A few days after the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Seriesreliever Joe Kelly ransacked the New York Yankees as an opponent, calling the five-game series “a mismatch from the start.”
On his “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast, Kelly attacked the Yankees, saying they should have been seeded in the bottom quarter of the 12 teams that made the MLB playoffs this year.
“If we did a playoff reranking, they might be ranked as the eighth or ninth best playoff team,” Kelly said.
“You put the Padres in front of them, you put the Phillies in front of them, you put the Mets in front of them, you put the Braves in front of them. They just weren’t lucky because they had to play.” this doubleheader,” he continued. “The Guardians played like crap, but they played better defense and better baseball all around.”
Additionally, Kelly confirmed that the Dodgers were extremely confident heading into the Series because their scouting reports indicated the Yankees would make mistakes defensively when the ball was in play.
“Just let them throw the ball to the infield, they can’t play,” Kelly sad. “I mean, you saw. Shohei got an extra base at third on a sloppy play by Gleyber. It’s well known. We all knew it. I mean, we’re the Dodgers. We know every little detail .”
Kelly’s revelation matches what Joel Sherman reported in the New York Post after the Dodgers won Game 5 on Wednesday and secured their World Series victory.
“What the Dodgers told their players in scouting meetings was that the Yankees were more talented than fundamental. That if you run the bases with determination and aggression, the Yankees will do self-inflicted harm, like exposed him Betts, Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman, etc. “It was very important to put the ball in play for the Yankees to execute,” Sherman wrote.
“They mentioned that the Yankees were not only the worst baserunning team in the majors by every metric, but that the difference was vast on the field between them and the Padres, whom the Dodgers beat in the division series NL, but who have been impressive in this area,” he added.
This scouting report seemed prophetic during the fateful fifth inning of game fivewhen the Yankees collapsed and squandered a 5-0 lead largely due to defensive errors and failing to make simple plays on the field.
Kelly didn’t back down from his barrage, calling the Yankees stars “lazy,” although he didn’t mention anyone by name in his scathing criticism.
“We look at a lot of scouting reports,” he said. “We pay attention to every detail. We have a lot of big superstars in our clubhouse, but our superstars also care and are not lazy and don’t play hard. So that’s the difference and the biggest separator »
Kelly did not pitch for the Dodgers during the postseason due to a shoulder injury. In the regular season, he finished with a 4.78 ERA in 35 appearances with 35 strikeouts in 32 innings. Some fans might point out that the veteran reliever has never faced any of the Yankees players he tears into. But the World Series result largely confirms what Kelly and Dodgers scouts have been saying.
