Dodgers Pitcher: Yankees Players Lazy and careless in…
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series in 2024, but reliever Joe Kelly is not done rubbing it in the face of the New York Yankees organization.
Kelly appeared on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast and had some harsh comments about the Yankees, and their ability as a team.
“It was a mismatch from the get-go,” said Kelly. “If we had a playoff reranking, they might be ranked the eighth-or ninth-best playoff team. You’re putting the Padres ahead of them, you’re putting the Phillies ahead of them, you’re putting the Mets ahead of them, you’re putting the Braves ahead of them. They just got unlucky because they had to play that doubleheader. The Guardians played like crap, but the Guardians played better defense and better baseball all around.”
Kelly clearly thinks the Yankees as a team did not stack up with the rest of the postseason field. However, they did end up reaching the World Series. Both the Dodgers and Yankees are loaded with star players, but Kelly went on to criticize the Yankees superstar players for their effort.
“Look at the team, look at the talent. We go through numerous scouting reports,” said Kelly. “We pay attention to every single detail. We have a lot of big superstars in our clubhouse, but our superstars also care and aren’t lazy and play hard. That’s the difference, and the biggest separator.”
The Dodgers won Game 5 thanks to lackluster defense in the fifth inning by the Yankees. Between Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo’s confusion on a ground ball to first base and a dropped fly ball by Aaron Judge, there was plenty of blame to go around.
“They got bad ball. Yeah, sloppy. Everyone knows that,” said Kelly. “We were saying every single game. ‘Just let them throw the ball into the infield, they can’t make a play.’ You saw Shohei get an extra base going to third off a sloppy Gleyber play. It’s well known. We all knew.”
