Yankees World Series Failure Leaves Door Open for Juan Soto Exit in Free Agency | News, results, highlights, stats and rumours

The City of Angels may be just a day away from ascending to heaven, while it already feels like New York is the other place.

Lest anyone think it can’t get worse, imagine how it will feel if Juan Soto leaves.

It’s neither too doom and gloom nor too early to think ahead about Soto’s upcoming trip to the free agent market. Such is the harsh reality the Yankees now find themselves in the World Series against the Dodgers, as a 4-2 loss in Game 3 at Yankee Stadium on Monday has them in a 3-0 hole.

The Yankees, of all teams, know how difficult it is to climb out of this particular hole.

They were on the losing end of a 3-0 comeback in 2004 when the Boston Red Sox pulled off a somewhat-much-famous sweep in the American League Championship Series. It was the first 3-0 comeback in a best-of-seven series at the time, and it still is 20 years later.

“It ain’t over till it’s over,” like the late, great Yogi Berra allegedly said. And the Yankees are actually capable of winning four in a row, especially if Aaron Judge finally shows up.

But for the Yankees to pull it off, they’ll have to prove to Soto and the world at large that they’re something they clearly aren’t: A better team than the Dodgers.

The Yankees are getting outclassed, plain and simple

Just for kicks, let’s list the Yankees that are not blame for the club’s predicament.

There’s Gerrit Cole, who gave them six one-run innings in Game 1. And Giancarlo Stanton, who had a walk-on homer in that game and is 4-for-13 for the series.

And then there’s Soto himself. He had one defensive miscue in Game 1, but he followed it with one game-tying homer in Game 2. He has otherwise been the Yankees’ most consistent source of at-bats, going 3-for-10 with three walks.

But it’s…yeah, it’s pretty much it.

Dunking on Judge is akin to flogging a dead horse at this point, but it remains inevitable. In the regular season, he is a thoroughly fantastic hitter at 1.010 OPS. In the postseason, he is an all-time slugger with a .196 batting average.

It only gets worse for the 2022 AL MVP, as Judge is now 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts in the World Series. His level of coolness is such that even harmless fly balls momentarily fill people with joyful hope.

While Soto did indeed play a big role in the form of a .989 OPS and 41 home runs, no one did more than Judge to get the Yankees to 94 wins this season. He hit 58 home runs and drove home 144, with the Yankees going 39-14 on days he left the yard.

Unfortunately, the Yankees really needed that much from umpire to paper because of mistakes that are evident right now.

While the Dodgers entered the World Series with a deep roster capable of more than hitting home runs, the Yankees checked none of those boxes. It pretty much tells the story of why they lose, though specific doom-filled moments are worth running through anyway:

• Nestor Cortes gets the call facing Freddie Freeman in Game 1 exposed manager Aaron Boone’s less than deft bullpen management.
• Misplay by both Soto and Gleyber Torres allowed key runs to score in that game, highlighting the Yankees’ defensive deficiencies.
• That Jose Trevino really was Boone’s best choice pinch hitting with Game 2 on the line is a damning indictment of GM Brian Cashman’s roster construction.
• Stanton gets thrown out at home by a mile in Game 3 is more or less typical of the Yankees, which they were worst baserunning team in MLB this season.

Perhaps none of this would matter if the Yanks lived up to their pedigree as the superior power-hitting team. Or for that matter their apparent advantage in the starting pitching department. Those two things were always their best hope of winning their first World Series since 2009 and their 28th title overall.

But it just happens…not….

And while it’s true that this series could be 2-1 in favor of the Yankees had they converted key moments in the first two games, that’s little more than a could-would-should fantasy.

Although not officially over, this series is functionally over for the Yankees. And with that, it’s that much easier to wonder if the next game could be Soto’s last with them.

The Yankees make a weak case to keep Soto

The relationship that Soto has built with all of Yankeedom has warmed the heart many times over at this point. The love really seems to be real.

“I feel like it’s them. They make it really easy for me,” Soto said last Thursday, per Deesha Thosar from Fox Sports. “They really welcomed me, really nice and how they treat me and how they make me feel when I walked into that clubhouse for spring training. They make it really easy for me. I think they is the big part of this, that’s why I feel really comfortable with where I am and how happy I am right now.”

When it comes down to it, the fan who brought the oversized newscheck to Game 3 isn’t wrong in his assessment of Soto:

To seems to be where is the 26-year-old’s market headed and why not?

He has a .421 OBP and 201 home runs to show for his first seven seasons, plus a World Series ring to go with 11 career playoff home runs.

Even if the Yankees won this World Series, it wouldn’t necessarily give them a leg up in the looming competition for Soto’s services. This is according to Brittany Ghiroli from The Athletic , who hears Soto and agent Scott Boras are “following Shohei Ohtani’s record-breaking 10-year, $700 million deal” with the Dodgers.

A longshot perhaps, but it’s still worth noting that such a large contract would effectively double the Yankees’ club-record $360 million for Judge. They can afford it, but so can other teams.

Like, for example, the New York Mets. And maybe the Dodgers, which Jon Heyman of New York Post reported that they plan to pursue Soto this winter.

While that report feels like a well-timed psyop, there’s no doubt that the Mets and Dodgers are at least as capable as the Yankees of meeting Soto’s price. The Yankees can be most valuable franchise in the MLB. Still, the Mets are far from it baseball’s richest owner and the Dodgers have amazing flexibility 680 million dollars layoffs for Ohtani.

If Soto’s choice came down to which is the best place to chase wins, you really have to wonder why he would favor the Yankees.

The Dodgers have been baseball’s winningest team since 2013 and are now on the precipice of a second World Series title in five years. The Mets won more matches than anyone after the Grimace game in June, and they actually managed to beat the Dodgers in the NLCS twice.

Both teams also have significantly better talent bases than the Yankees, whose farm system was ranked by B/R’s Joel Reuter as No. 29 in MLB in September. One scout in July cast the Yankees as “Red Flag organization“because of injuries and poor performances from their prospects.

Ultimately, only Juan Soto will know what is best for Juan Soto this winter. He certainly won’t come away from free agency a poorer man, and it will be hard to argue against him returning if the Yankees make him the best offer.

If they fail to do so, however, it will be just as hard to blame him for leaving.

Soto simply doesn’t need the Yankees the way they need him, and that has nothing to do with Soto and everything to do with them.