An Early Look At The New York Yankees And The 2019 World Series

An Early Look at Yankees' WS Odds

Without a shadow of a doubt, the New York Yankees are the most famous team in baseball. Not just Major League Baseball, but baseball as a global sport. From their first World Series triumph in 1921 to the present day, the Yankees have consistently challenged at the summit of the sport – a barren run of 15 years with no showpiece series appearance between 1981 and 1996 is perhaps the one exception to that rule.

2018 was supposed to be New York’s year. The Yankees topped 100 regular season wins for the first time since 2009; everything was more or less going to plan. They had no trouble dispatching the Oakland Athletics in the American League wildcard game but came unstuck in the Division Series against the Boston Red Sox.

At the time, most baseball bettors were backing the winner of that series to go on to win the World Series – and they turned out to be right after Boston's recent success; the Red Sox were heavy favorites to get the better of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Masahiro Tanaka

Most followers of baseball know about the Japan World Series and the sport is very popular on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka helps to gauge interest in the team from a Japanese perspective; he was a dominant name in the Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League for seven years before signing with the Yankees on the fifth largest-deal ever given to a pitcher at that time.

Tanaka is a two-time NPB champion and the 2013 Pacific League Most Valuable Player is still just 29 years old. He has time on his side as he looks to claim a World Series crown with the Yankees. According to SBO.net, the Japanese league is the most prestigious baseball division outside of the United States and Tanaka will want to put his name in the history books as one of only a few players to win both titles.

He had a career-year in many categories and the Japanese star can help the Yankees go all the way in their pursuit of World Series glory in 2019.

The Red Sox on their way to their 116th win of this season, regular season and postseason combined. If they win the World Series, they'd have 119 wins, and the 1998 Yankees are the only MLB championship team with more (125).

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 24, 2018

Giancarlo Stanton’s move to the Yankees from the Miami Marlins sent shockwaves across Major League Baseball last year and New York looked much stronger with the four-time All-Star selection on the roster.

With 38 home runs, 11 more than any of his teammates, and a total of 100 runs batted in, Stanton settled quickly into life at Yankee Stadium and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see New York’s number 27 have a greater impact next year. He could be the difference between silverware and another disappointing playoff campaign…

With the 2018 World Series now over, Yankees players have to sit back and think about what could have been. Beating the Red Sox was always going to be difficult but New York will look back and accept defeat in that series seeing how Alex Cora’s side went on to win baseball’s top prize this year.

Winning Major League Baseball’s showpiece series is the ultimate objective for a team like the Yankees at the start of every year but fans genuinely believe that a return to the big stage could be on the cards in 2019. This roster is stacked and, with a positive move or two in the offseason, New York could head into next season as favorites to go on to claim a 28th World Series crown.

The New York Yankees are heading in the right direction and it would take a brave man to back against Aaron Boone’s side next year. It was always going to be interesting to see how Boone adjusted to life as a manager but he has passed most tests with flying colours. You won’t find too many punters writing the Yankees off due to managerial inexperience next season, that’s for sure. With a bit of luck, we could see the New York Yankees representing the American League in next year’s World Series.