Connect with us

Sports

Yankees clinch playoff berth: Three reasons why they can end their World Series drought this year

Published

on

By virtue of the Blue Jays’ loss on Monday, the New York Yankees are once again playoff-bound, as they’ve clinched a berth in the MLB postseason for the third straight season and the ninth time in the last 10 years. Earlier this season, the Yankees won their 82nd game, securing a winning record for the 34th straight time. Their worst season since 1992 was 2014, when they finished 84-78. It’s been a remarkable run.

Of course, since it’s the Yankees — a franchise with an MLB-record 27 World Series titles — we have to also point out that the regular-season success has only translated to one American League pennant and zero World Series championships since 2009. That drought since the last World Series title is one of the longest for this franchise. They went from 1979 until 1996 waiting for one, along with 1963 through 1976.

Now, the Yankees still have a shot at the AL East title, as they entered Monday trailing the Rays by four games. There’s a four-game head-to-head series remaining, with the Rays visiting the Yankees Sept. 22-24, which includes a doubleheader in there. 

As is often the case, the Yankees are one of the most prolific home run teams in baseball despite the likes of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton missing so much time due to injury. They are pretty reliant on the long ball, sitting in the middle of the pack in runs and OPS, while toward the top in dingers. 

Advertisement

As for run prevention, the Yankees lead the majors in team ERA, even with lengthy absences from several starting pitchers.

With that said, here are three reasons New York is a real threat to win this year’s World Series.

1. Judge is back

Aaron Judge entered the season having won three of the last four AL MVP awards; injury held him to only 106 games in 2023, when Shohei Ohtani took home the honors. He missed between May 31 and Sept. 8 with injury this season, and he’s being eased back into the Yankees’ lineup, but there is no one else — perhaps other than Ohtani — who alters the complexion of a lineup in Major League Baseball like Judge does. His mere presence seems to make everyone else in the lineup better.

We didn’t necessarily need numbers to back up how much Judge changes things, but they bear it all out. The Yankees are 41-24 when Judge starts and 46-39 when he doesn’t.

Advertisement

The best part about Judge — who homered Monday night for the first time since his injury — returning with more than two weeks left in the regular season is that he has the chance to fully get back up to speed in time for the playoffs. With the big man at full strength in October, the Yankees’ lineup with Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice and Luis García Jr., among others, around him is awfully powerful.

2. Trio of aces?

We already discussed the Yankees having the best team ERA in all of baseball. In the playoffs, a rotation of three or four pitchers instead of five is all a team needs. The Yankees might well have a trio of aces heading into October. 

Cam Schlittler is headed toward winning the AL Cy Young at age 25 and in just his second season in the majors. He leads the majors with a 1.95 ERA (216 ERA+) and he already showed last October how good he can be in the postseason with a 12-strikeout performance in an elimination game.

The Yankees’ previous Cy Young winner was Gerrit Cole in 2023. He returned this season from Tommy John surgery and isn’t posting gaudy numbers. He’s been more good than mediocre, though, and has a 3.48 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 77 ⅔ innings in his last 13 starts. He has had trouble with the longball in his last two games, so that’s something to clean up before the postseason.

Advertisement

And, of course, there’s veteran lefty Max Fried. He’s dealt with two injured list stints this season, but has a 2.73 ERA in 18 starts. He was a workhorse for the 2021 World Series champion Braves and has more than 75 innings of playoff experience. 

The Yankees have an outstanding pitching staff overall, but it needs to be strong at the top to win the World Series. With this group, it could just be strong enough.

3. The AL field is weak

The AL West champion and final AL wild-card team look like they’ll barely be above .500, and even the AL Central champion could well fall well short of 90 wins. The playoff format means the four and five seeds are the top two wild cards and play one another in the first round before the winner advances to face the top seed in the ALDS. This means that, as things stand right now, the best three AL teams by record are going to eat one another before the ALCS. 

The flip side of this is that the Yankees, for example, could take out the Red Sox in two games and Rays in five or fewer before facing an obviously inferior foe in the ALCS. As such, it can be viewed as an opportunity in the clearly weaker of the two leagues. 

Advertisement

Could that set the Yankees up nicely for a 28th World Series title? It could, sure. It could also mean they lose in the Wild Card Series to the Red Sox in such a small series, which lends itself to fluky outcomes — plus, the Red Sox are a formidable opponent. 

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Sports

Shree Charani Scripts ICC Rankings History With Never-Seen-Before Feat

Published

on




India’s victorious Asia Cup triumph in Dubai has seen a host of their players make eye-catching improvements up the ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings. India cruised to a 72-run victory over Sri Lanka in the final of the eight-team tournament to claim an unprecedented eighth Asia Cup title, and it was the likes of white-ball stars Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and Shree Charani that led the way, as per the ICC website. Charani picked up four wickets in that title decider at Dubai International Cricket Stadium to finish with 12 scalps for the tournament, and the left-armer has broken new ground on the latest rankings update as she moves further clear at the top of the rankings for T20I bowlers and becomes the first Indian bowler to surpass the 800-point barrier.

Only Australia fast bowler Megan Schutt (806) can lay claim to having reached a higher rating than Charani’s 802 points on the rankings for T20I bowlers, with the India spinner now joining an elite group that includes England tweaker Sophie Ecclestone (802) as the only female players to reach the magical 800-point mark.

And it is teammate Deepti Sharma who is now Charani’s closest rival in the rankings, with the star all-rounder rising four places to move to second on the list for T20I bowlers following her 14 wickets at the Asia Cup that included a spell of 3/19 in the final.

Advertisement

There is further joy for India on the rankings for T20I batters, with Shafali rising one spot to move to sixth on this star-studded list following her tournament best 236 runs at an average of 47.20. It also helped the right-hander make gains of five spots on the list for T20I all-rounders as she jumps to 15th.

It is still Australian duo Beth Mooney and Georgia Voll that hold sway at the top of the rankings for T20I batters, with Nigar Sultana (up one place to equal 20th), Imesha Dulani (up two spots to equal 20th), Sharmin Akhter Supta (up three rungs to equal 40th) and Shawaal Zulfiqar (up four slots to 45th) among the other players to make ground following some good performances at the Asia Cup.

And there are gains for a host of Bangladesh players in the latest rankings for T20I bowlers, with Marufa Akter (up three rungs to equal 15th), Rabeya Khan (up three slots to 18th), Sultana Khatun (up five places to 32nd) and Fahima Khatun (up six spots to 49th) all making progress on the back of some good efforts at the Asia Cup.  

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Advertisement


Featured Video Of The Day


CWG 2026 Weightlifting Gold Medallist, Mirabai Chanu Get Hero’s Welcome in Delhi

Topics mentioned in this article

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Diving catches and an incredible interception – NFL week one best plays

Published

on

Baltimore Raven’s Zay Flowers, Derrick Henry and Kansas City Chief’s Kenneth Walker are amongst the action in the best plays of the opening week of the 2026/27 NFL season.

READ MORE: Bears, Bills and Ravens win on record-breaking Sunday

Available to UK users only.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Sports

Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI record broken: Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor makes history vs Australia | Cricket News

Published

on

Sachin Tendulkar's ODI record broken: Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor makes history vs Australia
Sachin Tendulkar, Brendan Taylor

Zimbabwe veteran Brendan Taylor has gone past Sachin Tendulkar to become the longest-serving player in men’s ODI history after taking the field in the first ODI against Australia in Harare on Tuesday.Taylor’s ODI career now spans 22 years and four months, moving him ahead of Tendulkar, whose ODI career lasted 22 years and three months before he retired from the format in 2012.Tendulkar, however, still holds the record for the most ODI runs with 18,426 and the most appearances in the format with 463 matches.Taylor, 40, made his ODI debut in 2004 and has gone on to become one of Zimbabwe’s leading batters. Going into Tuesday’s match, he had scored a national-record 11 ODI centuries in 207 matches.Taylor retired from international cricket in 2021, but in 2022 he was handed a three-and-a-half-year ban for breaching the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Anti-Doping codes.After completing his suspension, he came out of retirement in 2025 as Zimbabwe began preparing to co-host the 2027 ODI World Cup with South Africa and Namibia.Meanwhile, Australia won the toss on Tuesday and decided to bat in their first one-day cricket international in Zimbabwe in 12 years.Australian captain Mitchell Marsh is one of the three survivors in both teams to have played in the last ODI in Zimbabwe which the host team won. Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza and Brendan Taylor are the other two players, who did compete in that famous Zimbabwe victory in 2014.Lineups:Australia: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Travis Head, Cooper Connolly, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey, Matt Renshaw, Ollie Peake, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson.Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Innocent Kaia, Brendan Taylor, Craig Ervine, Sikandar Raza (captain), Wessly Madhevere, Brad Evans, Newman Nyamhuri, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani.FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Real Betis vs Getafe Prediction and Betting Tips

Published

on

High-flying Real Betis welcome Getafe to the Benito Villamarín Stadium in a Spanish La Liga match on Thursday. Real Betis have a slight historical edge in this fixture.

Real Betis have enjoyed an excellent start to the season and sit third in the La Liga standings, with four wins out of five in the Spanish top flight.

Aside from a 5-2 away loss to Levante on matchday three, Los Verdiblancos have been supremely efficient and defensively solid, with 1-0 victories over giants Real Madrid and Real Sociedad at home, as well as Valencia away.

In their most recent La Liga matchup, Manuel Pellegrini’s men travelled to face Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Monday, securing a come-from-behind 2-1 victory.

Gerard Moreno put the hosts ahead in the 29th minute, but Real Betis fought back as Cucho Hernandez and Natan netted before the halftime break to earn another impressive three points.

Meanwhile, Getafe are in 14th place in the La Liga table with five points from five games, tied on the same points as Levante, who are above Azulones on goal difference.

Getafe kicked off their league campaign with a 3-0 loss away to Alaves before earning their only win so far against newly-promoted Racing Santander at home.

Advertisement

A 1-0 loss away to Osasuna was followed by a pair of 1-1 home draws against Celta Vigo and Deportivo La Coruña.

José Bordalás’ side looked set for the win after they took the lead through Ramon Terrats in the 66th minute, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalized late in the match at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez on Sunday.


Real Betis vs Getafe head-to-head stats and key numbers

  • Real Betis have the slight upper hand in the head-to-head record against Getafe, with 17 wins out of 42 matches, along with 12 draws.
  • Getafe have beaten Real Betis on 13 occasions, including their most recent clash in La Liga last season, when they secured a 2-0 victory at home.
  • Despite that recent loss, Real Betis have dominated the fixture in the last five years, having lost to Getafe only twice in their last 11 matches.

Real Betis vs Getafe prediction

Real Betis are expected to dominate possession and dictate the tempo at home, using their creative midfielders and wide players to transition at speed and break down Getafe’s defense. Getafe will likely adopt a compact, low defensive block designed to disrupt Real Betis’ rhythm, before launching counterattacks and aiming to make the most of set-piece opportunities.

Real Betis have become masters of edging narrow victories, and we expect this encounter to end similarly in the home side’s favor.

Prediction: Real Betis 1-0 Getafe

Advertisement

Real Betis vs Getafe betting tips

Tip 1: Real Betis to win

Tip 2: Real Betis to keep a clean sheet

Tip 3: Under 2.5 goals