Can the Yankees Come Back in the World Series?
The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers played their first two World Series games on Friday and Saturday with the Yankees losing both games. This Yankees team needs to get it together before it's too late and the Dodgers become champions. However, the Yankees may have a possibility to turn this series around if they win in Game Three, which will happen on Monday night. Here are a few factors that the Yankees will need in order for them to make a comeback.
1. Stepping up at the Plate
The Yankees have seen better days when coming onto the batter’s box. They have struggled to make contact with the ball during this World Series matchup. Aaron Judge has struck out six times during these two games. Many of the pitches Judge swung at were terrible, with some being thrown completely on the outside of the plate. The Yankees have continued to swing at everything that comes their way, this will either help or hurt them. They need to eye the ball better before stepping up to the plate which allows them to take a sweeter swing at the next pitch. During the last two games, New York has swung at 147 pitches and missed 52 times. This is not a good sign for the Yankees. If they start swinging better and looking for the correct pitches in the next few games, they may have a chance at tying the series and perhaps beating the Dodgers in the fight for a World Series championship.
2. Judge Needs to Pull His Head Together
This past regular season, Judge was named the first Yankees captain since Derek Jeter. Since his time in a Yankees jersey, he’s won AL Rookie of the Year, AL MVP, three-time Silver Slugger Award, and set the new American League home run record, clearly everything starts and ends with Judge. However, he seems to struggle in this series on the field and at the plate. During Game Two, the former MVP went 0-4 with three strikeouts. Fans are disappointed with how Judge has played so far during this postseason. Judge needs to start making things happen. The way he needs to go about this is in the first inning. If Judge can hit one of his famous home runs during his appearances in this upcoming Game Three, there should not be any issues, and the Yankees may be able to get ahead. There is much hope for this player for Monday night's game.
3. Playing Defensively
The Yankees have been doing better on the defensive side of things in the postseason than during the regular season. Their last game before the World Series against the Cleveland Guardians showed how much better they can play defensively. They must pull that back out during the next few games against the Dodgers. Juan Soto has done well playing defense. However, he played slightly sloppy in both Games One and Two. Allowing center fielder Kiké Hernández to hit a ball down the right-field line that got away from Soto. Then, Soto almost got the catch but fell short. Simple mistakes that were made on the defensive end. They just need to take their chances with leaps and dives to get the ball, and things may start to turn around for them.
If the Yankees can pull out all of these stops, there may be a chance in the next several games that they will win the World Series. They played well before the World Series; they just need to regain that motivation. Many Yankees fans want to see this happen; however, it will take the whole team to fix all these issues, not just one. The Yankees are returning for game three on Monday, and hopefully, things will be able to turn around for them.
