Yankees players choose their dream club legend to join the roster for World Series showdown with Dodgers
The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers are set to kick off their blockbuster World Series matchup on Friday night. The two iconic franchises have powered their way through both the regular season and playoffs to set up a dream World Series title matchup. It will feature the league's two biggest superstars: Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.
Despite being two of the most storied franchises in MLB history, they have not faced off in the World Series since 1981. That being said, the current iterations of the squads are loaded with some of the best players in the MLB. So, it is unsurprising to see the Yankees and Dodgers set to battle it out.
Even though New York has one of the strongest rosters in the league, the club has also had some of the biggest names in baseball history in the past. This has opened the door to determine which former star would best fit in with the current squad heading into the World Series.
A number of current Yankees players gave their opinion on which club icon they would bring into the fold against the Dodgers.
"I think before I said Mariano Rivera and I think that you can't have enough pitching. But Andy Pettitte, he's with us right now, so having him on the team and going for us, I think that would be pretty cool too," Austin Wells said of his dream addition to the New York roster.
Andy Pettitte was a popular choice among the players who were asked. A five-time World Series champion with the Yankees and ALCS MVP, the left-handed pitcher was a force throughout his playoff career.
He threw a total of 276.2 innings throughout his postseason career. It was not only Austin Wells who went with Pettite but he was also the pick of both Marcus Stroman and Clarke Schmidt.
"I'm going to say Andy for sure because you know he was a dog in the playoffs and just a fierce competitor," Clarke Schmidt added.
Yankees legend Mariano Rivera another common pick among the modern players
Without question, Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in the MLB. As a result of his domination, he became the first player in history to unanimously be voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
It may come as no surprise that he was also another player that some of the modern stars said they would add to the World Series roster.
"It's definitely a tough one but probably hard not to go with Mo," Clay Holmes said of his choice.
Given the fact that Mariano Rivera cemented himself as the greatest reliever of all time, it's not surprising to see both Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle opt to go with the Hall of Famer.
Interestingly enough, none of the stars asked opted to choose one of the many legendary Yankees position players such as Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter, Joe DiMaggio or even Alex Rodriguez.