All season long, New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto has been delivering big hits and big plays for his team. Well, on Saturday night, his three-run, 10th-inning home run carried the Yankees back into the World Series. Soto and the Bronx Bombers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 5-2 to win the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
Soto and probable AL MVP Aaron Judge were electric during the regular season for New York. While Judge’s postseason numbers have not been good, his leadership throughout the season put the Yankees in the position to play in October.
New York Yankees Get Tough Late
Here’s how the top of the 10th inning panned out for the New York Yankees. Austin Wells walked with one out. Alex Verdugo followed and hit a grounder to Cleveland Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez. But his toss to the second-base bag was dropped by rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio for an error.
Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis struck out Gleyber Torres. Gaddis was even up on Soto with a 1-2 count. But Soto wasn’t going to miss a pitch to hit, and he got one. Soto smoked a Gaddis pitch right over the center-field wall, sending him and his Yankees teammates into a frenzy.
“I was just saying to myself, `You’re all over that guy. You’re all over that guy. He ain’t got anything,’” Soto said, The Associated Press reported.
JUAN SOTO. THREE-RUN HOMER. @YANKEES LEAD IN THE 10TH! pic.twitter.com/w5goa4pSwz
— MLB (@MLB) October 20, 2024
Yankees manager Aaron Boone called on closer Luke Weaver to pitch the ninth and 10th innings. He got the Guardians in six outs of solid relief work, retiring the game’s final batter on a fly ball to—who else?—Soto in right field. “We’re right where we belong,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who pulled off the deal for Soto, said.
Cleveland jumped out to a 2-0 lead after Bo Naylor’s second-inning RBI double and Steven Kwan’s fifth-inning RBI single.
So, the New York Yankees are going to play in the franchise’s 41st World Series. It’s also their first one in 15 years, which will bring fans out in droves to Yankee Stadium.
Soto was picked up by the Yankees in a seven-player trade with the San Diego Padres in December 2023. From the first series this season against the Houston Astros, Soto made his presence felt at the plate and in the field.
Another Subway World Series Is Possible
Who will the New York Yankees play? That’s still to be determined as the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers play Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. Could there be another Subway World Series in the making? Time will tell.
Giancarlo Stanton added a two-run home run for the Yankees. Stanton’s homer also drove in Gleyber Torres, tying things up at 2-2 at that point. Stanton, who had four homers in the ALCS, was named series MVP after the victory. The game went into extra innings, where Soto became the reason to celebrate for Yankees fans all over the world.
“It sounds amazing,” Soto said of making it to the World Series, MLB.com reported. “We did a really good job here. Since Day 1, we were grinding and working really hard. Now, we are the best team in the American League.”
New York picked up the first two ALCS game victories at home. Getting to Cleveland, though, proved to be a different story. All three games at Progressive Field were close, going all the way to Saturday night’s loss for the Guardians faithful.
Cleveland has not won a World Series since 1948, which currently is the longest title-less streak in MLB. The Guardians put things together under first-year manager Stephen Vogt. They beat the upstart Detroit Tigers to reach the ALCS. But their big sluggers couldn’t come up with timely hits. And their pitching, while Game 5 starter Tanner Bibee did well, just could not ultimately shut down the New York Yankees at the batter’s box.
Start spreading the news, Yankees fans.
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