His heart rate was back to normal. The adrenaline that had been pumping through his body hours earlier had dissipated, and he could finally take a breath and reflect on what he had just done.

But Gerrit Cole couldn’t fully relax -- not yet.

It was Oct. 27, 2019, Game 5 of the World Series, and the 29-year-old right-hander had just authored one of the greatest performances of his career. In the nation’s capital, on national television, in what would turn out to be his final appearance as an Astro, he twirled seven innings of one-run ball, striking out nine Nationals in a 7-1 victory that put Houston one win away from what Cole hoped would be his first championship.

There was an underlying feeling among some of the reporters in the postgame press conference room that the Series was all but a wrap. Washington’s expected starter that night, Max Scherzer, had been a last-minute scratch due to back and neck spasms, and the Nats had just scraped across a meager three runs total in three home losses. To come back and win the Series, the suddenly punchless and banged-up NL champs would first need to defeat soon-to-be Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander on his home turf in Houston, then win a fourth road game in a best-of-seven Championship Series -- something no team in any of the four major sports had ever done.

But Cole knew the classic sports mantra: It ain’t over till it’s over. In the Nationals’ clubhouse lurked a baby-faced cleanup hitter who was utterly unfazed by the pressure of the Fall Classic. In the Series opener, 20-year-old Juan Soto homered and doubled off Cole, collecting three RBIs in a 5-4 statement win that marked Cole’s first defeat since May. Even in his Game 5 gem, Cole had trouble finding an answer for Soto, who singled and homered again off the eventual Cy Young runner-up.

“These next 27 outs that we’re going to have to get to end up finishing this thing off,” Cole told the gaggle of reporters that night at Nationals Park, “are going to be the hardest that we’ve had to get all year.”

The coronation that seemed so inevitable never arrived. Following an awkward ceremonial first pitch from Houston Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon, the crowd at Minute Maid Park watched as Soto launched a mammoth fifth-inning home run off Verlander that broke a 2-2 tie, propelling Washington to a 7-2 Game 6 win. In Game 7, with the Nationals trailing, 2-0, and down to their final eight outs, Soto -- five days after turning 21 -- helped spark a three-run seventh-inning rally, drawing a key walk that sent Zack Greinke to the showers and set up Howie Kendrick’s go-ahead two-run homer in an eventual 6-2 win. Soto’s RBI single in the eighth made him the youngest player since Mickey Mantle in 1952 to drive in a run in a World Series Game 7.

But it wasn’t just the huge hits and clutch at-bats Soto put up that made such an indelible impression on the millions of astonished viewers who tuned in to the 2019 World Series -- it was how he did it. With swagger. With style. With remarkable confidence. “A kid that’s just out there having fun like he’s playing stickball in the backyard” was how Nationals manager Dave Martinez described him. “That’s who he is. He loves the moments. He loves going up there and picking up his teammates.”

Four and a half years later, with both players now donning Yankees pinstripes, Cole gets to be the beneficiary of Soto’s otherworldly ability, and vice versa. They’ll work together this season to get back to the World Series for the first time since their 2019 showdown and put an end to the Yankees’ own drought.

After missing the postseason for the first time under manager Aaron Boone’s watch in 2023, the Yankees spent the offseason making adjustments to their roster. The outfield defense got measurably stronger with the additions of Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham. The starting rotation was fortified when the club signed Marcus Stroman. And the lineup added one of the most talented hitters of this generation in the now-25-year-old Soto. Having shored up several weaknesses, the Yankees should not only be better in 2024, but the ultra-competitive newcomers ensure that this squad should be a ton of fun to watch.

“We’ve jump-started a lot of areas, especially the offense, which was a difficult run for us last year,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. “I think we’re improved. But it doesn’t matter what I think. It just matters, obviously, how it’s going to play.

“We’re excited about the possibilities.”

***

For most of three days, the 2023 MLB Winter Meetings were heavy on holiday cheer but light on actual business. They were held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., where a team of 200 master ice artisans from Harbin, China, sculpted a veritable winter wonderland. Tourists visiting the hotel could walk through a frozen display of “The Polar Express,” go ice tubing, meet Santa and generally be ensconced in Christmas tidings wherever they went throughout the sprawling resort.

But the baseball writers who came from points near and far on their publishers’ dimes to document the sport’s wheelings and dealings were not feeling that same spirit. As they scanned their phones, news of trades and free-agent signings came at the drip-drip pace of a slowly melting icicle. With little else to say, esteemed baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal led off his Dec. 5 column for The Athletic by writing, “Earth to baseball: The Winter Meetings are supposed to be fun.”

Yet, with a gleam in his eye and a somewhat mischievous smile, Boone tried his best to conceal the fact that Christmas might indeed come early for the Yankees, simply telling reporters that “conversations are going on all over the place here.” The rumor buzzing around the Opryland was that the Padres were looking to unload Soto, and that the Yanks were the heavy favorites to land the four-time Silver Slugger.

Soto had been the center of trade talks before. At the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium, a report had surfaced that he turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract extension proposed by the Nationals. Having flown commercial from D.C. after homering in his final plate appearance of the first half, the then-23-year-old was on no sleep during his hourlong media availability in Los Angeles, fielding questions about how he could pass up that kind of guaranteed money, and how he would feel if the Nationals now traded him.

“I’m just concentrating on baseball,” Soto insisted. “I’m just going to play as hard as I can and play baseball and forget about anything else. I don’t make the decisions.”

Later that day, Soto defeated Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez to claim the 2022 Home Run Derby title. Two weeks later, the Nationals sent him and Josh Bell to San Diego for six players, including former Yankees first baseman Luke Voit.

Soto helped the Padres reach the postseason and homered twice in a five-game NLCS loss to Philadelphia. The expectations for 2023 were sky high in San Diego, but an 82-80 finish left them outside the playoff picture. With the team looking to trim payroll and dealing with the devastating death of owner Peter Seidler on Nov. 14, 2023, the three-time All-Star -- with just one season left before he could test the free-agent market -- once again became the subject of trade rumors.

“It’s never easy to trade for or move an elite, talented guy, because that’s what the best teams have when they win championships,” Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller told The San Diego Union-Tribune last November. “A contract year with an elite player is attractive, but we’ll weigh that out versus what it means long term.”

Soto was playing Nintendo with friends when he got the call from Preller letting him know that he was being traded. And on Dec. 6, the worst-kept secret in Nashville became official: The Yankees acquired Soto and Grisham in exchange for right-handed pitchers Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and Drew Thorpe, along with veteran catcher Kyle Higashioka.

It was a lot of talent to part with, but the return was too good to pass up.

“He’s as good an offensive player as there is,” Boone said. “He’s a machine offensively: on-base, power, has accomplished a ton already at a young age, durable, has been a central figure on a world championship team. He’s come with a lot of fanfare and been one of the rock-solid performers in our sport on the offensive side of the ball year in and year out. He’s a great player.”

Baseball Reference’s “Similarity Scores” help put Soto’s accomplishments thus far into perspective. In its list of 10 similar batters through their age 24 seasons, the website names four Hall of Famers -- Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr., Orlando Cepeda and Eddie Mathews -- and six players who could very well join them in Cooperstown some day: Bryce Harper, Andruw Jones, Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Trout, Juan González and Miguel Cabrera.

A left-handed batter who has led the Majors in walks three times and on-base percentage twice -- his .421 career OBP is tops among active players -- Soto is known for his patience at the plate, a trait that fast-tracked his rise to Major League stardom. He was 19 years old with just 122 Minor League games under his belt when a host of injuries in Washington opened up a big league roster spot in mid-May of 2018. Soto clubbed a three-run homer in his first career start and never looked back, finishing runner-up to Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. in the 2018 NL Rookie of the Year Award voting. In his Yankee Stadium debut on June 13 of that season, Soto smacked two home runs and drove in four, leading Washington to a 5-4 victory.

“It’s a great ballpark,” Soto said during his introductory press conference with the New York media, held over Zoom on Dec. 12. “It’s a great batter’s box. I’m not going to lie: It feels great to stand out there.

“It’s definitely just a great vibe, a great feeling, to be playing in New York. And that Stadium, the fans, the crowd is just incredible. Even when they weren’t cheering for me -- they were really booing me and everything -- I’ve really enjoyed my time there.”

***

In addition to the three home runs, Soto’s performance in the 2019 Fall Classic was memorable for something else: He introduced the nation to “The Soto Shuffle.”

The 2-1 pitch that preceded Soto’s Game 6 homer off Verlander was a high fastball that nearly nicked the inside corner. The keen-eyed Soto laid off the 96 mph heater, and as home-plate umpire Sam Holbrook said, “Ball, that’s inside,” Soto swiped his back foot forward toward the front of the batter’s box and nodded his head in agreement with the call, staring directly at Verlander as he did so.

It’s a mannerism, or tactic, if you will, unique to Soto, his way of engaging in the mano a mano duel taking place at 60 feet, 6 inches. So, when Stroman, himself a competitor of the highest magnitude, struck out Soto during a game at Petco Park last June, the never-shy right-hander couldn’t help himself, mimicking Soto’s signature move as he shuffled across the mound.

Fast forward to this January, when the Yankees announced that they had signed Stroman to a two-year deal with a conditional player option for 2026, and Soto took to social media to welcome his new teammate. Sandwiched between three laughing/crying face emojis and three handshake emojis, he posted the message: “We shuffle together now.”

The two-time All-Star pitcher from Long Island was ecstatic about coming to the Bronx, sharing a photo on Instagram of himself as a kid smiling broadly while decked out in a Yankees hooded sweatshirt. On his Jan. 18 Zoom call with reporters, Stroman said he got chills thinking about taking the mound at Yankee Stadium for his first home start.

“I’m not someone who shies away from the limelight or pressure,” the Medford, N.Y., native said. “I think a lot of guys would avoid coming to New York and playing for the Yankees because of that reason, but I’m someone who, it brings out the best in me. So, I’m looking forward to this opportunity.”

A sinkerball pitcher who allowed the fewest home runs (nine) of any National League pitcher with at least 25 starts last year, Stroman was a first-round Draft pick of the Blue Jays in 2012. After five and a half seasons in Toronto, he was dealt to the Mets at the 2019 Trade Deadline, then spent 2022 and ’23 with the Cubs.

Thoughtful and engaging with the media, the 5-foot-7 Stroman has lived by the motto that “height doesn’t measure heart.” And although his candor has, on occasion, rankled some, the 32-year-old former Duke Blue Devil had no concerns whatsoever about how he would fit in amongst his new teammates. “I’m pretty sure the Yankees have done their research in this process, and they wouldn’t want this partnership if they didn’t know about my character as a human being,” he said. Rather, he was eager to join a rotation that is “one of the better staffs out there” and watch “The Soto Shuffle” from the comfort of his own dugout.

“I’ve faced some good hitters, but I always tell everyone that Soto’s the best hitter I’ve ever faced,” Stroman said. “His knowledge of the strike zone is second to none. He probably knows a ball or strike better than the umpire does. And then his ability to just fire on pitches in the zone, his pitch recognition -- he’s just different, man. He’s different. I can’t imagine starters or pitchers having to face Soto and [Aaron] Judge back-to-back.”

**

For Alex Verdugo, it was time for a change. The 27-year-old Arizona native came up through the Dodgers' system and was a key piece of their February 2020 trade for Boston’s Mookie Betts. Verdugo batted .308 during that pandemic-shortened season, earning AL MVP votes. His second year in Boston was also excellent, as he scored a career-high 88 runs and helped lead the Red Sox to the 2021 ALCS against Houston.

But the last two seasons were a struggle. As the Red Sox dipped from 92 wins in ’21 to back-to-back 78-win, last-place campaigns, Verdugo’s batting average also declined, and things just got “frustrating.”

What never slumped was Verdugo’s Gold Glove-caliber defense. In 2023, his range factor and fielding percentage placed him among the best right fielders in the game, and his 12 assists led all American League outfielders. When he got the news last December that he was heading to the division-rival Yankees (in exchange for right-handed pitchers Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice), his initial anger about being traded quickly gave way to the promise of a fresh start. He started house hunting. He shaved the beard he had worn since high school. And, having worn No. 99 with the Red Sox, he began contemplating a new jersey number.

“The older I get, the pieces of the puzzle are all coming together,” Verdugo said in December. “Having some more stability is something that I needed, and having a couple-year deal where you know you’re solidified is going to really help that.

“It just feels like I’m in a much better space, mentally and physically, and I’m very excited.”

It will be interesting to see how Boone deploys Verdugo and the other return in the Soto trade, Grisham. Both are elite defenders -- Grisham was the NL Gold Glove winner in center field in both 2020 and ’22 -- and both bat left-handed. Their congruent splits -- Verdugo produced an OPS of .793 against right-handed pitchers in 2023; Grisham’s OPS against left-handers was .792 -- suggest they could find themselves in a platoon situation.

Whatever Boone decides to do with his new weapons, one thing is certain: The 2024 Yankees want to win, and they’ve got the personnel to do it.

“I come to the field thinking about winning every day,” Soto said. “I got a little taste of it in 2019, to win the World Series and everything. It was a great feeling, and I want to try and do it again.”

Nathan Maciborski is the executive editor of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the Spring 2024 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.