Days after the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series, reliever Joe Kelly defeated 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 trashed the Yankees, saying they should have been in the bottom quarter of the 12 teams that made the MLB playoffs this year.
“If we changed the playoff rankings, they might be the eighth or ninth best playoff team,” Kelly said.
“You put the Padres ahead, you put the Phillies ahead, you put the Mets ahead, you put the Braves ahead. They were just unlucky because they had to play that doubleheader,” he continued. “The Guardians played crappy, but the Guardians played better defense and better baseball all around.”
Additionally, Kelly confirmed that the Dodgers entered the series extremely confident, as their scouting reports indicated that the Yankees would make mistakes defensively when the ball was in play.
“Let them throw the ball to the infield, they can’t play,” sad. “I mean, you saw it. Shohei got an extra base by going to third base after a sloppy play by Gleyber. It is known. We all knew it. I mean, we’re the Dodgers. We know every little detail.”
Kelly’s revelation is consistent with what Joel Sherman reported in the New York Post after the Dodgers won Game 5 on Wednesday and clinched their World Series victory.
“What the Dodgers told their players in scouting meetings was that the Yankees prioritized talent over fundamentals. That if you run the bases with purpose and aggression, the Yankees will harm themselves, as revealed by Betts, Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman, etc. That it was very valuable to put the ball in play and get the Yankees to execute,” Sherman wrote.
“They said that not only were the Yankees the worst baserunning team in the Majors in every respect, but that the difference on the field was enormous between them and the Padres, who defeated the Dodgers in the NL Division Series but were impressive in this area . ” he added.
That scouting report looked prophetic in the fateful fifth inning of Game 5, when the Yankees fell apart, squandering a 5-0 lead largely due to defensive mistakes and failure to make simple plays in the field.
Kelly didn’t let up on his barrage, calling the Yankees’ stars “lazy,” though he didn’t mention anyone by name in his scathing criticism.
“We go through countless 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 play hard. So that is the difference and the biggest distinction.”
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 may point out that the veteran reliever never faced any of the Yankees players he was ripping. But the World Series outcome backs up much of what Kelly and the Dodgers scouting claimed.
