The Yankees look for a win in Game 1 and show why they are real contenders

Game 1 of the ALDS didn't go according to plan for the Yankees. Aaron Judge went 0-4 with three strikeouts. Gerrit Cole looked shaky, struggling through five innings, yielding four runs and plenty of loud contact.

And yet win when things actually don't go according to plan Was Part of the plan for this iteration of the Yankees. After a disappointing 2023 season in which the Yankees relied on Cole and Judge, who were superhuman, to win, the Yankees' goal in 2024 was to build a roster that often won, but also won, on the excellence of its tentpole stars could, if they managed it, stalled. That said, on a day that lacked the best versions of Cole and Judge, the Yankees found a way to win, thanks almost entirely to the efforts of players who weren't there when this team last got a sniff in October.

Cole's shaking was a big surprise. The top right-hander appeared to settle in well over the final two months of the season, posting a 2.25 ERA and .503 OPS in his last 10 starts. He flat-out dominated in his last two outings, yielding just four hits and one run over 15.2 innings.

He never looked pleasant on Saturday night. During his first pass through the Kansas City lineup, the Royals' hitters hunted Cole's fastball – with success. They spit on anything that wasn't a heater and hit anything that was hard with abandon, getting away with a handful of balls thrown despite only allowing one run in the first two innings of the game.

Given an aggressive KC lineup that hit the heats much better than the pitches in the regular season, I expected Cole to mix it up more with his sliders and curves in his subsequent runs by the Royals. But Cole never seemed to trust his slider. He leaned on his curve a bit, but every slider he uncorked seemed to either reach the heart of the plate or land well outside the zone.

The result was a fastball-heavy approach that fell right into the hands of this KC lineup. Cole could have done it if he had his best command, but he failed to consistently position his four-seater over the batters' barrels or get his cutter into the hands of left-handers. He threw just six whiffs, the second-lowest mark he's ever hit since moving from Pittsburgh to Houston seven seasons ago. Ultimately, Cole's line of five innings, seven hits, four runs (three earned), two walks and four strikeouts painted an accurate picture of his performance.

There isn't that much to analyze regarding Judge's poor play, as there is only so much that can be said about a batter's play in a game compared to that of a starter. However, Judge didn't make many mistakes as the Royals pitchers understandably hit him very carefully. In fact, KC's hurlers produced some of their best performances against Judge. His three strikeouts came on a nasty 3-2 changeup from Michael Wacha, an equally dirty changeup from Michael Lorenzen and a well-placed 99 mph cheddar from Lucas Erceg:

Of course, Judge is the best hitter in the world, and one would hope that even when his opponents are making great throws, he would find a way to beat them. That was a single game, and for now you can just call it a case of Judge having an off game on the same day her opponent brought her A-game.

If I had told you before the game that Cole would take a hit and Judge would score a hat trick, I would have forgiven you for calling Game 1 a loss. That the Yankees still found a way to win is evidence that this roster is more balanced compared to some of the more recent versions.

The Yankees' vastly improved offense this year was largely due to the incomparable Juan Soto, who went 3-for-5 on the night. But it was contributions from elsewhere that gave the Yankees the win in Game 1. The decisive factor was Alex Verdugo, who rewarded Aaron Boone's trust with two singles and a walk, including the game-winning single in the seventh:

Scoring in that game was Jazz Chisholm Jr., who singled, (narrowly) secured second and headed home on Verdugo's liner.

The work of Austin Wells was also crucial, as the struggling catcher chose the right time to reverse course with a productive game. He tied the contest twice, once with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth and again with a big RBI single in the sixth.

The Yankees turned to Tommy Kahnle in the eighth with a one-run lead, but when the right-hander issued a two-out walk, Boone wasted no time in walking to his top reliever, Luke Weaver. Weaver looked outstanding after moving to the closer role in September, handling the corners perfectly with his four-seam fastball and playing with hitters with his strong changeup.

Against Kansas City the story was the same. Weaver faced four batters and barely gave any of them anything to hit, showcasing his full ability at the highest level. The defining moment in the ninth was Weaver rallying from a 3-0 deficit against Bobby Witt Jr., with the young star threatening to earn a free pass and put pressure on the Yankees on the base paths. Instead, Weaver brought the count to a close and then knocked Witt out at the knees with a vicious 97 mph fastball, a nearly unbeatable pitch:

Verdugo, Chisholm, Weaver and Wells were all acquired or promoted in the last 13 months, filling gaps behind the Yankees' stars. While Verdugo was unproductive for most of 2024, the rest of the quartet had good seasons. They form a group of strong support players that didn't exist last year and are now there to drive the team on nights when Plan A doesn't work.

If the Yankees want to win the World Series, the most direct path for them is for Judge and Soto to play together and Cole to lead the pitching staff. In all likelihood, if their best players don't play like their best players, they won't make it. But games like this show that there is at least some margin for error that hasn't been there in the Bronx in recent years. After winning on a day that saw their plans falter almost from the start, the Yankees enter Game 2 with a lead confident they can win in more ways than one.