NEW YORK -- The epitomize big. The brand, the payroll, the expectations, the excitement, the disappointment. It is an appropriate bit of casting that the largest star in baseball history, , wears pinstripes.
He is the physical embodiment of the Yankees franchise: too big to keep failing. For the past 14 years, the Yankees have not functioned as the perpetual conquerors who have won more World Series titles than any franchise. They entered this postseason having lost 10 of their past 18 playoff series.
They have fallen in their past five American League Championship Series appearances. The most recognizable franchise in baseball, whose caps are worn around the world, has been rendered just another team. With Game 3 of the ALCS against the set for 5:08 p.
m. ET on Thursday, the Yankees can taste their first World Series appearance since 2009, when they won their 27th championship. Their 6-3 win in Game 2 was New York's fifth in six postseason games, giving them a 2-0 series lead on the Guardians.
Now is the time for them to deliver. Everything has lined up for the Yankees. They won the AL East.
Their greatest tormentors, the , were knocked out in the first round, unable to wreck more Yankees dreams. They dispatched the pesky in the division series. And not much looks as if it will change in the ALCS.
Among the five wild pitches in Game 1, the shoddy defense in Game 2 and the flaccid bats in both, the Guardians haven't looked up to the task of beating a Yankees team that has foun.