Report: The Dodgers Knew If They Just Pressured The Yankees Into Making Fundamental Baseball Plays They'd Win The World Series, And That's Exactly What Happened
Maddie Meyer. Getty Images.We're a few days removed from the World Series and tidbits are beginning to trickle out about the behind the scenes of game-planning and strategy. By trickling out, I mean the Dodgers pretty much revealed that they knew the Yankees were bad at baseball and that if pressed enough, their lack of fundamentals would be exposed on the biggest stage. Joel Sherman detailed it all in this article.
(NY Post) What the Dodgers told their players in scouting meetings was the Yankees were talent over fundamentals. That if you run the bases with purpose and aggression, the Yankees will self-inflict harm as was exposed by Betts, Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman, etc. That the value was very high to put the ball in play to make the Yankees execute. They mentioned that the Yankees were not just the majors’ worst baserunning team by every metric, but the difference was vast on the field between them and the Padres, who the Dodgers beat in the NL Division Series, but were impressive in this area.
They were thrilled at how short Yankee leads were at first base to potentially be less of a threat on pivots at second, where Gavin Lux does not excel. They said their metrics had the Yankees as the worst positioned outfield. They were amazed how many times relay throws came skittering through the infield with no one taking charge and how often Jazz Chisholm Jr., for example, was out of place or just standing still when a play was in action.
The frustrating part is that Yankees fans knew everything that was written above. If you watched this team all year long you lost sleep when it came to how they ran the bases and attempted to make simple plays in the field. It drove the fanbase nuts. How could a team of their talent and their level in the game be this bad at the simple shit. Despite those glaring concerns, Aaron Boone and co. ignored reality. Every time Boone was questioned about their issues he'd laugh them off and insist they were better than the numbers explained or clips showed. You just knew it was going to come back to bite them. Whether it was Gleyber lazily fielding Juan Soto's throw in from the outfield in Game 1 which allowed Shohei to reach 3rd, Stanton trying to score from 2nd on Teoscar, or the entire 5th inning of Game 5 which will haunt me for the rest of my life. That wasn't the Yankees choking in the biggest moment, it was their typical selves coming out to play. This is just who they were and the game has a funny way of exposing you when it matters most.
The article goes further than that and acknowledges their outfield positioning hurt them more than any other team in the league. Their relay throws were never crisp. They refused to take big leads off first which lowered the chances of impacting Gavin Lux at 2nd on potential pivot throws, something he struggled at.. And that at some point you were destined to catch them off guard, where their focus was not there. Earlier in the year while Clay Holmes was still the closer, it was pointed out to Boone that the infield positioning/assembly didn't make any sense for his pitch selection/arsenal he was using. With how poor their infield defense was, Clay stood no chance at being a successful closer. Fans knew that weeks, if not months before the change was made.
We also just found out know that Freddie Freeman was dealing with torn rib cartilage along with his bum ankle. The only pitch he was able to do damage with was a high fastball on the inner-half of the plate. Somehow that was the only spot the Yankees decided to challenge him. Anything away he didn't have enough in him physically to attack. That was ignored for some reason and instead of taking advantage of a hindered player, he crushed them. Great analytics, boys. For an org that prides themselves with their analytics, they sure as hell use the wrong ones way too much.
The Yankees didn't lose the World Series on talent. Shohei did next to nothing. Muncy was a zero. Mookie didn't necessarily terrorize them. If you look at the stats on both sides of the ball, the series was pretty even. They lost the series because of over-managing (Game 1), stupidity, and laziness.
Constant base-running and defensive miscues typically fall on the manager. Those are not areas in which Boone emphasizes though. His value as manager in the organization's eyes are 1) constantly falling on the sword for his guys and 2) keeping the clubhouse vibes high. They preach togetherness and unity. Not bad things by any means, but I'd value playing baseball at the highest level over that companionship.
I fully expect Boone back after this World Series appearance just because I know they like him too much. If/when he's officially back he needs to change up his philosophy and make sure base-running and defense are a point of emphasis going into 2025. You just lost a World Series because of that shit. Just listen to smug Joe Kelly laugh at the term "Yankee defense."
Everyone knows it except the guys running the show. Now they're getting publicly mocked as if it wasn't staring them right in the face all season long. The Dodgers game plan vs. the Yankees was to simply force them to make baseball plays. How does that not fully embarrass you as an organization? The Yankees possess a very talented roster of undisciplined players who lack focus. So much for that audit they were going to deploy to dissect everything they do wrong. I've long hated Boone, but this is more just an organizational philosophy flaw that doesn't key on the right things. Brian Cashman, Michael Fishman, and David Grabiner are all to blame as well. This is the philopshy you've structured this entire organization around, and were just lapped by the Dodgers in that department. And it's not like they had to do anything special either. The game plan was to force the Yankees to make baseball plays. That's why the Dodgers are the champs and the Yankees sit here looking stupid. So close to immortality, yet so far.