Just how realistic is a World Series win for the 2024 New York Yankees? Pretty realistic, according to the top analysts and oddsmakers. The Bronx Bombers currently sit at around 9 to 1 odds – a 10% chance – to take home their 28th World Series trophy in 2024. They are the 3rd favored team – tied with the Houston Astros – to win the Fall Classic, behind the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers (for obvious reasons), and the Atlanta Braves (who recently acquired 7x All-Star, Chris Sale).
The Yanks are high up in the odds after a disappointing 2023 campaign. This is largely due to signing Juan Soto this offseason, while still managing to retain their star power. But in baseball, one player can hardly ever turn a team around – even a player like Soto, who boasts a godly .421 OBP. This mark is the highest by any active player and nearly 12% higher than the 2023 Yankees’ team OBP. Alex Verdugo was also signed and will hopefully pick up some slack in the middle of the lineup. He is a great spray hitter that makes good contact and wears pitchers down with long at bats.
Still, even after failing to make the postseason last year, they are ranked as one of the top 3 teams in baseball. How could this be? Well, a lot of New York’s woes last year can simply be attributed to “bad luck” due to injuries, as well as individual down years from key players. Most of these players are statistically likely to have a rebound year in 2024.
Notably, the most feared hitter in baseball, Aaron Judge, was injured for the better part of the year. He still hit a ridiculous 37 homers in just 106 games. If he can play a considerably greater amount of games this season, New York’s chances of winning skyrocket. He is a big favorite to win the home run crown this year, signifying that oddsmakers believe he’ll have a decently healthy season. This is a big step up from last year, where he was injured for more than 50 games. Judge’s health is the most crucial part of New York’s ‘chase for 28’.
Nestor Cortes, arguably New York’s best pitcher of the 2022 season, had a bad year. He and Giancarlo Stanton are expected to rebound big time. Cortes was injured for more than half of last year but is reportedly on the road to making a full recovery, and New York seems happy with his improvements. He will need to pitch more quality starts if the Yanks want to make a run. Even the best pitcher in baseball, the reigning CYA winner Gerrit Cole, can’t do it alone. Anthony Volpe is also expected to take a big leap in his sophomore year, after a solid rookie campaign that included a Gold Glove.
