Yankees attempted trip back to World Series begins today

March 27, 2025 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

The New York Yankees are set to open the 2025 Major League Baseball season at home in The Bronx this afternoon at 3:05 p.m. eastern time with Carlos Rondon on the mound while the Milwaukee Brewers send out Freddy Peralta.

The Yankees look to return to the World Series after falling 4 games to 1 to the LA Dodgers a year ago. The club will be looking to extend its current records of 41 pennants, 59 playoffs and 27 World Series titles in 41 appearances. The Dodgers are second in all of baseball, and first in the National League with 25 pennants, 38 postseason appearances and 22 World Series appearances. However, they are tied for fifth in all of baseball for World Series rings with 8.

The Yankees are called the Bronx Bombers for a legitimate reason. The Yankees have hit 17,241 home runs to outdistance the second-place San Francisco who have smashed 15,583.

By comparison, Milwaukee has just one pennant which came in 1982, the only year the franchise made it to the World Series where they were defeated in seven games by the St. Louis Cardinals. Overall, the Brewers have 10 playoff trips with 8 of those happening when they in the national league).

In fairness, the LA/Brooklyn Dodgers have been around since 1884 and the Yankees were established in 1903, while the Brewers began in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots before moving to Milwaukee the following year.

Historically, the Yankees have the best winning percentage (.569) while the Dodgers (532) trail the Giants (.535) for third-best. Milwaukee is 18th-best at .487.

The Yankees have AL-best odds (+165), and second best of all AL teams to win the World Series (+900).

Randy Levine has served as president of the Yankees since 2000 while Brian Cashman became the general manager when he succeeded Bob Watson in 1998. Watson only served in that capacity for about 2-1/2 years (October 1995 - February 1998).

Aaron Boone is back for his eighth season as the Manager. He has an over-all record of 603-429 (.584) and a playoff mark of 22-23 (.489) with playoff appearances ever season except 2023. Last year was the first time Boone helped steer the team to the World Series as the club continues to look for its first world title since 2009.

The top Yankees returning from last year's playoff run include Aaron Judge, the 2024 American League MVP. Cody Bellinger comes over from the Cubs where he hopes to replicate the type of season he had in 2019 with the Dodgers when he was the National League MVP and a Gold Glove winner. He was the NL Comeback Player of the Year in 2023 with the Cubs after his final season in Los Angeles was nightmarish as he had a woeful .265 on base percentage, and a .210 batting average he also had a .210 batting average. Though he somehow managed to bomb 19 homers, he also struck out 150 times in nearly 30 percent of his 504 at-bats. His first year in Chicago saw his numbers climb to a .356 OBA, a .307 batting average and 63 fewer strikeouts (87) in 5 fewer at-bats (499) for a .174 clip.