After a 15-year wait, the Yankees finally returned to the World Series.

For a franchise that views late October baseball as an inherent right, this lengthy pause felt like an eternity.

“A long time,” owner Hal Steinbrenner remarked on the field in Cleveland, celebrating their 41st American League pennant after a Game 5 win against the Guardians. “It felt long.”

Unfortunately, that celebration at Cleveland’s Progressive Field would mark the high point for the 2024 Yankees.

They were defeated by the Dodgers in five games during a disappointing World Series, which began with Nestor Cortes giving up a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman in Game 1 and concluded with the Yankees collapsing in the fifth inning of Game 5, squandering a 5-0 lead.

“I think falling short in the World Series will stay with me until I die,” Aaron Judge reflected in the somber environment of the home clubhouse at Yankee Stadium post-Game 5.

Judge’s dropped routine fly ball — his first error of the season as a typically reliable centerfielder — contributed to the Dodgers’ fifth-inning rally, sealing yet another difficult postseason for the Yankees’ captain.

Having been drafted in 2013, Judge never played under the ownership of George Steinbrenner, who believed that any season that didn’t end in a World Series victory was a failure before passing away in July 2010.

However, like the team’s previous captain, Derek Jeter, Judge openly described seasons without a championship as a “failure.”

He reiterated this sentiment following October’s World Series disappointment.

But was the 2024 season truly a failure?

For Judge, despite accumulating more playoff heartache to an already extensive history, the season did not feel like one.

After a rough start, where Judge posted a .197 batting average as late as May 2, he found his stride, finishing the season with a .322 average, 58 home runs, a .458 on-base percentage, and a 1.159 OPS, earning his second AL MVP award in three years.

Judge, of course, benefited greatly from having Juan Soto hitting ahead of him. Soto, who departed for the Mets on a 15-year, $765 million deal (the Yankees offered $760 million over 16 years), was exactly the “transformational bat” that general manager Brian Cashman had anticipated when he was traded for during the 2023 winter meetings.

Soto proved his value immediately — hitting a home run in his spring training debut and throwing out a potential tying run at the plate during the Yankees’ season-opening win in Houston. He would have been a contender in the MVP race had it not been for Judge. Soto, the most reliable hitter on the Yankees in 2024, batted .288 with a career-high 41 homers and a .989 OPS.

Together, Judge and Soto provided the Yankees with one of the top offenses in baseball, although they were not the sole contributors. While no one else closely matched their consistency, other players had their standout moments.

Rookie catcher Austin Wells, despite a challenging postseason, cemented his future with solid play behind the plate and a smooth transition to the cleanup spot in the latter half of the season—a position that had been a significant struggle prior. Giancarlo Stanton managed to stay relatively healthy and belted 27 home runs, nearly leading the Yankees to a World Series triumph alongside Soto in the postseason.

Anthony Volpe, now in his second season, displayed solid play at shortstop, although he didn’t experience the offensive leap that the organization had hoped for. Nevertheless, the positives outweighed the negatives. Jazz Chisholm Jr. injected some much-needed energy both at the plate and on the bases following his acquisition at the trade deadline.

Starting pitcher Gerrit Cole, the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner, began the season on the injured list due to right elbow inflammation and was limited to 17 starts. However, the rotation—namely Clarke Schmidt, Carlos Rodon, and Nestor Cortes in the early months, along with eventual AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil throughout the season—helped alleviate Cole’s absence. The bullpen, while struggling during the second half of the season, dominated in the first half and regained its form during the postseason, particularly with Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes leading the charge.

Things mostly aligned for the Yankees in the postseason, especially given that they faced two seemingly inferior teams from the AL Central (first the Royals, then the Guardians) on their path to the World Series.

However, teams can only face who’s in front of them, and the Yankees did what good teams do—taking care of business against Kansas City and Cleveland.

This success abruptly halted against the Dodgers. The disappointing outcome echoed the sentiment expressed by long-time Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner after losing the 2018 Division Series to the Red Sox.

“This is the time of year,” Gardner remarked, “when good teams get sent home and great teams move on.”



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