The World Series is coming, and with it the attendant hype accompanying what will probably be the first Yankees-Dodgers bicoastal battle since 1981.
There will be supersized billboards of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, or perhaps Francisco Lindor vs. Juan Soto if the New York Mets sneak through , and the seasoned ball watcher will look at the hype and smirk, knowing that a utility infielder or middle reliever might ultimately be the hero.
Yet these New York Yankees smashed to pieces all that playoff randomness, all these notions that superstars on superteams aren’t any likelier to win 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’s truly larger than life has its big boys to thank.
Soto, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton aren’t simply sluggers, MVP-caliber producers or nine-figure earners (Soto to join them in that club very soon).
They are a traveling road show, the 6-7 Stanton able to hit baseballs harder than any human on the planet, the 6-6 Judge somehow able to patrol center field in concert with pounding 58 home runs this season, an American League-record 62 two seasons ago.