If only the Yankees had one more weapon…

For years, we warned the New York Yankees against the perils of relying on Jonathan Loaisiga rather than treating him like a potential luxury item. Sadly, they didn’t listen this season, and were swiftly forced to come to grips with their house of cards collapsing.

Somehow, some way, this Yankees team operates best in “scramble mode,” with their backs against the wall forced to innovate. But that process is far more difficult and time consuming than “easy mode,” and after Loaisiga’s season-ending injury — just three outings into the campaign — it took New York’s braintrust arguably five months to figure out some semblance of a bullpen pecking order.

And, even when they did figure one out … man, it would look so much nicer with just one more swing-and-a-miss inducing arm to slot into the depth chart.

The Yankees’ triumvirate of Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle, and Luke Weaver has carried them effectively through two postseason rounds, to the edge of the promised land. In Games 4 and 5, unable to summon a single tried-and-true solution, the slapdash combination of Tim Hill, Mark Leiter Jr., and Jake Cousins delivered splendidly (for the most part).

But … the goal is to only break that glass in case of emergencies. It certainly won’t take some sort of trauma to force the Yankees back to a similar well by Game 3; in fact, it’ll probably be necessary in the flow of a long series. And Loaisiga, as evidenced by this heartbreaking post, will be watching from home and gutting it out like the rest of us.

Yankees bullpen misses Jonathan Loaisiga for 2024 World Series vs. Dodgers

Sure, the Yankees did have one more opportunity this season to render Loaisiga’s inevitable injury a concern of the past. Adding one more certified ace at the trade deadline, in addition to Leiter Jr. and instead of Enyel De Los Santos, would’ve given them a fourth horseman to replace their departed arm.

Imagine this current Yankees roster with Tanner Scott, AJ Puk, or Jason Adam? That’s what it would’ve felt like to enter this Fall Classic with a healthy Loaisiga, able to erase an inning at a time (and then some) with his crackling heat.

These Yankees can get it done without Loaisiga involved. But it would’ve been so much simpler with him in the fold — or, as we advised in years prior, another more reliably healthy arm to do his heavy lifting.