Yankees fans in the Bronx were in their glory Sunday, celebrating the team’s first American League pennant in 15 years — and buying the swag to go with it.
Shoppers flocked to the team store at Yankee Stadium on Sunday morning to buy postseason gear at Yankee Stadium, still reveling in the team’s American League Championship victory on Saturday night. The Game 5 victory over the Cleveland Guardians sent the Bronx Bombers back to the World Series for the first time since 2009, where they will seek their 28th world championship.
The store opened at 10 a.m. and offered a wide range of postseason merch, plus half-off most other items. The morning stop at the stadium was easy for Yankees fan Jerry Ramos, who lives just five blocks away and has loved the team since the 1980s.
“This is amazing,” Ramos said. “After so long, the Yankees were able to conquer one of their goals.”
He attributed the victory to hard work, resiliency and “a young group that is motivated and hungry to win,” helped by veteran players who understand the pressures of the postseason.
Ramos said he wants to get tickets for the first game of the World Series, which will be played Friday, Oct. 25 — though it was unclear Sunday morning not only as to whom the Yankees would face in the World Series, but where it would begin.
The Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers were set to play Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night, with the Dodgers up 3 games to 2. A Dodgers series win would mean Los Angeles would have home-field advantage for the World Series because of a higher regular season winning percentage, and the Yankees would have to fly out to the West Coast for Game 1. But if the Mets come back to win the NLCS, the Yankees would have home-field advantage in the Subway World Series, and would host Game 1 Friday.
He said he loves walking to the stadium for games and seeing the mix of fans of every culture from across the city and around the world.
“I’m looking for a lot of energy for these games. Screaming, yelling, and winning for sure,” Castro said. “New York has the best fans in the world.”
Matthew Kay, who lives in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, left the store with two large bags of merch, including hats, balls and pins — “all to commemorate this momentous occasion that took 15 years to come back to,” he said.
Kay said he has been a Yankees fan “since birth” and recognized early on that this year’s team is special because they work together like a family. “If [Aaron] Judge is having a slump, [Giancarlo] Stanton is coming in. If someone can’t produce, the next one in line is ready.”
Kay said he’s pulling for a Subway Series. Though the Mets were facing an uphill climb in Los Angeles Sunday, he thought a comeback was possible — and would be a great opportunity for revenge, since the Mets swept the Yankees during the regular season.
“If [the Mets] can pull it out, it should be a great series” — plus, “I hate L.A.,” said Kay.
He said when he was young, it felt like the Yankees made it to the World Series almost every year. Now, after a 15-year gap, he revels in the moment.
“It’s just ecstatic. It’s too long,” said Kay.
Julian Castro, who lives in New Jersey, said he has been a Yankees fan since age five or six, “ever since I came to this country.” He left the store with a bag full of merch, including a postseason hat to give to a family member in Colombia.
As for the championship, “We needed it,” Castro said. “We finally got the pitching dominance.”
He predicted the Yankees will end up playing the Dodgers — not the Mets — in the World Series. If that happens, “We could probably take that 28th championship,” Castro said.
