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Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly blast Yankees as 'lazy,' calling them '8th- or 9th-best team' in MLB postseason

"It was a mismatch from the get-go," the veteran reliever said.

ian casselberry
Contributing writer
·3 min read

Days after the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series, reliever Joe Kelly trashed the New York Yankees as an opponent, calling the five-game series "a mismatch from the get-go."

On his "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast, Kelly savaged the Yankees, saying they should've been ranked among the bottom quarter of the 12 teams that made the MLB playoffs this year.

"If we had a playoff reranking, they might be ranked the eighth- or ninth-best playoff team," Kelly said.

"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," he continued. "The Guardians played like crap, but the Guardians played better defense and better baseball all around."

Additionally, Kelly confirmed that the Dodgers were extremely confident going into the series because their scouting reports indicated that the Yankees would make mistakes defensively when the ball was in play.

"Just let them throw the ball to the infield, they can't make a play," Kelly sad. "I mean, you saw. Shohei got an extra base going to third on a sloppy Gleyber play. It's well known. We all knew. I mean, we're the Dodgers. We know every little detail."

Kelly's revelation matches up with what Joel Sherman reported in the New York Post after the Dodgers won Game 5 on Wednesday and clinched their World Series victory.

"What the Dodgers told their players in scouting meetings was the Yankees were talent over fundamentals. That if you run the bases with purpose and aggression, the Yankees will self-inflict harm, as was exposed by Betts, Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman, etc. That the value was very high to put the ball in play to make the Yankees execute," Sherman wrote.

"They mentioned that the Yankees were not just the majors’ worst baserunning team by every metric, but the difference was vast on the field between them and the Padres, who the Dodgers beat in the NL Division Series, but were impressive in this area," he added.

That scouting report looked prophetic in the fateful fifth inning of Game 5, when the Yankees fell apart and squandered a 5–0 lead in large part because of defensive miscues and failing to make simple plays in the field.

Kelly didn't let up on his barrage, calling the Yankees' stars "lazy," though he didn't single out anyone by name in his scathing criticism.

“We go through numerous scouting reports," he said. "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. So that’s the difference and the biggest separator."

Kelly did not pitch for the Dodgers during the postseason due to a shoulder injury. In the regular season, he finished with a 4.78 ERA in 35 appearances with 35 strikeouts in 32 innings. Some fans might point out that the veteran reliever never faced any of the Yankees players he's ripping. But the outcome of the World Series backs up much of what Kelly and the Dodgers' scouting asserted.