World Series Postmortem

The better team won the World Series.  I don't just mean the more talented team, which the Dodgers were.  They also outplayed the Yankees.  They jumped on every mistake the Yankees made and took advantage of every extra opportunity they were given.  They also exposed some glaring flaws that the Yankees had all season, but were able to mask effectively enough against weaker opponents.  The Yankees were the best team in the American League, but, the result of the All*Star Game aside, the National League was the overall better league in 2024.

It's easy to second-guess the decision to bring in Nestor Cortes in the 10th inning of Game 1, but I had no problem with the move.  Sure, he gave up the walk-off grand slam.  Hindsight is 20/20, though, and if it had worked out, then Boone's a genius!  The fact that it didn't makes him a moron?  (Let's not forget the circumstances that led to that situation, too.)

Other decisions, however, can absolutely be questioned!  Sending Giancarlo Stanton, the slowest runner on the team, home from second on a one-hopper to left, for example.  The bullpen management was horrendous.  And the fact that they got terrible starting pitching only exacerbated the problem!

Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt were awful in their World Series starts.  (There was some talk before the series that, with their home/road splits, it might've been smarter to flip them and have Schmidt start Game 2.  That argument actually made a lot of sense.)  As a result, the bullpen was overused and overexposed.  The fact that Boone kept going to the same guys over and over didn't help, either. 

I'm not saying I wanted to see Marcus Stroman pitch in the postseason, but he was your long man and he didn't pitch at all.  The entire point of a long man is to give you innings when you get a short start!  And Tim Mayza only got to pitch once...in the ninth inning of Game 4...because they had a seven-run lead!  Otherwise, it would've been Weaver, who you could tell had absolutely nothing left in the tank at the end of Game 5.  Same thing with Tommy Kanhle.  Seriously, how many consecutive changeups can you throw before the hitters are just sitting on it?

As for the lineup, it's really difficult to say whether the lack of offense was a result of good Dodger pitching, terrible Yankee hitting or both.  I get why some people wanted to see lineup changes, especially in light of the struggles.  Would that have made a difference?  It's tough to say.  The fact that they were playing from behind the entire game certainly didn't help.  Because, yes, they absolutely were pressing.  (And, give the Dodgers pitchers credit for executing better in the big moments.)

Then there was the defense in that fateful fifth inning of Game 5.  Now, let's be perfectly clear about something.  While it's fair to say that inning cost them the game, it's not why they lost the series.  I also thought Volpe made the right decision, just a bad throw.  And I think Rizzo's just as responsible as Cole for the play at first.  Rizzo assumed Cole would be there.  When he saw he wasn't, he could've shown a little more urgency getting to the bag.  (As for Judge, that was just a fluky thing that happened at the absolute worst time.)

Meanwhile, Game 1 could've ended very differently had Gleyber Torres not missed the throw from right field on Ohtani's double, giving him an extra base.  He scored the tying run one batter later.  Without that error, the game doesn't go to extra innings, Freddie Freeman doesn't hit a walk-off grand slam, and the entire series is different.

Defensive and baserunning gaffes weren't exclusive to the World Series.  The Yankees were one of the worst baserunning teams in baseball all season.  And they lost many a game because of bad defense or a bad starting pitching performance or the bullpen blowing a lead.  Sometimes it would be a combination.  Despite all that, they still won 94 games and had the best record in the American League.  In a short series against a team as good as the Dodgers, though, you can't get away with any of that.

Losing the World Series never feels good, but the fact that the Yankees got there for the first time in 15 years despite how fundamentally flawed they were really does speak volumes about the amount of talent they had on that roster.  The Dodgers simply had more talent and played better.  The mistakes that the Yankees were able to get away with during the season they didn't get away with in the World Series.  They got outplayed by a superior team, which resulted in a five-game series loss.

That's perhaps the biggest takeaway heading into the offseason.  The Yankees have a lot of decisions to make.  Re-signing Juan Soto should and will be the absolute priority.  After the game on Wednesday, Soto was non-committal about his future, but what else would you expect?  He's a Boras client!  Of course he's going to test the open market and find out teams think he's worth before making a decision!  I just hope for his and the interested teams' sake that Boras doesn't make him wait until February to sign!  (My guess is it'll be at the Owners' Meetings in December, which is when Judge signed in 2022 and Ohtani signed last year.)

There's only so much they can control with regards to Soto.  And whether he decides to stay or not will dictate a lot of their other moves over the winter.  Because make no mistake, other moves will be made!  The Yankees got to the World Series, but weren't good enough to win it.  They know they're close, though.  And there's actually a bit of a silver lining to losing the World Series because it exposed the issues (that already existed) the really need to address.

While they liked their starting rotation, it was too inconsistent.  Too many bad starts resulting in needing to get too many outs from the bullpen.  During the regular season, you can work around that.  In the playoffs, you can't.  Cole's a legit No. 1 starter (and, before you start saying "Oh, Cole has an opt-out," yes, he does, but the team can void the opt-out by giving him an extra year at the end of his contract, which is what everyone expects will happen).  Rodon is serviceable, but he's not a No. 2.  They need a second reliable starting pitcher to plug behind Cole in a postseason rotation.

And, I'm sorry, but you need to go get an actual closer!  Clay Holmes is not a closer.  Luke Weaver is not a closer.  You get the closer role settled, that gives you the freedom to play around with different roles for everybody else.  I know bullpen management is a completely different animal now.  Relievers don't have defined roles and managers will go to high-leverage guys in any situation.  Which works as long as they aren't overused and overexposed, which multiple bullpens were during the postseason (just look at what the Yankees did to Clase in the ALCS).

Soto's not the Yankees' only free agent.  They have decisions to make on some other guys, as well.  So, the roster will look very different in 2025.  How different remains to be seen.  But, for as good as the Yankees were in 2024, there are definitely areas where they can improve.  It's up to Brian Cashman to make those improvements.  If he can, there's no reason to think the Yankees can't make it back to the World Series.

Aaron Boone will likely be back as the manager.  That was all but confirmed immediately after the conclusion of Game 5.  Like many, I'm lukewarm about that news.  Because not only was the team outplayed, he was outmanaged by Dave Roberts.  So, add "manager" to the list of areas where the Yankees need to improve in 2025.