Playoff Atmosphere Looms As Dodgers Take On Yankees

Dodgers vs. Yankees, 7:00 ET

Sometimes the baseball gods work out for us and we get an amazing game to bless us on Sunday Night Baseball. At least on paper, that’s the situation we have today as the Dodgers and Yankees face off. This is the second game in the series that I am playing, and while playoff baseball is my favorite to actually watch, these two squaring off is about as close as I’ll get until September rolls around so I plan to savor every moment of it.

I wrote about the Dodgers the other day, so let’s play a different game here. If you were the GM of this club what would you try and do at the deadline? To me, you could argue that they have at least three positions you can’t upgrade at in Betts, Freeman, and Ohtani. Will Smith is a really good catcher, and even though he is injured, Max Muncy offers a lot of upside over at third base. I do think they could use an outfielder, but they may not be able to find a reasonable bat for this season that doesn’t interfere with everything else they are trying to get done long term. Elsewhere on the club, they will probably try and find a rental arm or two for the rotation and bullpen. Health has been a huge issue for the rotation and they’ve also lost two pitchers in the past few years to domestic violence issues. One addition that has worked our for them this season is Tyler Glasnow. The Yankees should be very familiar with his stuff after his time spent with Tampa Bay. Glasnow has been a great addition, leading the Majors in strikeouts this season and posting the 3rd best WHIP at 0.90. He has been outstanding on the road as well with a 1.66 ERA. Yankees hitters can’t be happy seeing him take the mound as he has held them to just 20 hits in 103 at-bats against him. He’s allowed three homers to Yankee hitters, and all three have come from the bat of Giancarlo Stanton. 

Feb 17, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA;  Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow (31) throws batting practice during spring training at Camelback Ranch. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

For the same exercise, let’s see what the Yankees will do, or should do this year at the deadline. In my opinion, their entire focus needs to be about getting a World Series this year. I do assume they will resign Juan Soto, but it is possible that he walks after this year, so getting a trophy makes it that much harder for him to leave. If they can get him to sign an extension during the season (I say it is highly doubtful) that would be bigger than any other addition they could make. Still, you have to assume they will look for a third baseman as their combinations haven’t done much this campaign. Their pitching staff surprisingly needs very little this season and I think it is more likely to be a tinker as opposed to a big splash. Luis Gil is one of the more surprising pitchers for the club this season. Gil has been amazing this year with an 8-1 record, 1.82 ERA, and a 0.92 WHIP. To go along with those other top-10 rankings, he is 9th with 85 strikeouts this season. At home, his ERA is barely above 1.00 and he looks to try and dominate once again tonight. He has the edge of the Dodgers never really facing him, with just five at-bats between two players. 

If this isn’t a pitcher’s duel, I’d be shocked. The game screams under and that’s the only way to play it. I don’t want to do just the first five innings, I would rather play the full game as I think the starters probably get six or seven innings anyway and the first five will leave less room for error and probably be heavily juiced.  

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