“Start spreading the news, you’re leaving today,I want to be a part of it, New York, New York”

For the second time in the last three years, the New York Yankees are back in the ALCS. This has been a team that’s starving for a championship and after acquiring Juan Soto, all eyes are on the prize.

The biggest thorn in their side was the Houston Astros and that walk off home run by Jose Altuve still rings loudly. Luckily, the Astros aren’t in the picture and they’ll face either the Cleveland Guardians or the Detroit Tigers.

Both teams pose a threat in their own way, so the Yankees will need to come prepared. They defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-1 in the best of five games, so a new challenge awaits. Here is how they did it and what needs to improve going forward.

Pitching Was Dynamite for the Yankees

The pitching was good for the Yankees in this series. Gerrit Cole was okay in his first start and it could’ve been better. Carlos Rodon was amped after the first inning due to his output, but could not get through four innings. Clarke Schmidt has a good output and Cole bounced back in the final game, striking out four in seven innings of work. The Yankees rotation has depth and if they are firing on all cylinders, they are tough to beat. They’ll need to be better. The biggest reason for their success was the bullpen.

Whether they face the Tigers or Guardians, both of those teams have really good bullpens. In fact, the Guardians had the best bullpen all year long and it was not even close. As for the Yankees, they’ll need to go toe to toe with those units. They are a massive reason why the Yankees move on to the championship series.

The biggest question was who was going to close games. Clay Holmes, while still being a good pitcher blew alot of saves for the Yankees this year. Well, there’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Luke Weaver.

Yankees Elite Bullpen Shines

Weaver has become the backbone of this bullpen and needs to continue to do so. Weaver finished the series with three saves in 4.1 innings of work. Weaver has been a machine for the Yankees and solidified the closer role down the stretch. This postseason, Weaver has a 10.38 K/9, striking out five and walking zero. He’s locked in and his regular season play carried over. Weaver was a strikeout machine in the regular season, averaging 11.04 K/9 and finishing with a 31.1 strikeout percentage. He’s the type of guy you want on the mound in a high leverage situation.

It wasn’t just him. Tommy Kahnle has yet to give up a hit and zero earned runs against him. Holmes is still good and is good depth on the chart. If the bullpen can lock it in down the stretch, this is going to be a tough team to beat. They also need their MVP to shine.

Offense Needs to Shine More

The Yankees have only played four games this postseason, as they had the bye in the first round. When it comes to an offensive output, they put up 3+ runs in only one game and that was the first game of the series. This is a lineup that can do damage at the plate and make you pay. During the regular season, the Yankees were top ten in batting average and had the third highest OPS. Also, they scored the third most runs, so the offensive output is there.

The playoffs have been an entirely different for the Yankees. The sample size is small with four games, but of teams that’s have played at least four games the Yankees are near the bottom in runs with 14. As a unit, the Yankees are batting .220 and have an OPS of .693. The supporting cast has done their job. Giancarlo Stanton had a game winning home run. Alex Verdugo, who struggled mightily during the regular season came up huge in Game 1. Juan Soto has been a machine. They are getting a better collective effort. The biggest x-factor going forward is none other than Aaron Judge.

It is wild to think a player of his caliber has the highest strikeout percentage in postseason history (minimum 200 plate appearances). There is no explanation for it, but once October hits, something changes and the regular season Judge is out the window.

During these playoffs, Judge is batting a subpar .154. This is a guy who was third in average during the year and also was slugging .700. He has just two hits all postseason and has two runs. The one alarming issue is the strikeouts.

As an opposing pitcher, striking out Judge is a sigh of relief. Judge has struck out the second most of any Yankee batter. Also, he has a whopping 27.8 strikeout percentage. Simply put, that’s not good enough. The Yankees were able to get by without him. But in a best of seven series coming up, the Yankees will need their MVP to be a difference maker and give the Yankees a playoff moment they’ve been itching for.

The show still goes on for the Yankees and they’ll be fun to watch down the stretch.