Yankees' stars shining much brighter than Dodgers' with upcoming series on horizon
Alex Verdugo #24, Aaron Judge #99 and Juan Soto #22 of the New York Yankees celebrate after defeating the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Dodgers were the undisputed offseason champs, spending $1.2 billion over the winter in the boldest effort yet to buy a World Series.
They won’t even be the best team playing in the Bronx this weekend.
That distinction belongs to the Yankees, but now it comes with an asterisk after Juan Soto’s status for the hotly-anticipated East-West showdown appears to be in jeopardy.
Soto, the Yankees’ co-MVP with Aaron Judge, did not return to the field after a 56-minute rain delay due to what the Yankees described as “left forearm discomfort.” He was 0-for-1 with a pair of walks, scoring a run, and showed no obvious sign of injury before the game was interrupted in the sixth inning. But when play resumed, Judge took his spot in rightfield and Alex Verdugo entered in left.
Nightmare scenario doesn’t begin to cover what losing Soto for any extended period would mean for the Yankees. Soto carried them during Judge’s ice-cold April, and now that the captain is back doing serious damage again, the two have formed the wrecking-ball tandem everyone had envisioned.
The Dodgers’ own dynamic duo of Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani had outpaced them at the start, but the past month, it’s been no contest. Entering Thursday, Judge had been unstoppable, hitting .398 with 14 homers, 34 RBIs and a 1.510 OPS over his last 27 games. Soto was merely supernatural, batting .324 with nine homers, 25 RBIs and a 1.089 OPS.
With those two powering a dangerous top-to-bottom lineup, it’s easy to see why the Yankees were ranked first overall in OPS (.837), homers (49) and runs scored (147) since May 5. The AL East-leading Yankees also had won 11 of their previous 14 games, coming off a 7-2 West Coast trip.
Now what? The Yankees already had shrugged off the absence of Gerritt Cole in cruising to the most wins in the majors (tied with the Phillies) before Thursday, but a serious injury to Soto would obliterate those two months of good vibes and instead conjure up flashbacks of last season’s offensive futility.
The Yankees didn’t get anywhere near the headlines or hype their Hollywood counterparts did this past winter. Trading for Soto rocked the industry for a stretch, but lacked the breathless hysteria surrounding L.A.’s pursuit of Ohtani and the super-hyped Japanese pitching phenom, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
With the Dodgers adding the dynamic duo to a roster that already boasted a pair of former MVPs in Betts and Freddie Freeman, the Yankees need Soto to challenge their West Coast counterpart in terms of pure star-power. Which makes this early June clash between the the two classic rivals -- and baseball’s mightiest goliaths -- the most highly anticipated regular-season showdown in recent memory.
“I think it’s going to be an amazing atmosphere,” manager Aaron Boone said before Thursday’s series finale against the Twins. “I would expect it to be a pretty special environment.”
Boone’s previous visits to Chavez Ravine, of course, didn’t involve Ohtani wearing Dodger Blue. And Soto had yet to put on pinstripes. It’s next level now, especially when you factor in Yamamoto -- Friday night’s starter -- spurning the Yankees’ $300 million offer to sign a record 12-year, $325 million deal with L.A.
Yamamoto better buckle up. He’s in for a raucous Bronx welcome, and we mean that in the rudest possible sense (think Jose Altuve grade). Losing out on Yamamoto, however, hasn’t been so bad for the Yankees, whose rotation is superb, still have Cole coming back and are going to need every dollar to keep Soto -- a much better investment toward the franchise’s long-term success. Hal Steinbrenner was willing to throw record cash at Yamamoto last December after trading for Soto, but that’s when his new rightfielder was still considered a $31 million rental. Now Soto is shaping up to be a $600 million investment.
The Yankees hardly view Yamamoto with regret. And when it comes to bang for their buck, Steinbrenner & Co. -- whose $312 million payroll is third, behind the second-place Dodgers ($320M) -- are outperforming L.A. this season, with Soto and Judge now living up to their advance billing as the most intimidating one-two punch in baseball, perhaps all-time.
The Dodgers? Let’s just say this high-priced blockbuster isn’t getting great reviews lately. Despite already building a seven-game cushion as the only team with a winning record (39-25) in the NL East, they were a meh 6-8 over the past 14 games -- and three of those wins were practically gifted by the Mets during last week’s Citi Field sweep.
L.A.’s low wattage lineup is mostly to blame, with even the Dodgers’ brightest stars dimming considerably over the past month. Before Thursday’s series finale in Pittsburgh, Ohtani was hitting .247 with only four homers, 13 RBIs and a .750 OPS during those 24 games (striking out at a 25% clip). Betts had cooled as well, batting .240 with three homers, five RBIs and a .705 OPS in 25 games.
During the past month, the Dodgers ranked 18th in OPS (.690), 24th in batting average (.230) and 26th in runs scored (100). One other factor to consider: the Dodgers have played only nine games against teams above .500 this season (6-3). The Yankees are 19-9 against winning clubs, so Hollywood glitz alone isn’t going to get it done in the Bronx for this series.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.