But at the end of the day, we will see what’s going to happen.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

Soto, for all intents and purposes, entered free agency as he was speaking to reporters in the clubhouse, even though he was still wearing his fitted Yankees cap and team-branded performance shirt. He is now the sport’s most coveted young free-agent since Álex Rodríguez hit the open market in the winter of 2000. Early Thursday morning was the first time Soto openly discussed his emotions about free agency — which is his first opportunity to explore and decide on his future since he sprang into the major leagues in 2018. 

He didn’t hold back.

“I don’t know the teams that want to come after me,” Soto said. “But definitely, I’ll be open to listening to every single team. I don’t have any doors closed, or anything like that. I’m going to be available for all 30 teams.”

As frosty as Soto’s words might sound to the Bronx faithful, it was clear that he was emotional in what might be his final moments as a Yankee. After the final out of the World Series, Soto watched the Dodgers celebrate on the field that he called home for seven months, and then he went up to the top step of the dugout. He took a second, then pointed up toward the sky. 

Soto was the last player to leave the Yankees dugout. 

“This is going to stay in my heart for the rest of my life,” he said. “This group of guys. This year was really special for me.”

His eyes welled up when he was asked what was going through his mind during that moment in the dugout. Besides admitting that he was feeling a lot of emotions, he kept the rest to himself. 

“I think everybody in the room wants him back,” Aaron Judge said. “You can look at the stats and what he did on the field. I think the type of leader he is in this clubhouse. He just does a lot of the little things that people don’t notice that truly make him one of the best players, if not the best player in the game. 

“I definitely enjoyed getting the chance to have a front row seat all season long — watching his at-bats, watching his approach. The way he would talk about certain pitchers and how they would attack him and what he’s looking for. He’s a scientist up there. Definitely would love to see him in pinstripes for quite a long time.”

Giancarlo Stanton had only three words for Soto on the precipice of free agency: “Stay with us.”

Yankees team owner Hal Steinbrenner will have to pay up for that to happen. Soto is expected to command more than $500 million in what is sure to be a wild free agency. The four-time All-Star outfielder finished his walk year with the fourth-best fWAR (8.1) in the major leagues. He crushed a career-best 41 home runs and posted a .989 OPS across 157 games. Soto said the team that signs him will get a guy who plays hard every day and will be the best version of himself in the clubhouse and outside of it, inmploring prospective suitors to ask any of his teammates how much he cares about winning.

Judge hoped that Soto enjoyed his time in pinstripes, because the four-time Silver Slugger certainly brought a lot of joy to the Yankees. 

“I think he got a little taste of the excitement here, the history here,” Judge said. “What it truly means to be a Yankee, he fit every single category. It’s difficult coming to a new team. He spoke up many times in this clubhouse, in meetings. It’s little things like that that people don’t see. But this guy has no fear. He wants to be a leader. He wants to be in the spotlight. He wants to have those big moments. And when you’re a Yankee you’re going to be put in those situations. 

“I would love to have him back. But I’m going to give him time to think about it. Do what he needs to do with his family, and we’ll see what happens.” 

What will Soto prioritize in free agency? 

Playing for a winning team is of the utmost importance to the 26-year-old. Even if his organization is not the last team standing, he emphasized how much he wants to play in the World Series every year. In that regard, the Yankees could fit the description. But when Soto was asked whether they might have a leg up over other interested teams, especially given that he enjoyed a career year in the Bronx and helped take the club to the Fall Classic, he didn’t hesitate to throw ice-cold water on that presumption. 

“I feel like every team has the same opportunities when I’m going to free agency,” Soto said. “I don’t want to say any team has any advantage.”

From now until the time Soto signs, everyone will be looking for signs of where he’ll spend the next part of his career. Since he’s a Scott Boras client, we already know that the superagent has a tendency to wait it out until teams give him their best and highest offers. Last year, several of Boras’ top free agents didn’t sign until the middle or end of spring training in March. Soto is fully prepared for that same process and outcome with his own free agency.

“It’s all about the teams, how far they want to take it and how much they want to go back and forth,” Soto said. “I’m here. They are the ones that have to come over. We’re going to be waiting until somebody comes over. I can’t control if any team wants to call in February. So, we will see what happens. They know where I’m at.”

Yankees fans were loud all year about wanting Soto to stay in pinstripes. Some showed up to the ballpark with blank checks, or the dollar amount filled out to $700 million and counting. When asked if their gestures will have any impact on his decision this winter, Soto laughed before retorting, “It will probably impact the decision of the ownership.” 

It’s hard to imagine the Yankees advancing to their first World Series since 2009 this year without the iconic duo of Soto and Judge leading them there. All year, Soto looked like the final puzzle piece to a Yankees team that had been unable to get over the hump without him. They got as far as Game 5 of the Fall Classic against a Dodgers superteam that looked destined to win it all the moment they bet the house on Shohei Ohtani. 

Will Soto be able to easily walk away from all that he built with the Yankees this year? Will the Yankees really let him? Those two questions will follow every step of what is sure to be one of the most extraordinary free-agent signings in the history of Major League Baseball.

Stay tuned. This is only the beginning.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

–>

---

---

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

<!–>

NEW YORK — The bigger the spotlight on his individual efforts, the softer Anthony Volpe’s voice gets. 

When the Yankees shortstop is asked about his performance in a given game, he tends to brush off the magnitude of his heroics before redirecting the spotlight onto his teammates. That’s how it went late Tuesday night, moments after he hit a grand slam for his first career playoff home run and was brought into the Yankees press conference room to discuss it.

Even though this wasn’t just a typical grand slam — it gave the Yankees a much-needed early lead over the Dodgers in an elimination Game 4 of the World Series — Volpe sat at the podium with the same shy demeanor and soft-spoken voice that he’s exhibited since his major-league debut last year. Only when he was asked to trace his Yankees fandom did the 23-year-old sit up a little straighter and look more confident, more self-assured, in front of the cameras and bright lights. 

“My grandfather, the Yankees are more than just a team or an organization for him,” Volpe said. “Because his father fought in World War II when he was little, and by the time he got back, his mom basically told him, ‘This is your dad.’ He didn’t know him, didn’t recognize him, didn’t know anything. The way he says it, the way he got to know and get to know his father was, he sat on his lap every single night, and they listened to the Yankees together. So, for him, it’s more than sports.”

It’s a story he’s told before, but never on the grandest national stage, when there are more eyeballs and attention on the second-year shortstop than he’s ever experienced. Volpe’s shy nature means we might never know, at least not for a while, how much this grand slam that sparked an 11-4 win blowout actually meant to him. But seeing him discuss his teammates’ feats more than his own, and hearing him retell the story of how much the Yankees organization means to his family, it’s easy to see that Volpe’s driving force as an athlete is centered on working hard for the people around him. 

If they’re winning, then he is too. 

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

“I love him, he’s like a little brother to me,” Anthony Rizzo said of Volpe. “He works so hard. He cares so much about his teammates. He never really gets down. So, for him to have that moment in the World Series, hometown kid, it’s pretty special.”

The Yankees forced a Game 5 against the Dodgers not by the hands of Juan Soto, Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton. On a chilly Tuesday night in the Bronx, it was the Baby Bombers who came through in the most important game of their careers to date. 

After Volpe, Yankees rookie catcher Austin Wells is the third-youngest player on the Yankees’ World Series roster. He was 0-for-8 at the plate in the Fall Classic when Yankees manager Aaron Boone benched him for Game 3. Rizzo said it was hard for Wells to watch from the dugout, especially as the Yankees fell behind 3-0 in the Series, but it only made how he responded Tuesday that much more impactful. 

Wells ripped a 406-foot double off the padding in center field in his first at-bat of the night, then crushed a solo shot to right field to lead off the sixth. Not only did the rookie’s second home run of the postseason double a Yankees lead that had been trimmed to one, it reminded the 49,354 fans in attendance that, no matter how this World Series ends, the Yankees’ future will be bright behind Volpe and Wells. 

“It’s not really a friendship anymore. It’s a brotherhood,” Volpe said of his relationship with Wells. “We’ve been through it all together. The highest of highs, and at some point, the lowest of lows. He’s my first call, my last call. I know he has my back through thick and thin. To have a moment like that, for him to have a moment like that is special. But to do it together, you can’t trade it for anything.”

The Yankees catcher echoed Volpe’s sentiment, and added that it was clear to him as soon as he got to know the shortstop in the Yankees’ minor-league system that they had the same goals of being able to contribute to a historic franchise. Neither of them wanted to be superstars, per se. They just wanted to help the Yankees win another title, even if all they provided were modest contributions. Alas, Volpe’s clutch at-bat was anything but. 

Wells said Volpe’s grand slam in the third inning — which followed another Freddie Freeman two-run home run in the first — allowed the Yankees to take a deep breath, relax and enjoy playing baseball. He said his teammates were just waiting for that “one big swing” to break out of the funk that had marked three consecutive World Series losses. 

“I think the situation we were in, we just kind of needed to say screw it and go after it and have fun because some guys may never come back to the World Series again,” Wells said. “So, just enjoying the game, and I think that allowed us to play a lot looser tonight.”

It’s well known by now that Volpe grew up in New Jersey rooting for the Bronx Bombers and idolizing Derek Jeter. Now that he’s effectively in Jeter’s shoes, the pressure to excel at the highest level, in front of the largest media market in the world, all while getting scrutinized for every misplay, big or small, can be a lot. Perhaps some of the tension got to Volpe in the second inning, when he misread Wells’ long double and looked to tag up from second before having to hold at third. 

Volpe ended up touching home plate on Alex Verdugo’s RBI groundout, and he more than made up for his gaffe with his grand slam. But he still took accountability after the game: “That’s completely on me.” Initially frustrated with himself, Volpe relaxed after his teammates reminded him through their own excellent at-bats in Game 4 that they’d pick him up. 

Sometimes, his quiet demeanor makes him come off as one of the most serious guys on the Yankees roster. But left-hander Nestor Cortes set the record straight.

“He’s got a little fire in him. A little zest,” Cortes said. “He’s a little sassy. He’s becoming a little slicker, which is good. It’s good for him. He came up as a highly touted prospect. A lot of people expected him to be the next Jeter. That’s very hard to do. I think he’s gonna become a really good player — he already is. But I think he’s going to embrace who he is and write his own narrative and chapter here. He doesn’t have to follow who Jeter was.”

Volpe was excellent in this postseason even before he became the fourth-youngest player to hit a grand slam in the World Series. He entered the Fall Classic batting .310 with eight walks, six runs scored and an .804 OPS in nine playoff games. Now, the shortstop is the Yankees’ World Series RBI leader with five. More importantly, he’s the biggest reason there will be a Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday. 

Maybe as he logs more moments like his grand slam, he’ll stand up a little taller, speak a little louder, and come out of his shell. 

But what Volpe’s shown us so far in his young career is that he doesn’t need the big spotlight or the outrageous comparisons to a Yankees Hall of Famer to come up clutch for his team. 

He just needs to be himself.

“The more he does it, the more he needs to go out there and talk,” Cortes said. “The more he becomes the player of the game, I think you’ll see his personality a little more.”

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

–>

---

---

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

<!–>

NEW YORK — The stadium started emptying out in the seventh inning. Beating traffic became more valuable than staying through the end of a hopeless playoff game that cost the equivalent of a mortgage to attend. The product the Yankees put on the field for their first home World Series game in 15 years was so underwhelming that being anywhere else was better than sticking around until the end. 

The Yankees looked like a team that still hadn’t recovered from Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1. So, when the same guy hit a two-run shot in the first inning of Game 3, the cut was deep. 

The atmosphere in the Bronx seemed to mirror the mood in the home dugout: sapped of faith and energy. 

“It’s all on the line for a championship,” a flashing message on the center-field jumbotron reminded the weary crowd. Apparently, the players didn’t see it.

They say it’s not over until the fat lady sings. In the Yankees’ case, Fat Joe already sang. 

“​​We just gotta keep relying on each other and keep playing the game we’ve played all year long,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “Keep playing the game that got us into this position.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

There was no sense of urgency for the Yankees on Monday as they lost 4-2 to the Dodgers, which dropped them to 0-3 in the World Series, perhaps because what we’ve seen so far is the best they’ve got. The Yankees reached the World Series by knocking out the Royals and the Guardians, two teams that were defeated by New York even when it wasn’t doing everything right. Against those two clubs, the Yankees got away with their inattention to detail. Against the superteam Dodgers — who have outplayed the Yankees via a deeper lineup, superior rotation, sharper defense and better bullpen — the Yankees’ flaws are being exposed.

One of their pitfalls all year was their response when things got ugly. When the Yankees went 5-16 over a 21-game period this summer, they were making mistakes on the basepaths, committing errors on defense, and playing nonchalantly on top of it. Spectacular individual performances from Judge and Juan Soto were nice distractions. But we’ve seen the Yankees need longer than a seven-game stretch to climb out of their slump before collectively returning to timely hitting and pitching. 

So, when the Yankees tell us this is part of who they’ve been all year, we should believe them. The version of the Yankees they need to be now is the one that shows emotion, gets fired up, and cleans up its act from the first pitch to the last. The Yankees have to look alive to keep this World Series going. They can try waking up by being honest about who they’ve been for most of the year: a team that acts as the supporting cast to the starring roles of a few top players. The formula leads to wins only when the stars come through for the team. 

Interested to know who the Dodgers are? Just watch how they played in the first three games of the World Series. 

Freddie Freeman has now hit a home run in each of the first three games in this Fall Classic. Shohei Ohtani, playing Game 3 with a partially dislocated left shoulder, found a way to get on base despite being in obvious pain. Walker Buehler carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning and recorded his second career World Series start featuring at least five innings, no runs allowed and two or fewer hits. 

Los Angeles’ starters have a 1.62 ERA against New York, compared to a 6.00 ERA from a Yankees’ rotation that was supposed to be superior. The Dodgers have scored twice as many runs as the Yankees (14-7). 

“There’s just gotta be urgency,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I just don’t want to let these guys up for air.”

It shows. The mentality that Roberts has plugged into his clubhouse has the Dodgers one win away from sweeping the World Series.

“If that team wins three in a row,” Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo said of the Dodgers, “then why can’t we win three in a row?”

Sure, technically, there’s nothing stopping the Yankees from winning three straight and forcing a Game 7. But who that has watched this flawed team play all year actually believes they can? Even if the Yankees internally believe they could still stun the world and pull it off, that would require a sense of urgency and fight from the Bronx Bombers; two crucial championship qualities that they failed to summon in Game 3, which the World Series’ 122-year history assures was a must-win situation. 

The Yankees have grown less competitive in each game of this series. Their at-bats on Monday were mostly passive until, down to their final out and trailing by four runs, Verdugo hit a two-run home run off right-hander Michael Kopech. Three of the Yankees’ four runs in Games 2 and 3 — and four of their nine hits — didn’t arrive until the ninth inning. That’s not a good thing. It only gives manager Aaron Boone permission to spout tired lines about his team persevering until the last out despite their deficits proving to be insurmountable. 

If that’s New York’s version of a fight, the Dodgers can win the next round — and finish this bout — even after taking the first punches. 

“Credit to them that they’ve been able to hold us down and control us,” Boone said. “Then, when we have had some opportunities, we haven’t cashed in. Ultimately, that’s what this comes down to.” 

At least the Mets knocked these Dodgers down. Known as the Yankees’ stepbrothers, the Mets didn’t give an inch in their National League Championship Series with L.A. — they were just overmatched when it came to roster talent. The Mets’ hitting and pitching paled in comparison to the Yankees’ in the regular season, and yet they forced six games out of the Dodgers and a return trip to Los Angeles. 

The Yankees look like they’re ready to go home. 

The only MLB team to ever climb out of a 3-0 hole in a best-of-seven series is the 2004 Red Sox, who won the final four games of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees en route to winning the World Series. Not exactly a memory that will make the Yankees feel warm and fuzzy, right? But a couple of years back, the Yankees tried drawing inspiration from their division rivals when they watched Red Sox highlights from that 2004 ALCS in an attempt to get out of their own 3-0 hole against the Astros in the 2022 ALCS. It didn’t work, and not just because that was a comical idea in the first place. Houston wound up sweeping them out of the playoffs that year.

Two years later, the Yankees are on the brink of being swept again, except this time it will be much more excruciating if they don’t leave everything they’ve got on the field. They’re already the first World Series team in 12 years to drop the first three games. What will be remembered, though, is if they become the first pennant winner since the 2012 Tigers to be swept (by the Giants). It’s a distinction the Dodgers look primed — itching, even — to deliver Tuesday.

“We know the odds are stacked against us,” Yankees southpaw Nestor Cortes said. “But this team is too resilient. I think we showed enough fight in us to come back. If there’s a team out there that can do it, that’ll be us.”

We’ll believe it when we see it. 

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

–>

---

---

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

<!–>

LOS ANGELES — Some of the reasons behind the Yankees sinking into a 0-2 hole against the Dodgers were predictable.

Carlos Rodón has had turbulent outings this postseason, and he had another one Saturday in Game 2 of the World Series. At least a couple of Yankees players have struggled defensively all year, and those repeat offenders showed up again this weekend at Chavez Ravine. The regular season routinely featured poor production from the bottom of New York’s lineup, and that was a problem in each of the first two games of the Series. 

But none of those factors are as flagrant as the biggest one — the one that the Yankees seem unprepared to overcome.

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

Aaron Judge is lost at the plate. 

He’s striking out more often than he’s getting on base. He’s chasing pitches he would typically watch fly out of the zone. He’s rocking back and forth in the batter’s box — which, according to Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, means he’s trying to find his rhythm — rather than standing frozen and locked in like he did during his record-breaking regular season. He’s whiffing at mistakes that he would normally punish for home runs. 

Simply put, he’s not doing his job.

And when the Yankees are desperate for offense, like they have been in this star-studded Fall Classic, and one of the best hitters on the planet isn’t doing his job, the results are back-to-back losses against an elite Dodgers team that has outplayed them in every facet of the game.

“I definitely gotta step up,” Judge said after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Yankees’ 4-2 loss Saturday. “I gotta do my job, when guys are out there doing their job getting on base, I’m failing them. I’m not backing them up.”

The two other stars in the Yankees’ lineup have hit throughout October, and are virtually the only ones doing so in the Fall Classic.

Juan Soto is locked in at the plate; his solo shot in the third inning of Game 2 was the Yankees’ only hit off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Soto’s liner off the right field wall in the ninth inning was just the second hit of the night for New York, and soon he scored its only other run when Giancarlo Stanton followed with a scorcher down the left field line. 

Sandwiched between the two rockets? Judge’s sixth strikeout of the Series. 

Soto now has four home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.160 OPS through 11 games this postseason. Stanton has six home runs, 14 RBIs and a 1.098 OPS. Judge, meanwhile, is batting .150 (6-for-40) with 19 strikeouts, two homers, six RBIs and a .605 OPS. 

“I think he made mistakes against me,” Soto said of facing Yamamoto, who struck out Judge twice. “He made a couple of good pitches in the first at-bat, and then he showed me everything. He showed me everything that he got in my first at-bat. So I was ready for anything in my second at-bat. He made a mistake and I just didn’t miss it.”

Soto, eternally bursting with confidence, seems to have the playoffs all figured out. What’s stopping Judge from achieving similar feats?

“Right now, he’s probably not feeling his best,” Soto said. “It’s just a tough moment for him right now.”

The Yankees captain acknowledged he’s been expanding the strike zone, as the world-class plate discipline that allowed him to draw the most walks (133) in the major leagues this year has escaped him. He added that his mechanics at the plate are “getting there,” and that his encouraging at-bats at the end of Game 1 didn’t translate into Game 2. Judge said the struggles he’s going through at the plate right now are “a little similar” to the struggles he faced in April, when he started the year in a slump, slashing .207/.340/.414 through his first 31 games. 

But the difference at this time of the year is that he doesn’t have the cushion of a long season ahead of him to get his mechanics straightened out. Judge has to make every pitch in the Bronx count, if not with a big hit, then at least a walk. The presumptive AL MVP noted that Yamamoto gave him a pitch to hit in the sixth inning, when he was ahead in the count 2-0 and the Dodgers righty threw him a fastball down and in. 

That’s a pitch, Judge said, that he’s usually able to connect on. Instead, he kept his bat on his shoulder and watched it settle untouched for strike one. 

“At times you want to try to make things happen instead of letting the game come to you,” Judge said. “I think that’s what it really comes down to. You see Gleyber [Torres] out there on base, Juan’s getting on base, trying to make something happen. You’re not going to get every pitch in the zone. So you have to take your walks and set up for Big G [Stanton].”

Judge puts a lot of pressure on himself to come through for his team. It’s never been about personal statistics for the six-time All-Star. What he cares about most is lifting the Yankees when they need him to — and they’ve relied on Judge throughout his career to come through in the clutch because, normally, he can. While Soto and Stanton are doing their parts, the American League champs still need Judge to be Judge if they’re going to be world champs. 

“He’s got time to help us win some games,” Stanton said.

Sure, but not much. Judge has to figure out a way to slow the game down so that he can compress the zone and tap back into the plate discipline and power that make him one of the greatest hitters of this generation. 

The Yankees ultimately cannot rise without him. 

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

–>

---

---

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports