Joe Kelly Continues to Trash Yankees, Calls Them '8th or 9th Best Playoff Team'

Stephen Douglas | Nov 4, 2024

Joe Kelly pitching in the regular season. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series last week, dispatching the New York Yankees in five games to capture the franchise's eighth championship. In an on-field interview following the title-clinching victory, Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly reveled in the Yankees' defensive miscues and suggested Fat Joe being shown on the scoreboard during Game 5 was the turning point.

Nearly a week later Kelly is still talking trash about the Yankees. Calling into his Baseball Isn't Boring podcast, Kelly continued to rip the Yankees calling them one of the worst teams in the entire MLB postseason despite the fact that they were in the World Series.

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"We were saying it every single game," Kelly said. "Just let them throw the ball to the infield, they can't make a play. 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."

"But I mean past that it was a fun series" Kelly continued. " I mean, they almost snagged a couple of wins you know what I mean? But I mean if it was like the NCAA, like basketball, baseball, hockey, or football I mean. Like it was just a mismatch from the get go. Like, we had a playoff re-ranking they might be ranked eighth or ninth best playoff team, you know what I mean? You're putting the Padres ahead of them. You're putting the Phillies ahead of 'em. You're putting the Mets ahead of 'em. You're putting the Braves ahead of 'em and the Braves just got unlucky 'cause they had to play that doubleheader. You're putting... I mean the Guardians played like crap, but the Guardians played better D, better baseball all-around."

This is where you might start to pick up some bias in Kelly's rankings as the Yankees, who had a slightly better regular season record than Cleveland, beat the Guardians in five games in the American League Championship Series.

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Kelly then compared the 2024 World Series to the Boston Red Sox win over the Dodgers in 2018 when Boston won in five games.

"It was just a complete mismatch and it was kinda the same feeling from 2018 when we had to go play the Dodgers," Kelly explained. "Like the Red Sox were just the way better team. So all we knew is that we just had to play regular Dodger baseball. We didn't have to play out of our butts. We didn't have to do anything crazy and we're going to win the World Series. It's facts. Like just look at the team, look at the talent. Re-rank the teams and they're ranked eighth and they played against the number one seed."

Kelly pitched in all five games in the 2018 World Series, striking out 10 batters while scattering four hits over six innings while giving up zero runs for Boston. However, it should probably be noted that the Dodgers used 13 pitchers in the '24 World Series and Joe Kelly was not one of them.

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