Labar: State of the Yankees by Yankees Superfan Alex Day

Here we go.

The Main Event.

East Coast vs. West Coast.

Goliath vs….Goliath.

For the 12th time (but first since 1981), the World Series will feature the Yankees and the Dodgers.

You’ll read every article about this matchup and hear every opinion why this matchup is good or bad for baseball (spoiler: it’s good). But for five minutes, let me open the door to the psyche of the New York fanbase as we approach the Fall Classic.

This is a weird time in Yankee Universe.

The same franchise that boasts 27 World Championships hasn’t added a ring since 2009 (thanks to the cheaters in Houston), and pressure has never been higher. Yes, there is certainly an entitlement factor to this fanbase, mostly because the organization lets it be known it’s “World Series or Bust” every year. But if you’re a Yankees fan in college, you’ve more or less never seen a World Series title.

But I have.

I was one of those “Yankees Kids.” One of those kids rattling off the retired numbers in order, idolizing players I never saw play, and chirping fellow supporters for wearing jerseys with names on the back (that’s not the Yankee Way). 

My earliest memory was the 2000 Subway Series win, even if I may not have fully comprehended the significance. I was heartbroken when Luis Gonzalez flared a soft line drive to left center off Mariano Rivera in 2001, was there in person when Josh Beckett closed out Game 6 in 2003, and cried my eyes out when the Yanks blew a 3-0 lead to the Red Sox at the peak of the rivalry in 2004.

I was at the final game at the Old Stadium with my dad Charles and our family friends Kerry and Zach, who we shared season tickets with in the upper deck. And the four of us saw the Bombers win it all the following year in their inaugural season at the New Stadium in 2009.

I worked for the organization as a video producer from 2017-2020 and have been a correspondent for the YES Network over the past two seasons (you can catch me on their pregame show before every World Series game, as well as on their socials!), but I can’t shake the fan in me.

The haters will point to the plethora of “bandwagoners,” “casuals,” and “fans who only wear the hat because of the logo.” And they’re right, there’s plenty of those. But no fanbase exemplifies generational fandom like the Yankees.

I’m not here to convince Yankee haters to like the team, I know better than that. But it is important to recognize that enough time has passed where there is a level of desperation many Yankee fans aren’t willing to admit. If you’re a fan of a certain age, that desperation is to “get back to the glory days,” and if you’re not of that age, it’s to “experience what my parents and their parents watched and felt.”

The Judge Era has been a wild ride. Four ALCS appearances in eight years is impressive, but this October’s lineup has been elevated by an unfathomable hot streak from Giancarlo Stanton (who is rewriting his Yankees Legacy by the day), consistency from their middle infield of Gleyber Torres and Anthony Volpe, and Juan Soto giving the Bronx faithful every reason to chant “Blank Check” at their right fielder.

The rotation has been stable, and their bullpen of mostly castoffs has been the biggest surprise success story of the playoffs, headlined by Luke Weaver, who went from getting DFA’d this season by (literally) the worst team in history, the Chicago White Sox, to a lockdown closer for the Yankees. 

This World Series matchup features arguably four of the top 100 talents, ever: Ohtani. Betts. Judge. Soto. I’m tempted to include Stanton, Freddie Freeman, and Gerrit Cole who are all on Hall of Fame trajectories, but I’ll spare you.

For the first time in a long time, baseball is back in the spotlight.

This is going to be epic.

Yanks in 7.

-Alex