October 2024 Recap

I'm looking forward to a slower writing month ahead!

Hi, everyone!

Alas, the baseball season is officially over, as my Yanks melted down last night, losing to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series. I’m getting ready to fly to Philly for my cousin’s wedding tomorrow, so we’ve been busy packing and prepping. The loss hasn’t really hit me yet.

Quick thoughts:

• I was definitely excited when Judge and Jazz hit back-to-back homers in the first inning last night. Thrilled, but I wasn’t ready to call it “game” just yet.

• When Stanton homered, I thought that would be enough to put the game out of reach.

• The top of the 5th inning might have been the sloppiest baseball I’ve ever seen, postseason or not. I won’t say the Yankees “deserved” to lose because of the three major errors that let the Dodgers tie the game, but it was an unacceptable sequence from a team supposedly fighting for a championship.

• The direction the Yankees take from here is fascinating—though not necessarily in a good way. Cole and Judge are only getting older, Soto will be expensive to keep, and Torres is probably gone. As for Wells, he might turn out to be a decent catcher, or he might not.

  • I’m particularly concerned about the starting rotation. Even the top pitcher on the market, Corbin Burnes, is already 30. There’s just not a lot of reliability there.

  • The bullpen was pretty average this season. They stepped it up in the postseason but fell apart when it mattered most against the Dodgers. Nestor Cortes was mostly a starter, but you get the point. I’m confident they can develop some young arms and find fireballers and finesse guys to build a bullpen from within. Maybe they even look to the open market for a veteran like Tanner Scott.

  • I really hope Anthony Volpe’s .815 OPS from the postseason is a sign of what we can expect from him offensively, versus the .661 OPS he’s posted over his first two regular seasons. Volpe has the potential to be an everyday core player, and as he matures, he should develop more pop. But they need him to be more consistent, especially if Torres leaves. Volpe could slot into the leadoff spot, followed by Soto, Judge, and Stanton. That’s a solid top five, but Volpe needs to maintain the patience at the plate he showed in the postseason.

So yeah, those are a few storylines. Aaron Boone isn’t going anywhere, and neither is Brian Cashman. I expect a few splashes, but the priority will be signing Soto. Everything else will hinge on that.

So what does all this mean for the 2025 Yankees and beyond? Grab your crystal ball and let me know!

New subs shoutout! 👏

We had six new people join us in October! Thank you to everyone for subscribing. It means so much to me!

Shout out to

Matt Jarvis

,

Melissa Jacobs

, Mike,

Yirsandy Rodríguez

, Katie, and

Beth McNichol

. Melissa, Yirsandy, and Beth all have cool Substacks, too. So please give them a look if you can!

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Papilio update 🦋 🎸 📖

You can now read the first FIVE chapters of my upcoming novel, Papilio: Wings of Becoming. Just click that link. simple! No ads — it’ll just bring you to my author website 🙂

Let me know what you think in the comments here or through the link!

Now onto the rest of the content you may have missed from October!

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Yarbarker & Fansided ⚾️

Bookmark my Yardbarker and Fansided pages so you never miss a column.

Or subscribe right now because always repost them here!

In October, I wrote 14 columns for Yardbarker and six for Fansided! Lots of baseball content for my baseball peeps 😎

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We didn’t just talk about the Yanks — more craft beer talk and other randomness is on this epi, too!

Give us a listen here, on YouTube, or on any of your favorite listening sites!

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CERNIG 📈

We are still doing well with modest growth. I expect views to drop over the next couple of months. I know I’ll be writing less. But I hope the writing I do choose to do with be more impactful because I won’t be cramming so much baseball content down your throats!

Thank you to everyone who is a part of this ride with me!

🙏 If you have suggestions or ideas, please don’t hesitate to reach out.