This iconic moment is exactly why the Yankees brought in Juan Soto
CLEVELAND — It was the whole point of the trade.It was the reason the Yankees gave what the Padres needed to make it happen.Because last year was a non-playoff embarrassment for the Yankees.
And 14 years without a pennant was a pinstriped eternity.So it took Michael King and a good prospect named Drew Thorpe and three other pieces plus a $31 million contract, and the knowledge that with all that, the Yankees were guaranteed only one year of Juan Soto, but that is what was necessary.They would worry about 2025 and thereafter when the season was done.
The key was that their season end in the World Series.It is going to.Soto hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning.He was down 1-2 in the count to Hunter Gaddis, and yet still seemed in command.
It is the magic of Soto.The at-bat is always his.
The moment never bigger than the man.So the Yankees won ALCS Game 5 by a 5-2 score.They won the AL pennant for the 41st time.
They will be part of the 120th Fall Classic because Soto homered 5,463 days after the Yankees last played in and won the World Series.There were other heroes.Giancarlo Stanton hit his fourth homer of this series and the 16th of his brilliant postseason career to tie the score in the sixth.
And Mark Leiter Jr., Tim Hill, Jake Cousins and Luke Weaver fashioned 5 ¹/₃ shutout relief innings — most of that group working on fumes.But the clinching night belonged to Soto, who has followed a brilliant first Yankee season with two terrific playoff rounds.It all is going to bring a louder cha-ching for him come the offseason in free agency.
But that is business for later.The business of now is the Yankees returning to what was long their home office — the World Series.This ends their second-longest drought without reaching the World Series in their history at 14 years — same as 1982-95, trailing only the longest from 1903-1920.Soto was a culture changer for the Yankees.
He gave them the lefty greatness they so badly needed.But also i...