The homestretch of the MLB regular season is upon us as teams are all vying for postseason berths on both sides of the fence.
The Wild Card race in the American and National Leagues have been electric to watch, which each remaining game in the regular season meaning so much for so many teams.
And then there are some teams who are happy they don’t have to duke it out with their same-league foes, like the New York Yankees, who currently own the best record in the American League entering Tuesday. In fact, one win against AL East-rival Baltimore Orioles in their series this week would lock up the division title.
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The Yankees celebrated a postseason berth in Oakland last week, reaching a point they shockingly didn’t in the 2023 campaign. But the writing has been on the wall for quite some time with this ball club, even with the summer slump they went through.
But the question on every Yankees fan’s mind is will this finally be the year when a postseason berth leads to a World Series appearance?
Yankees legend CC Sabathia knows what it takes to get to the Fall Classic, having done so in 2009, the year they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series.
Fox News Digital caught up with Sabathia at his 4th Annual Charity Golf Tournament benefiting his PitCCh In Foundation on Monday, where he revealed his Yankees catalyst for reaching the World Series, and it isn’t the two big bats in the lineup you may be thinking about.
“Honestly, I think it would have to be the bullpen,” Sabathia said.
Sure, without offense, you can’t win games. And when teams have bats like Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and more in the lineup, they are usually frontrunners to win their respective league.
But pitching becomes even more paramount in October, especially if your starter is either tapped out can’t seem to find it early in the game.
The Yankees have had big question marks with their bullpen this season, but it appears manager Aaron Boone has figured it out of late, and it started when Clay Holmes, the league leader in blown saves this season, was replaced in that role by Luke Weaver.
Weaver has shown he can handle high-pressure moments that will be even more stressful come time for postseason baseball. Since the beginning of the month, Weaver has converted all four of his save opportunities for the Yankees and collected a win in the extra-inning game against the Kansas City Royals on Sept. 11.
The Yankees have also seen Tommy Kahnle and Ian Hamilton perform well in late-inning situations, while Jake Cousins is someone the team hopes can return off the IL in time for the playoffs after he’s shut down offenses.
And there’s always the postseason roster question of which starters will be going to the bullpen. Marcus Stroman, who has simply eaten up innings for New York, is already there, while Clarke Schmidt, Luis Gil and Nestor Cortes are all candidates to enter the game midway through once October rolls around.
Sabathia knows well what a bullpen can do for a postseason run, and that’s why another former team of his, the Cleveland Guardians, is someone he can’t count out in the American League.
“On the flip side, Cleveland has the bullpen. If you get into a six-inning game with them, the game’s over. It would be interesting to see how this playoff plays out because there’s no real clear-cut winner,” he said.
Emmanuel Clase has a 0.63 ERA and has led the league in saves over the past three seasons. He’s about as shut-down as it comes, and no team wants to be chasing the Guardians in the ninth inning in the postseason with him on the mound.
The AL West-leading Houston Astros plus the Detroit Tigers and Royals are the current owners of playoff spots as well.
While Sabathia is curious to see who emerges from the American League, he did provide his National League pennant winner, and it’s a team that isn’t leading its division right now.
“I think the Padres are going to be in the World Series,” he said.
Sabathia also mentioned that the New York Mets could “beat the Phillies in a certain situation” as the National League also offers some interesting matchups right now.
But while the onus has been on Shohei Ohtani and the power of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sabathia likes what the Padres have been doing of late. They own the top NL Wild Card spot at 90-66, and going back to Sabathia’s point about pitching staff and bullpen help, they check the box in many ways.
A starting rotation of Dylan Cease, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Michael King is about as solid as it gets entering the postseason, and the addition of Tanner Scott out of the bullpen has paid dividends with a 2.19 ERA since joining. Also, Jason Adam, another acquisition at the trade deadline, has posted a 1.11 ERA since heading out west.
The Padres also feature star power at many positions on the field, with Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Jurickson Profar and NL Rookie of the Year candidate Jackson Merrill leading the way.
It’s going to be a true battle in the National League, though, as Sabathia mentioned the red-hot Mets, the Phillies, who appear set at every level for postseason baseball, and the Milwaukee Brewers – another team Sabathia has a soft spot for because he played for them – can’t be ruled out. Oh, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, the reigning NL winners, are also in the final Wild Card spot as of Tuesday.
So, as Sabathia continues to hit the links and impact lives in his community, he’s excited like every other baseball fan to see which two teams end up in the World Series this fall.
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