2021 World Series Champion Shows Why Aces Are Essential
The role of the Ace in Major League Baseball cannot be overstated enough. The World Series champion more often than not has one. The names recall domination. Bob Gibson to Whitey Ford, Catfish Hunter to Pedro Martinez, and Roger Clemens to Clayton Kershaw among many others. The ability to insert one pitcher into the most crucial of games usually sets one team apart from the rest. A look around the league and you see Tarik Skubel leading the Detroit Tigers to the best record in the A.L. to this point. Yoshinobu Yamamoto led the Los Angeles Dodgers to a championship a year ago. In that same World Series, Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees left all of himself on that mound to keep hope alive; to his detriment, he later suffered a season-ending injury.
The Yankees, for many years, tried to play poker with average cards and always folded in the end. The free agent pickup of Gerrit Cole showed in 2019 how an ace changes the dynamic. The Yankees lost their ace before the 2025 season, and many predicted their demise as they had no other cards in the deck to match. However, an acquisition in the off-season saw the Yankees define the route they were going to pursue to return to the World Series. They got Max Fried, a former world champion with the Atlanta Braves, and at 31 years old, entering his prime years. The Yankees expected good, and they got great. Fried is currently 9-1 with a 1.84 ERA. The search in the distant past for the last man who was a legitimate stopper for New York was C.C. Sabathia. The Yankees knew Sabathia could stop losing streaks and extend winning ones while capturing key games that led to a championship in his first year as a Yankee in 2009.
In 2025, Fried, a lefty in his first season in New York, took on the role of the number one man on the staff. He has even exceeded the numbers that his Cy Young winner, Cole, produced. He has provided innings and kept games under control. He has given the Yankees the confidence to think that they are championship contenders every time he takes the mound. He is the reason the Yankees have the second-best record in the A.L. Fried allows the Yankees to come to the table and bluff, knowing they have an ace in the hole to throw down when needed.
Fried once again showed why stoppers are essential after the Yankees dropped two of three to the Boston Red Sox. The consensus was that the regression was about to take place after their starters were bashed around. It was implied that the Yankees would slide or become a .500 club in June. The lead they enjoyed in the AL East was shrinking, and the Yankees would have to hustle just to stay in contention with all these young, hungry teams surrounding them. Fried reminded everyone of why he was brought here. He gave up two meaningless runs in seven innings against a feisty Kansas City Royals team that fought them hard in last year's ALDS and allowed the offense to set the pace for a change. The feeling that nothing had changed could be felt in the dugout. It's amazing what a difference a day makes when you have a stopper. The pot at the center of the table is always in reach when you have an ace.
