For Juan Soto, the thrill of the chase earns a pennant for the Yankees

CLEVELAND – The joy of watching Juan Soto is that he shows you how much he loves baseball. He knows exactly how to unleash his greatness, and while he's eager to show it off, he's also willing to wait. He won't always succeed, because that's not how baseball works. But he seems so determined to enjoy the chase.

The batter's box is Soto's happy place, like a hunter's favorite game stand. Soto will target you and take as long as he needs. He will tempt you to show your weakness. And once you do that, you're done.

“Soto doesn't swing at balls, man,” said Marcus Stroman, who watched from the visitors' bullpen on Saturday as Soto won his biggest prize as a Yankee: the American League pennant. “He has the best swing judgment. He gets his A shot on everything in the zone. He's different, man. He’s different.”

Different was what the New York Yankees needed. They believed in their model, but something had to change to regain their birthright, a spot in the World Series. They had missed out every year since their last title in 2009, spending around $3 billion in payroll to lose five times in the American League Championship Series.

Now they have Soto and now they have won it. His three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS propelled them past the Cleveland Guardians, 5-2, and onto the game's biggest stage.

JUAN SOTO. THREE-RUN HOMER. @YANKEES LEAD IN THE 10TH! pic.twitter.com/w5goa4pSwz

– MLB (@MLB) October 20, 2024

“That's been the mentality since spring training,” Soto said from the Yankees' dugout after grabbing the final flyout from Lane Thomas to seal the series. “We always talk about it: We want the big one, we want to be in the World Series, we want to make it to the end.”

Soto got them started by manhandling Cleveland in the ALCS. Giancarlo Stanton was named Most Valuable Player for his four home runs and seven runs batted in, both team highs, all at crucial points. But Soto hit .368/.478/.895 and won the finale with a double, single and his third home run.

In every game, the Yankees put Cleveland in trouble from the start. The first two batters in the lineup, Gleyber Torres and Soto, reached base in the first inning in nine of their 10 plate appearances. The Guardians refused to rush their starters and relied heavily on a tired, familiar bullpen. The staff was no match for a hitting expert like Soto.

“It's so crazy hard to get him out,” said Luke Weaver, the Yankees reliever who went two innings to win Game 5. “I have faced him many times. It's relentless. It's an attack that the boys just don't want. He manages it. He stares at you, he shuffles towards you. He does all the things that might irritate you and get under your skin.”

Weaver was in the dugout, trying to remain stoic while peering over his taller teammates, when Soto came to bat with two outs and two on in the tenth. With a goal, Weaver would have a lead to defend and a pennant to secure. Soto did much better.

He took the first pitch from Hunter Gaddis, a slider down and in. Soto stared at Gaddis and hit his hip with his fist. Then came another slider, a so-called strike, at the bottom of the zone. Soto bent his knees and winced. He wanted the call.

With the score tied at 1-1, Soto saw a third slider that he probably should have gotten a handle on. But he was early and barely managed to commit a foul behind the plate. Soto was now down 2-1, but it certainly didn't feel like it. He shook his head and glared again at Gaddis as he went to change.

Soto fouled this one too. He nodded. He had all the Gaddis in a row.

“The more pitches he sees, the more dangerous he becomes, just downloading the release point, the timing and everything,” Stanton said. “It seemed like he took a couple of those balls out of the catcher’s glove.”

Another changeup, another foul, a dribbler out of the first base dugout. More nodding, then a pantomime of a right arm swing. Then a hint of a smile.

When Soto smiles like that, he said, it's because he sees every pitch well. His confidence is growing, and he's happy to show that to the pitcher. What was that line from Muhammad Ali? I am a bad man! That was Soto here.

“I'll be honest: Gaddis, an incredible changeup, an incredible pitcher,” said third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. “His changeup is probably the best in the game next to Devin Williams.” To be honest, when I saw Soto do that When I made the switch, I said, 'Oh, we're out of here.'”

Pitch six: Back to the slider, knocking on the back door, an unwanted visitor. Soto batted it away. More nodding. He still hadn't seen a fastball, and Gaddis has a good one.

“I’m just waiting for the mistake to happen,” Soto said. “I just tell myself, ‘I’m on every pitch, I’m on every pitch, be ready, be ready, he’s going to make a mistake.”

On the seventh pitch, Soto's prize wandered into the open: a fastball letter-high at the top of the strike zone, not shoulder-high, where catcher Bo Naylor had set his sights. Soto fired off the “A” swing and sent the pitch flying to the middle.

It's high. It's far…

“I didn’t know it was going to continue like this,” said general manager Brian Cashman, watching from the suite level. “At first, because of the way it was pursued, I thought, 'It's not getting out of here.' And it just went on and on and I thought, 'Oh my God, oh my God.'”

It turns out that OMG isn't just a Mets thing. Soto smashed the pitch 402 feet, a 95 mph fastball that redirected at nearly 110 mph. Soto paused as he frolicked near the Yankees' dugout, flexing and shouting as his teammates tumbled over the railing. Pandemonium.

“I passed out,” shortstop Anthony Volpe said. “I can't wait to watch the video. We were crazy every home run, but this one was special.”

It was something of a Chris Chambliss moment — or, to use a more recent shot that sent the Yankees to a World Series, another Aaron Boone shot. Soto's home run didn't end a winner-take-all game like these did, but it was the Yankees' first extra-inning home run so late in the postseason since Boone beat the Boston Red Sox in 2003.

Soto was five years old when the Yankees' next series ended in a loss to the Florida Marlins. It would be six more years before they returned to the World Series, and another 15 before they got there again. Soto bookended this trip with his Saturday night special – a successful hunt and a personal passion.

“He loves the game of baseball,” said Boone, the Yankees manager. “That’s usually a common trait of great players. Not everyone loves it like Juan Soto.”

(Top photo by Juan Soto: Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)