Sal: Yankees don't look like true World Series team, but in today's MLB, they don't have to

Sal has remained steadfast in his belief that the Yankees do not look like a legitimate World Series team, but given the current landscape of Major League Baseball, perhaps they don’t have to be to win it all.

Not only has the expanded postseason given way to improbable pennant winners in recent years, but the league’s wide-open outlook in 2024 is another factor that could lead to the Yanks getting back to the Fall Classic for the first time in 15 years.

“While we know that the Yankees have flaws...if you get hot at the right time, you don’t have to be a good team,” Sal said. “It might not matter that the bullpen isn’t on par with a top-end bullpen. It might not matter that Alex Verdugo can’t hit anymore...it might not matter that Anthony Volpe is inconsistent.

“Yankee fans know, watching their team, what level of play they need to see to truly believe that their team can be a legitimate World Series contender. However, all those thoughts, everything we’ve known throughout our lives watching baseball, it’s all changed now. The way the sport has evolved with the expanded postseason, it is a roll of the dice.”

Sure, the Yanks have played close to .500 baseball for nearly two months, but if they can catch fire in October the way they did through the first two months of the season, that’s all that matters. Sal says the reality is that teams don’t have to be “that good” anymore to win a World Series, so even if the Yankees have “red flags all over the place,” perhaps it is time to reevaluate what makes up a World Series team in the modern era.

“Knowing in my heart of hearts they’re not a World Series team, I didn’t think the Diamondbacks were a World Series team last year,” Sal said. “All you need in today’s Major League Baseball is to get hot at the right time. The Yankees, of course, have the potential to do that.”