Former Yankees pitcher gives Dodgers another upper hand in World Series conversation

The Los Angeles Dodgers' commanding 2024 World Series win over the New York Yankees won't soon be forgotten by either fanbase. But, in the wake of their loss, some Yankees fans and players have gone through a lot of mental gymnastics to credit New York for its second-banana performance.

Former Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes is among them. The seven-year MLB veteran was traded to the Brewers in exchange for Devin Williams this offseason, but he's still vouching for New York as the better team in the 2024 Fall Classic.

"We were the better team," Cortes said this past week at Brewers camp. "They can talk whatever they want to talk, but we win Game 1 — which we should have — we lost 2 and 3, we win Game 4 and we should have won Game 5."

The word "should" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. The Dodgers had a better regular season record, better bats, more consistent defense, more athleticism and more speed than the Yankees — what is Cortes referencing?

Nestor Cortes claims Yankees were 'better team' than 2024 World Series champion Dodgers

New York had the upper hand in terms of pitching, as LA's pitching staff was in shambles during the postseason. But having a better pitching staff doesn't really matter if it isn't well-managed.

The Yankees lost Game 1 because manager Aaron Boone put Cortes in the game to face the heart of the order in extra innings after he hadn't faced big league hitting in over a month. Tim Hill, who posted a 2.05 ERA over 44 innings in the Yankees bullpen during the regular season, was ready and available to pitch, but Boone went with Cortes instead, which was just as inexplicable then as it is now.

Aaron Judge and Juan Soto were their only consistent bats, and Judge didn't perform up to his usual standards. The Dodgers' offense was, and still is, more well-rounded and their production was more evenly distributed, so they didn't live and die by a few players.

Maybe the Yankees' relatively easy path through the playoffs led them to believe that they were a better team than they really were, but the Dodgers had the upper hand in almost every way. The Dodgers have been pretty sore winners, but the Yankees haven't helped their case by making unfounded points.