As the New York Yankees get ready to host the Cleveland Guardians for Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday night, one former Yankee thinks the team has an "easy road" to the World Series.
Alex Rodriguez knows the feeling of winning a World Series in New York. In fact, the last time the Yankees won the trophy was 2009, when Rodriguez was part of a loaded Yankees squad that defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to win the franchise’s MLB-best 27th title.
While on the Fox Sports panel after Game 1 of the NLCS, where the Los Angeles Dodgers took down the New York Mets to strike first in that series, Rodriguez’s Yankees teammate, Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, spoke about the Yankees’ chances of reaching the World Series.
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"You never want to say you have. You never have an easy road to the World Series, but if the Yankees could pick and choose their opponents, I think they got the two that they would pick and choose because the success they’ve had against the AL Central," Jeter explained.
Rodriguez was a lot stronger with his thoughts heading into the series.
"You don’t have to say it, I’ll say it: They have an easy road to the World Series," Rodriguez replied.
"Look, it’s never easy, right? But this is the clearest path in 20 years."
Some Yankees fans could be calling Rodriguez’s comments a jinx, while Guardians fans could be hoping their team uses something like this as "bulletin board material," or fuel to prove Rodriguez wrong in this best-of-seven bout.
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But there is some backing that Rodriguez has for his comment regarding the clearest path in the past two decades for the Yankees.
It’s no secret New York has been trying to reach the World Series for a long time, having not done so since Rodriguez and Jeter were hoisting the trophy at Yankee Stadium in 2009. They have made it to the ALCS in recent years, but they couldn’t get past the Houston Astros in 2017, 2019 and 2022.
Well, Yankees fans were elated when the Detroit Tigers took down the Astros in the Wild Card Round, as they knew they wouldn’t have to see them at any point on their hopeful road to the Fall Classic.
Then, while awaiting an opponent between the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles, Yankees fans would admit they’d rather see the former because the latter gave them trouble in their AL East schedule all season. The Orioles were 8-5 against the Yankees during the 2024 regular season.
So, when the Royals took out the Orioles, once again Yankees fans were happy with the results. New York would eventually complete their ALDS victory in Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, beating the Royals in Game 4 to move on.
Meanwhile, the Guardians do come to the Bronx with loads of momentum after Lane Thomas’s clutch grand slam off AL Cy Young frontrunner Tarik Skubal in Game 5 of the ALDS, which was ultimately a kill shot to the Tigers’ Cinderella story this postseason.
The Guardians have seen the Yankees recently in the postseason, with New York beating them in five games in the ALDS in 2022. And while the Yankees are the top seed, Cleveland comes into this series with a formidable bullpen and the second-best batting average among the four teams remaining in the postseason (.234).
The Yankees are hitting at a .220 clip, with AL MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge struggling with just two hits in four games thus far. However, the Yankees went 4-2 against the Guardians this season, and they’re looking to replicate those four wins to secure a spot in what’s become an elusive series for them despite the talent and payroll on the books.
It’s never an easy road, but Rodriguez is clearly confident that this is the best chance the Yankees have had since he was wearing the pinstripes.
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