2024 American League Division Series 1

2024 American League Division Series

New York Yankees 94 - 68 in the AL	3 - 1 Series Summary	Kansas City Royals 86 - 76 in the AL

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Yankees: Aaron Boone | Royals: Matt Quatraro

Yankees

Royals

Umpires[edit]

Adam Hamari, Ryan Blakney, Lance Barrett, Mark Carlson (crew chief), Lance Barksdale and Roberto Ortiz

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Kansas City Royals 5 New York Yankees 6	October 5	Michael Wacha (0-0) Gerrit Cole (0-0)	6:38 pm
2	Kansas City Royals 4 New York Yankees 2	October 7	Cole Ragans (0-0) Carlos Rodón (0-0)	7:38 pm
3	New York Yankees 3 Kansas City Royals 2	October 9	Clarke Schmidt (0-0) Seth Lugo (0-0)	7:08 pm
4	New York Yankees 3 Kansas City Royals 1	October 10	Gerrit Cole (1-0) Michael Wacha (0-1)	8:08 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ New Yankee Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Royals	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	5	9	0
Yankees	0	0	2	0	2	1	1	0	x	6	9	1
WP: Clay Holmes (1-0); LP: Michael Lorenzen (0-1); SV: Luke Weaver (1)
Home Runs: NY - Gleyber Torres (1); KC - MJ Melendez (1)

Attendance: 48,790

Game 1 did not feel like a postseason game, as it was very different from the usual crisply-played baseball normally associated with Fall contests. This game was sloppy, featured a ton of walks issued when pitchers should have been trying to throw strikes, a couple of home runs that barely made it into the short right-field porch at New Yankee Stadium and would have been a home run in just one of thirty ballparks (you can guess which one) as the television graphics helpfully put it. There were also five lead changes, a postseason record. It also saw both starting pitchers being chased early after unconvincing outings, and the two biggest stars on the field - Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. - both finish the game with ofers. Still the Yankees won, 6-5, and the game was entertaining, for all its deviations from ideal esthetics.

Gerrit Cole was on the mound for the Yankees and he started off with a perfect 1st inning. Michael Wacha for the Royals did not fare so well, as he issued a lead-off walk to Gleyber Torres, starting a pattern of the first batter in the inning reaching base that would cost his team dearly, then gave up a double to Juan Soto. He struck out Judge for the first out, then Austin Wells hit a ground ball to 1B Yuli Gurriel, who cut down Torres at home for the second out. Wacha then struck out Giancarlo Stanton to end the inning, having managed to escape near-certain disaster. It was now Cole's turn to put himself in trouble in the 2nd, as he issued a lead-off single to Salvador Perez, followed by a walk to Gurriel. MJ Melendez then hit a single to right, but Soto cut down Perez at the plate, the second runner thrown out at home in the space of an inning. However, Gurriel advanced to third on the play and was able to score the game's first run on a sacrifice fly by Tommy Pham. That 1-0 lead held for a couple of turns, as Wacha retired the Yankees in order in the 2nd and Cole worked around a single by Michael Massey in the 3rd. In the bottom of that inning, however, Alex Verdugo led off with a single and Torres followed with a New Yankee Stadium special, a fly ball that landed in the first row of seats in the right field porch for a two-run homer. That lead did not last either, as in the 4th, Gurriel drew a one-out walk, and Melendez almost exactly reproduced Torres's hit, with the same results. It was now Kansas City 3, New York 2. KC placed two more runners on base in that inning, but stranded them both when Verdugo made a juggling catch of Massey's bloop down the left-field line.

What was apparent by this point was that neither starting pitcher was particularly sharp, and that this game looked nothing like the previous postseason round played by the Royals. In the bottom of the 4th, the Yankees could have tied the game with a lead-off walk to Stanton and a two-out double by Oswaldo Cabrera, but the sore-legged DH had to stop at third base, whereas most runners would have gone home, and Verdugo followed with a pop-up to foul territory near third base to end the inning. In the bottom of the 5th, Wacha issued his third lead-off walk, this one to Torres, and Matt Quatraro decided to bring in a reliever, lefty Angel Zerpa, to face the heart of the Yankees order. It was not an easy mission, and Zerpa failed to execute it, as he gave up a single to Soto and walked Judge to load the bases with nobody out, then walked Wells as well to force in the tying run. Out went Zerpa, in came John Schreiber, and he got Stanton on a pop-up for the first out, and Jazz Chisholm hit a ball to Gurriel, who threw home to force Soto for the second out. However, Schreiber then walked Anthony Volpe to force in a second run, and the Yankees had the lead once again, although two bases-loaded walks were not necessarily the stuff of which postseason dreams are made. In any case, that lead was short-lived too, as Cole allowed a lead-off single to Gurriel and was replaced by the Yankees' equivalent of Zerpa, lefty specialist Tim Hill. He got Melendez to line out, but Pham followed by hitting a ball in the hole at shortstop which Volpe fielded, but in his hurry throw to second base to retire Gurriel, he overthrew Torres by a long shot, and the end result was to put runners on second and third base. Quatraro then called on righty Garrett Hampson to pinch-hit for Kyle Isbel. In the olden days, this would have meant the end of Hill's stint of the mound (if he had not already been replaced after successfully facing Melendez), but with the three-batter rule now in effect, Hill had to face Hampson, and he gave up a single to left on which both runners scored. It was yet another lead change, with KC now back in front, 5-4. Clay Holmes, once the Yankees' closer, but now demoted to a less stressful role after amassing 13 blown saves during the campaign, came in and gave up a single to Massey with two outs, but no more runs.

The Royals were in front, but they still had to muzzle the Yankees for four innings with only a one-run lead, and their bullpen was not up to the task. Sam Long did just what had put Wacha in trouble all night by walking the first batter he faced, Verdugo, and after striking out Torres, he gave up a single to Soto to put a second runner on base. He was replaced by Michael Lorenzen who managed to strike out Judge, but not the less-heralded Wells, who singled to right to tie up the game once again. The Royals were unable to do anything against Holmes in the top of the 7th, but in the bottom of the inning, it was Chisholm who led off with a single (at least it wasn't a walk). He was almost thrown out trying to steal second base while Cabrera was striking out - a video review proved inconclusive to the replay officials, although it did look like Chisholm had planted his foot just short of the bag while being tagged. Verdugo, who was not certain of starting this game in left field after ending the season in a 2-for-34 slump, followed with a single to left, and it looked like Melendez had a chance to throw out Chisholm at home. His throw was nowhere near the plate, however, and the Yankees were once again in the lead, 6-5. Surprisingly, given how the game had gone until then, there would be no more scoring after that. Lucas Erceg replaced Lorenzen and got Torres to ground out to end the inning. For the Yankees, Tommy Kahnle took over on the mound in the top of the 8th and walked Hampson with two outs, which prompted Aaron Boone to bring in his closer, Luke Weaver, who struck out Maikel Garcia. Erceg walked Wells - the eighth free pass of the night by the Royals - but otherwise struck out the three other men he faced, including Judge for the third time, and Weaver came back for the 9th. With the Yankees' dugout complaining for some reason about home plate umpire Adam Hamari's calls (Yankees will be Yankees, it seems), Weaver struck out Massey and Witt in succession, with Bobby Jr. finishing the game 0 for 5. Vinnie Pasquantino then joined his younger teammate in 0 for 5 territory by hitting a grounder to Cabrera at first base, ending the game.

Game 2 @ New Yankee Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Royals	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	11	0
Yankees	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	7	1
WP: Angel Zerpa (1-0); LP: Carlos Rodón (0-1); SV: Lucas Erceg (1)
Home Runs: KC - Salvador Pérez (1); NY - Jazz Chisholm (1)

Attendance: 48,034

The Royals were able to win Game 2 and even the series even though their starting pitcher, Cole Ragans, did not have a good night and had to leave after four laborious innings, and the heart of their order - Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino - were both kept hitless for the second straight game. So they had to deviate from their usual formula, leaning heavily on their bullpen and the bottom of the batting order. In the end, one good half inning was all it took. That big inning came against Carlos Rodón, who came out pitching like gangbusters, pumped up and blowing heat past Kansas City's batters to strike out the side in the 1st, before progressively cooling down. He escaped trouble in the 3rd, but after being given a one-run lead, completely fell apart in the 4th, as he let pitches hang all over the strike zone.

After his hitters had been showed up by Rodón in the top of the 1st, Ragans repeated the mistakes that had sunk his team in Game 1 by walking the first two batters he faced, Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto. That set up a hard slog for him, but he got out of trouble without allowing a run by striking out Aaron Judge and Austin Wells, and then getting Giancarlo Stanton to ground out to second. More trouble ensued in the 2nd after a one-out single by Anthony Volpe; he stole second base but was stranded due to a fly out by Alex Verdugo and a strikeout by Jon Berti, who was playing at first base for the first time of his career (after all, a postseason game is as good a time to learn a new position as any other, isn't it?) The game was still scoreless, but Ragans had expended a lot of pitches in going through the batting order a first time, and it was already clear he would not be making a long outing as a result. In the 3rd, it was Rodón who had to work hard, as he gave up back-to-back singles to Garrett Hampson and Maikel Garcia after one out. On the latter hit, Berti made a nice diving stop to corral Rodón's errant throw to first base, preventing the two runners from taking extra bases, so his on-the-job learning was going well. Witt then hit a ball to Chisholm at third, who tagged out Hampson for the second out, and Pasquantino lined a ball hard, but right at Soto in right field to end the inning.

The Yankees got on the board in the 3rd in another grinding inning for Ragans, that began with yet another walk to Torres. Ragans managed to strike out Soto and a gasp could be heard form the crowd when Judge lifted a ball towards the short right-field porch, but it fell short of the fence, right into Hunter Renfroe's glove for the second out. Wells followed with a single to left and Stanton hit a hard grounder towards Witt at short, but it deflected off his outstretched glove and far enough behind him for Torres to score from second base. In an interview with Ken Rosenthal as the 4th inning was getting under way, manager Aaron Boone gushed about how well his designated hitter was hitting the ball, but really, the normally sure-handed Witt could just as easily have made this play and either thrown out the limping Stanton, or at least prevented Torres from going further than third base. And just as coverage returned to the announcers' booth, Salvador Pérez erased the one-run lead by blasting a homer to deep left field. Rodón couldn't do anything right after that. Yuli Gurriel, fresh from discovering the fountain of youth while playing in the minors most of the season, followed with a single and took second base on a wild pitch. With one out, Tommy Pham singled to center and Gurriel scored to put Kansas City into the lead. Pham then stole second base and after a second out, Hampson singled to left, scoring Pham and taking second base on Verdugo's throw home. That was the end of Rodón's night: he had struck out seven batters while walking none, but had also given up three runs (a fourth would soon follow) and forced his bullpen into a long night's work - the Yankees would use no fewer than seven relievers to complete the game. The first of these, Ian Hamilton, gave up a single to Garcia, who stopped between first and second to draw a throw, being tagged out but allowing Hampson to cross the plate with a fourth run.

The Yankees could never come back from that bad inning. Ragans had enough pitches left in him for another frame, and he started it by walking Volpe, but the next three batters made outs. Ragans had walked a tightrope all four innings, but had escaped with allowing just one run. In the 5th, lefty Angel Zerpa came out to pitch; he had struggled with his control in Game 1 but looked a lot sharper today as he struck out Soto, pitched carefully around Judge, walking him, and then got Wells to ground into a double play. The Royals threatened in the 6th when their first batter, Gurriel, hit a ball to Chisholm at third, who made an errant throw to first base. Michael Massey followed with a walk from Jake Cousins and Pham just missed taking advantage of the short distance in right field, lifting a ball in the right direction but having Soto catch it. "I just missed it", he could be heard saying as he returned to the dugout. That would have been a death blow for the Yankees, but instead, Tim Hill came in to pitch and got pinch-hitter MJ Melendez to hit a hard liner towards first, which Berti snatched inches off the ground before touching the bag for an unassisted double play. Forget what was said about it being his first game at the position: he was obviously a natural out there.

Both teams were running through a bevy of relief pitchers by then, a luxury made possible by the fact there would be a travel day after the game, allowing everyone to catch their breath. Thus John Schreiber handled the 6th for Kansas City, and Kris Bubic the 7th and 8th, while Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle took their turns for New York. Judge finally got his first hit of the series to lead off the bottom of the 8th, an infield single to third, but he was erased on a double play. Tim Mayza was called upon the start the 9th for the Yankees, but after two outs, he allowed a single to Garcia, his fourth hit of the game, so Boone brought in his closer, Luke Weaver, to face Witt, because, why should Weaver miss out on the fun? Weaver did his job, inducing a pop-up to first by Witt, who finished the game 0 for 5, to go along with a similar result in Game 1 - the young star was obviously pressing. Matt Quatraro also deployed his closer, Lucas Erceg, in the 9th, but for more legitimate reasons. It was already Erceg's fourth outing of the postseason, all in very close games, and he wasn't quite as sharp as in the precious three. He allowed a lead-off homer to Chisholm, to right field, but that one was a legitimate long ball as it landed in the first row of the balcony. The ballpark was coming back to life - if only Mighty Casey (or in this case, Juan Soto) could come to bat, there was still hope. But both Volpe and Verdugo hit into routine ground outs. However, Berti, making the most of his chance to appear on a bright stage, hit a single, bringing up the top of the order. But Torres, who had shown some good patience over the first two games, did not do so this time, swinging at Erceg's first pitch and hitting another routine grounder, this one to Witt, who relayed to Gurriel for the final out. Soto would not have a chance to play the hero, watching the final out unfold from the on-deck circle.

Game 3 @ Kauffman Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Yankees	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	3	4	0
Royals	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	6	1
WP: Tommy Kahnle (1-0); LP: Kris Bubic (0-1); SV: Luke Weaver (2)
Home Runs: NY - Giancarlo Stanton (1)

Attendance: 40,312

Game 3 marked the return of postseason baseball to Kansas City for the first time since the 2015 World Series. However, it was the Yankees who came out on top as the Royals repeated the mistakes that had plagued them all series, mainly letting the Yankees place their lead-off hitter on base in too many innings and issuing way too many walks. They gave up nine free passes tonight, after allowing eight in Game 1 and another five in Game 2. It was not the walks that cost the Royals the game per se, but it meant that their pitchers were trying to work out of trouble most innings. As they had done in Game 2, the Royals bunched all of their runs into one inning, in this case the 5th; but whereas they had strung together four runs in one frame in winning the previous game, their two runs tonight only served to tie the score, and they were never able to either take a lead, or reply when the Yankees went back in front. The hero of the game was clearly Giancarlo Stanton, whose 8th-inning homer was the difference: he came alive in this game, adding a single, a run-scoring double and even a stolen base, after having been completely overshadowed by teammates Juan Soto and Aaron Judge all season.

The two starting pitchers, Seth Lugo for the Royals and Clarke Schmidt for the Yankees, both started strong, but tired quickly, both leaving by the end of the 5th inning. Lugo was perfect through the first two innings before issuing a walk to Oswaldo Cabrera with one out in the 3rd, but ran into more serious problems in the 4th, starting with a lead-off walk to Soto. He got the next two batters but Stanton doubled past CF Kyle Isbel allowing Soto to score from first base. In the 5th, Anthony Volpe led off with a single and Cabrera drew another walk. Alex Verdugo successfully laid down a sacrifice bunt, placing both runners in scoring position, and Lugo walked Gleyber Torres to load the bases. With the heart of the batting order coming up, the Yankees should have had a big inning, but they were only able to cash in one runner, on a sacrifice fly by Soto. So it was 2-0 in the middle of the 5th, as Schmidt, making the first postseason start of his career, had been solid through the first four innings. That ended in the bottom of the inning, however, as Adam Frazier singled with two outs and Isbel drove him in with a double. The top of the order was now coming up but Aaron Boone decided to leave Schmidt to face one more batter, Michael Massey, and got burned when Massey hit a line drive towards Soto in right field. Soto attempted a diving catch but missed the ball, which rolled past him, allowing Isbel to score the tying run and Massey to be credited with a triple. Boone now replaced Schmidt with Clay Holmes to face Bobby Witt Jr., who was still hitless in the series, and he walked him. The next batter, Vinnie Pasquantino, was also looking for a first hit, but he hit a routine fly ball to Judge in center to end the inning.

Lugo was replaced by Angel Zerpa to start the 6th, so the game was now in the hands of the bullpens on both sides. Zerpa gave up a single to Stanton sandwiched between a pair of outs and after righty John Schreiber came in to face Volpe, Stanton surprised everyone in the ballpark by stealing second base. He had had countless problems with his legs all season and had not stolen a single base, but he took advantage of being completely ignored by the Royals' battery. Volpe drew a walk, but both runners were stranded when Cabrera lined out to center. The Yankees also put on a baserunner in the 7th, the result of a two-out walk of Soto by Sam Long, but Brady Singer, making his first appearance of the postseason, managed to strike out Judge on a checked swing with a full count to end that inning. Holmes had pitched a 1-2-3 6th inning for the Yankees, and Tommy Kahnle followed by doing the same in the 7th.

In the 8th, Kris Bubic took the mound for Kansas City but after striking out Austin Wells, he was victimized by Stanton, who hit a looping homer to left center to put the Yankees ahead, 3-2. It would prove to be the deciding run. There were two more walks in that inning - to Volpe and Cabrera - but no more runs. Kahnle got the first out in the 8th by striking out Massey, then Boone called in his closer, Luke Weaver, early in order to face Witt. The young superstar broke out of his slump with a single to left, and the strategy now called for him to attempt to steal second, but Pasquantino did not give him the chance as he swung on Weaver's next pitch, hitting a soft blooper towards center field. It looked like it might fall in for a hit, but Volpe came racing in from his shortstop position and snatched it in the air as Witt applied the brakes and dove back into first base. The next batter, Salvador Perez, hit a single, but Witt could only get to third base and was stranded there, as was Perez at first base, when Yuli Gurriel hit a fly ball to Judge. The Royals had wasted their best chance to tie the game. The 9th inning featured Soto reaching on an error with one out against Michael Lorenzen, the result of Gurriel dropping a throw from 2B Massey on the most routine of ground balls, and then a walk to Judge. But in a now familiar pattern, the Yankees were unable to pad their lead, stranding both runners to force Weaver to come back to finish the game with just a one-run lead. However, it was now the bottom of the batting order coming up and MJ Melendez and Maikel Garcia both hit soft fly balls before pinch-hitter Tommy Pham hit a grounder to Volpe to end the game.

Game 4 @ Kauffman Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Yankees	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	3	8	0
Royals	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	6	0
WP: Gerrit Cole (1-0); LP: Michael Wacha (0-1); SV: Luke Weaver (3)
Home Runs: none

Attendance: 39,012

The Yankees eliminated the Royals with a 3-1 win in Game 4 behind a great performance by their ace, Gerrit Cole, who had been criticized for a mediocre outing in Game 1. Facing Michael Wacha once again, he had a great game, limiting the Royals to just one run on six hits in seven innings, not walking anyone and striking out four. By the time he left, the Yankees had a 3-1 lead, and their former and current closers, Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver, both pitched a scoreless inning to complete the win. There was a strong wind blowing at Kauffman Stadium, especially coming in from right field, and the ending may have been very different without that as the Royals hit two balls that just stayed inside the park's limits and were both caught, but might otherwise had gone out (and would undoubtedly have been home runs at New Yankee Stadium).

The Yankees got on the board very quickly as in the span of two batters, Gleyber Torres had hit a double and Juan Soto had followed with a run-scoring single to right field. But there were no more runs for a while after that, as Wacha got Aaron Judge to ground into a double play and then settled down. He gave up another lead-off double to Giancarlo Stanton, but none of the three men that followed could do as much as advance him to third base, let alone drive him in. After a 1-2-3 top of the 3rd, the Royals got their first hit off Cole when Tommy Pham led off the bottom of the 3rd with a single, but he was forced out by Kyle Isbel and the next two batters made outs as well. The 4th inning featured a walk to Judge immediately followed by another double play ground ball, and another inning of the Royals being retired in order. The Yankees finally managed to pad their lead a little in the 5th and 6th innings. In the first of those innings, Anthony Volpe singled with one out but was forced out. However, Jon Berti and Torres both singled with two outs, and Verdugo scored the second run. That prompted Royals manager Matt Quatraro to pull out all the stops and bring in his closer, Lucas Erceg, extremely early to record the final out. In the 6th, with Erceg still pitching, Judge finally got a hit, leading off with a double, and he came to score on a single by Stanton one out later. After a walk to Stanton, Yuli Gurriel turned an unassisted double play on a liner by Volpe, ending the inning. It was now 3-0, and all the scoring chances had belonged to the Yankees - except for a long fly ball to right field by Pham with two outs in the 5th that was reined in by the wind and caught by Soto.

The Royals finally got on the board in the bottom of the 6th, even after a lead-off single by Maikel Garcia was erased when Michael Massey grounded into a reverse double play initiated by 1B Berti. There were some words exchanged between Garcia and Volpe at second base, after Volpe ran his right arm across Garcia's throat while tagging him. Before long, players from both benches had gathered in the middle of the diamond, but there were no fisticuffs, everyone returned to their normal position, and play could resume. The next two batters, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino, finally managed to combine their talents, as a single followed by a double led to a Royals run. Salvador Perez was up next, but he popped up to the infield to end the inning, stranding Pasquantino. Angel Zerpa took care of the Yankees in short order in the 7th, and Cole returned for another inning of work, even if he had been hit hard the last inning. After two outs, Pham hit a single, and it was now Isbel who hit a long drive to right, caught by Soto with his back to the fence. That drive, like Pham's in the 5th inning, would also probably have been gone in most settings. But tonight, it was just an out, so Cole completed his night's work with that. John Schreiber replaced Zerpa after one out in the 8th, and he walked Judge, threw a wild pitch and let him steal third base, but the big man was stranded there as after an intentional walk to Stanton, Sam Long got Jazz Chisholm to ground out to third to end the inning. The Royals then could not get anything going against Cole's two successors, Holmes and Weaver, who both pitched a perfect inning to close out the win. Gurriel made the final out, on a fly ball to CF Judge that confirmed that the Yankees were moving on to the ALCS.