New York Yankees stars Juan Soto and Aaron Judge Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

New York Yankees must play for World Series championship this year

By Andrew Wright | Last updated 10/3/24

The New York Yankees have not been in the World Series since 2009, when they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies. That must change this year as they have quite the easy path to the Fall Classic.

After finishing the season with the best record in the American League (94-68) and securing a first-round bye, New York knows it will match up with the Kansas City Royals in the ALDS beginning on Saturday.

Kansas City swept the Baltimore Orioles in the AL wild-card series to set themselves up for a showdown against New York.

The Yankees handled the Royals well in the regular season, winning five of the seven matchups between the two teams.

Everyone knows about the deadly combination of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge for the Yankees. The duo has been wreaking havoc all over baseball the entire season and plans to do the same in the postseason, with Soto looking to win his second World Series ring and Judge his first.

JUAN SOTO & AARON JUDGE GO BACK-TO-BACK IN SAN DIEGO

(via @Sportsnet)pic.twitter.com/xTxu4eD4tV
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) May 25, 2024

Both Soto and Judge have enjoyed tremendous success against Kansas City in their careers. Soto has a slash line of .294/.463/.431 and two home runs in 15 games while Judge boasts a slash line of .300/.395/.614 to go along with 13 home runs in 37 games against Kansas City.

It is not just Judge and Soto who will be key for the Yankees success, though. New York has several players who thrive in the postseason. Guys like Gleyber Torres, Alex Verdugo and Giancarlo Stanton will be instrumental in New York getting back to the World Series.

Current Yankees all time postseason ops

Gleyber Torres .820
Aaron Judge .772
Juan Soto .845
Alex Verdugo .835
Giancarlo Stanton .963
Anthony Volpe TBD
Austin Wells TBD

The yankees will mash in the playoffs.
pic.twitter.com/ewHlvqxWY2
— Evil Empire (@octoberstanton) September 30, 2024

A series victory over the Royals would send New York to the ALCS to face either the Tigers or Guardians for a chance to go to the World Series.

These are two teams that the Yankees handled well in the regular season, as they won 4-of-6 matchups against Detroit and 4-of-6 matchups against Cleveland.

The Guardians and Yankees are no strangers to meeting in the postseason, either, with New York eliminating Cleveland from the postseason three of the last four times that the AL Central club has made it to the postseason.

The stars sure have seemed to align for the Yankees this season as they aim for their 28th World Series in franchise history. Anything less than making the World Series would be a massive failure for the 2024 season.

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