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    • Yankees’ World Series run led by superstars Soto, Judge and Stanton
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    Yankees’ World Series run led by superstars Soto, Judge and Stanton

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    The World Series is coming, and with it the associated hype that comes with what will likely be the first bicoastal battle between the Yankees and Dodgers since 1981.

    There will be super-sized billboards of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, or maybe Francisco Lindor vs. Juan Soto as the New York Mets sneak through, and the seasoned ball watcher will look at the hype and grin, knowing that a good infielder or middle reliever could do that. ultimately be the hero.

    Yet these New York Yankees have smashed to bits all that playoff randomness, all these ideas that superstars on superteams have no better chance of winning than some nondescript upper-middle class club that gets hot for a minute in October .

    The Yankees are back in the World Series for the first time since 2009. And a club that is truly larger than life has its big boys to thank.

    Soto, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton aren’t just sluggers, MVP-caliber producers or nine-figure earners (Soto will soon join them in that club).

    They are a traveling roadshow, the 6-7 Stanton is able to hit the baseball harder than any human on the planet, the 6-6 Judge can somehow patrol center field with 58 home runs this season, a record in the American League 62 two seasons ago.

    And then there’s Soto, who feels like he’s been in the spotlight longer than any of them – yet is only celebrating his 26th birthday.e birthday Friday, batting second and patrolling right field for the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series.

    Saturday night, all of Soto’s immense talent and considerable swagger came together in the batter’s box at Progressive Field, 10e inning, 2-2 game, the Yankees were leading the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 in the American League Championship Series and a fielding error gave them the kind of opening that could dish out significant punishment.

    Soto set his jaw and dug in, taking a few pitches before fouling one pitch, and then another and another, and another for good measure, his conviction only increasing and , we can only wonder, the fear might be greater for Guardians reliever Jager Gaddis.

    “I said to myself,” Soto said in a post-game TBS interview, ‘I was all over him, I was all over him, I was all over him.’”

    Call him cocky if you want, but the truth is always a defense.

    After parrying a handful of changeups and sliders, Soto finally got the fastball he wanted, the kind he crushed, and took it to right center field. He stared at it not so much because he knew it was gone, but rather because by viciously robbing the baseball he might end up behind the fence.

    And that happened.

    About 400 feet later, the biggest home run in Yankee history since – oh, let’s see, Hideki Matsui’s two-run shot off Pedro Martinez in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series? – ended up in the bullpens. And the practical impact of that explosion – Yankees, World Series bound – almost paled in comparison to the bigger picture:

    Soto did exactly what he had to do when the Yankees brought him to New York.

    His free agency will remain the burning question this offseason, and this October platform will keep his price tag above half a billion dollars. But whether he gets his bag in the Bronx or elsewhere — and even if the Yankees win or don’t win four more games — the mercenary part has been a resounding success.

    “Not everyone likes it, loves it the way Juan Soto does or the way a lot of our guys do,” manager Aaron Boone said at a news conference after Game 5.

    “He loves it.”

    Soto hit bookend home runs in this ALCS, a solo home run that set up Game 1’s scoring and then Saturday’s decisive smash. He’s 11 for 33 this postseason, with an on-base percentage of .450, all coming off a 41-home run season.

    Yet these Yankees have hired, bought, acquired stars and spent billions of dollars in payroll since the last time they won the World Series. Yet a braver, wiser, better-built team always came along to take on the last of the season that the Yankees felt was their divine right.

    Think about it: the San Francisco Giants have won three titles, the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros two since the Yankees’ last championship. Heck, the Kansas City Royals won back-to-back AL pennants and a championship.

    This season the superstars were aligned.

    Think about Stanton. Much of his star-plagued and injury-plagued stint in pinstripes since the Yankees imported him from Miami after the 2017 season all came together for G in October. The Yankees have used him judiciously and tried to improve his frame 6-6 and 245 pounds and he rewarded them with 27 home runs and, as manager Aaron Boone likes to point out, a steady presence when he’s in the lineup.

    Well, the man with 429 career home runs, an NL MVP and a Home Run Derby title now has an ALCS MVP trophy to add to his mantle.

    He hit a baseball at 117.5 miles per hour on Saturday night, a feat of strength that underpins his image as Adonis on a diamond. Yet it wasn’t just any laser, but a game saver, a two-run shot that spoiled a shutout attempt by Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee and tied the game at 2-2.

    The Guardians will regret throwing to Stanton — he literally hit the only strike thrown at him in a six-pitch at-bat at 450 feet — because they were put on notice.

    Game 1: Solo homer.

    Game 3: Go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning.

    Game 4: Go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning.

    And then Saturday’s explosion, which was his 16the postseason homer in his career, all with the Yankees.

    It’s easy to say that the first dozen were in vain. Stanton arrived in 2018 with manager Aaron Boone, a year after Judge’s epic rookie and near-MVP season. They were schooled by the Red Sox in the 2018 and 2021 ALDS wild card game, punked by the Rays in the COVID bubble ’20 ALDS, reposted by the Astros in the 2019 and 2022 ALCS.

    All the while, Stanton’s $325 million contract, Judge’s service time clock, and all the botched spending continued. Still, managing partner Hal Steinbrenner made the right decisions when it mattered most: re-signing Judge for $360 million and greenlighting the trade for Soto this winter.

    Judge’s contract means he’s the biggest target: opposing pitchers have to be dodged, and fans and media can grumble if he isn’t explosive in every series. Yes, he showed up: a home run in Game 2 and a game-tying two-run game in Game 3 that shook Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase to the core.

    Worry if you have to about small sample sizes, but the guy still has a .773 OPS and 15 home runs in 53 career playoff games.

    It’s just that he has some help now. Maybe Soto will be gone next year. Maybe Stanton won’t be so happy with his good health come October.

    But right now, the Yankees are unstoppable: 7-2 in October, heading to the World Series, and aren’t taking shorts to whichever opponent joins them.

    Larger than life, you might say.

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