Yankees deserve to revel in long-awaited pennant before turning attention to real business ahead
The ball was in the air, soaring on a beautiful parabola toward the deepest part of the ballpark.Off the bat, it seemed Juan Soto wasn’t quite sure.
He was taking a good, hard look.But soon he could see what everyone else saw.He could see that a Cleveland center fielder named Lane Thomas was starting to drift back toward the wall.
For most of the ball’s flight, it actually seemed like Thomas thought he had a shot.He kept waiting for it to fall.
Kept waiting.Kept waiting.
But he kept going back.Kept going back.
Kept going back.And then, you could see Thomas’ shoulders sag ever so slightly and his legs weaken a bit.The ball was over his head.
He ran out of room, and the ball was still drifting farther.By the time the ball landed, so did the Yankees — right into the World Series for the first time in 15 years.Three outs later it was Yankees 5, Guardians 2, and it was a 41st American League pennant for the Yanks.
Friday night — either back home in The Bronx or out in Los Angeles — they will begin a quest for a 28th World Series championship.And they are playing their best ball of the season.
It’s a hell of a thing and a hell of a time.“I’m overwhelmed with emotion right now,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who 21 years ago took it upon himself to have his own Juan Soto moment, a homer off his bat shooting another set of Yankees to another Word Series.“I’m so proud of these guys.
Another gritty, tough game, so many guys stepping up for us.We’ve been knocking on the door a few times.
And now, we’re going to the dance.”The Yankees came out as they seem to always come out.Gleyber Torres singled leading off the game, again.
Soto followed with a rocket — this time a double to the wall — again.The fly in the ointment was that Torres couldn’t make it all the way home before the ball arrived.And for a while, it seemed that might be costly.
The Guardians took a 1-0 lead.They took a 2-0 lead.
Their starter, Tanner Bibee, began to...