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This iconic moment is exactly why the Yankees brought in Juan Soto

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2 months ago

October 20, 2024

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This iconic moment is exactly why the Yankees brought in Juan Soto

CLEVELAND — It was the whole point of the trade. It was the reason the Yankees gave up what the Padres needed to make it happen.

Because last year was a non-playoff embarrassment for the Yankees — 82-80 feeling like something the 2024 White Sox dragged in. And 14 years without a pennant was a pinstriped eternity. So if it took Michael King and a good prospect named Drew Thorpe and three other pieces, plus a $31 million contract and the knowledge that with all that the Yankees were guaranteed just one year of Juan Soto, then that is what was necessary.

At the moment he heard the deal with San Diego was completed at the Winter Meetings last December, Giancarlo Stanton said, “I figured he was going to do what he did tonight.”

What he did was magical, yet with Soto “not surprising that he does it, it is just who he is,” Aaron Boone explained. “He is so good at seizing the moment.” Soto is so in control of every at-bat, even ones with two outs in the 10th inning of an ALCS tied Game 5 on the road with the potential to go to the World Series. Right man. Right place. Right time.

“Since Day 1 of spring training I have been saying, ‘Give me every hard moment, every tough time,’ ” Soto said. “I’m going to step up and try to do my best.”

Some major leaguers fake confidence. Feign boldness in the biggest moments. But Soto is unflappable. He never believes a pitcher is better than him regardless of the inning, count or month of the year. He fell behind 1-2 to hard-throwing Hunter Gaddis. Yet, with three foul balls that followed, Soto did his strut, he nodded, he smiled.

“Be ready, be ready, he’s going to make a mistake,” Soto thought. Boone said. “He kind of outlasted him.”

Gaddis threw the first fastball of a seven-pitch confrontation in what Boone termed “an at-bat for the ages.” The launch was high and for a moment you could wonder if it would die on the warning track. It didn’t. It cleared the right-center field wall.

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Soto stopped short of first base to pound his chest and celebrate toward his dugout and, “What was in my head? ‘We’re going to win. We’re going to the World Series.’ ”

Indeed. Soto’s blow provided a 5-2 victory over the confident but overmatched — and mainly overpowered — Guardians in ALCS Game 5. The Yankees won the AL pennant for the 41st time. Soto homered 5,463 days after the Yankees last played in and won the World Series.

“I’ve been mumbling my words the last five minutes,” Hal Steinbrenner said before taking the stage to accept the AL championship trophy. “I’m a little emotional. It’s been 15 freaking years. This means a lot.”

This victory was a convergence of what the Yankees do well both big and small. On the small side, they are superb at finding and maximizing bullpen arms and a group on fumes — Mark Leiter Jr., Tim Hill, Jake Cousins and Luke Weaver (think about that Bingo card to seal the AL title back in March) — teamed for 5 ¹/₃ shutout innings.

And Stanton and Soto represent two titanic trades designed to create this moment. The Yankees obtained Stanton after reaching 2017 ALCS Game 7, following being spurned by a free agent named Shohei Ohtani. And Stanton has turned into a great postseason performer. He had four hits in this ALCS — all homers, including a two-run shot in the sixth inning that tied the score. He won the ALCS MVP for those four huge swings.

But the Yankees were going to need one more big blast. It is their Wite-Out. Power covers so much of what they do not do well. Gleyber Torres, who has hit terrifically this postseason, was thrown out at the plate after a Soto double with no outs in the first and the Yankee offense was throttled until Stanton’s homer.

And then it was tamed once more until Austin Wells walked with one out in the 10th and Alex Verdugo reached on shortstop Brayan Rocchio’s error. Torres whiffed. So two outs. But the right man due.

“This is what I was sure of,” Gerrit Cole said. “He was going to have a good at-bat.” Cole mentioned knowing since he gave up homers to Soto in both games he started for the Astros against Soto’s Nationals in the 2019 World Series. Stanton noted that Soto already was, in the month that he turned 21, the best hitter on a championship team as a reason for optimism about what he could do with the Yankees.

Soto did not disappoint. Not during a season so good that he will finish in the AL MVP top five. Not in a postseason in which he is hitting .333 through nine games with a 1.106 OPS. Not with one of the biggest swings in Yankees history setting up a date with either the Mets or Ohtani’s Dodgers in the 120th World Series.

It is why the hundreds of Yankees fans who lingered as Soto left the AL title podium chanted to Steinbrenner, in particular, “Re-sign Soto.” It is why Jazz Chisholm provided, “All I can say to that is, ‘Pay that man.’ ”

That is for the offseason. There is still a World Series and the Yankees at last are back in their home office because they made a trade designed to do just this.