Yankees still searching for big hits, but walks have made all the difference so far in October
If the Bronx Bombers were to make a championship run for the first time in 15 years, many expected it to be on the backs of the team’s mighty power in the middle of the lineup.
The team’s strength, as it has been for years, is the ability to leave the yard, as Aaron Judge and Juan Soto combined for 99 home runs, and Giancarlo Stanton has been a home run machine in the playoffs since arriving in New York.
But the Yanks have won four of their first five playoff games, and are three wins away from a pennant thanks to a different identity. Yes, the all-too familiar issues with runners in scoring position have remained in October, but the difference for New York has been the ability to still generate rallies and runs without the big hit.
The team’s identity has become the Bronx Base On Balls.
The Yankees drew seven walks in Monday’s ALCS opener, the continuation of a trend that has seen the Bombers walk 34 times in the playoffs so far, trailing only the Mets, who have played four more games, with 38 free passes taken so far in October.
Sure, some of the pitches were easy to lay off, as Guardians reliever Joey Cantillo threw four wild pitches that led to two runs. But the Yanks also worked counts and continue a trend from the beginning of the season, one that has been a point of emphasis by hitting coach James Rowson and the coaching staff.
“We beat that over their heads. We hammer it, and they do too,” Aaron Boone said. “We talk about that all the time, just keep having good at-bats, keep having tough at-bats, no matter what's going on.
“You're going to have games where it doesn't go well or you don't score, you go through stretches, but it's like, man, let's just keep -- you hear pass the baton a lot or things like that, but it's more just I want to take a heavy, tough, hard at-bat, regardless of what the result is.”
The Yanks led the league in walks in 2024, but they also did in 2022, before the offense disappeared in the playoffs, walking 27 times against 103 strikeouts. This year, the Yankees have only struck out 37 times against their 34 walks, good for a .707 OPS which is better than any team that made it as far as the LDS. The first game of the playoffs set the tone for the drastic improvement from their last October stay, as the Yanks drew eight walks in the ALDS opener against Kansas City, including two with the bases loaded to bring a pair of key runs in a 6-5 victory.
It doesn’t lead to the flashiest of victories, but the Yankees are not minimizing the importance of the base on balls as they keep waiting for the big blow.
“Big time. They are huge,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “We can't emphasize that enough. Not forcing things. So in the biggest moments, you want to maybe try to do too much, expand a little too much, and we've done a great job so far of taking what they give us, and we'll continue to do that.”
The Yankees’ 17.6 percent walk rate is easiest the best mark in the postseason so far, while their 19.2 percent strikeout rate is second lowest, trailing only the eliminated Padres. Per Stathead’s Katie Sharp, their 34 walks in the first five games of the playoffs is tied for the most walks by and team in a five-game playoff span, matching the mark set by…the 1998 Yankees.
The big hits and game-breaking home runs will likely have to come eventually if the season is to end in a championship, but right now, the Yanks are getting by without the big blasts, using patience at the plate and sound pitching to get wins.
“That's what good teams does. It's not all about one guy, it's about the whole lineup,” Juan Soto said. “We put pressure on those guys, taking pitches and getting our walks, getting guys over, bases loaded, making those guys make wild pitches and everything. So I think at the end of the day, it's a team effort, and we showed up today.”
Soto and Stanton both homered in game one, but they were solo shots. The two and three-run home runs haven’t come yet this October, as four of the team’s five home runs have been of the solo variety. But if the Yanks keep working counts and getting traffic on the bases, they believe the timely homers will eventually come around, and lead to the Bombers lineup looking like the daunting threat that they believe they can be when they are firing on all cylinders.
For now, the walks have been enough, and have been the difference between 2022 and 2024.
“I feel like by and large through these first now five playoff games, we've done that,” Boone said. “Again, we haven't totally broken through offensively, but I feel like the at-bats are where they need to be.”
