Let’s just cut to the chase and say the 2020 New York Yankees have got to be the favorite, or one of the favorites, to win the World Series. We’ve seen in the last few years that maybe the Yankees didn’t have that one guy to get the big hit or pitch a big inning, but I think the third time’s the charm.

This offseason was full of surprises and kind of went in the Bronx Bombers’ favor. First, the Yankees signed the biggest free agent in the class, Gerrit Cole, to be the new ace for the next nine years. Then, a cheating scandal got two of the best teams’ managers fired and a general manager too. After that, probably the best player in the division, Mookie Betts, got shipped off to the Dodgers.

The Yankees need to win now. Here are a couple of reasons why.

First, Aaron Judge, Gary Sánchez, and Gleyber Torres are running out of time for club control. There is no way, with Cole and Giancarlo Stanton’s contracts that the Yankees are going to be able to afford these three, unless they opt out in a couple years. The Yankees need to win now, while they are cheap.

Second, the Yankees have a couple big guys that are going to hit the free agent market next offseason, including James Paxton, D.J. LeMahieu and Masahiro Tanaka. These are three impactful players that are still affordable while the Yankees have them and could possibly re-sign, but with the Yankees’ injuries in the recent past, anything is possible.

Third, the pressure is on them. You can’t not win the World Series with a $245 million payroll. You have some of the biggest names in all of baseball on one team. The other contenders, like the Astros and the Red Sox that have beaten them in past playoffs, are slowly dying. It’s the Yankees’ turn to bring the 28th World Series Championship to the Bronx.

The Yankees have a rotation made up of Cole, Luis Severino, Tanaka, Jordan Montgomery, J.A. Happ and James Paxton (who is out for three to four months). They have a lineup that consists of LeMahieu Judge, Torres, Stanton, Sánchez, Brett Gardner, Gio Urshela, Mike Tauchman, Luke Voit, Miguel Andújar, Tyler Wade and Kyle Higashioka. Then, they have the best bullpen in the game, with Aroldis Chapman, Zach Britton, Adam Ottavino, Tommy Kahnle, Chad Green, Jonathan Holder and Luis Cessa.

The team is loaded with young talent. As long as the Yankees don’t have the injury woes that haunted them this year, there is no reason the Bombers won’t bring a championship banner back to New York in 2020. While General Manager Brian Cashman never seems to panic and usually makes the right moves for the Yankees, to me it’s a “now or never” type of season, because the next few years could look a whole lot different in the Bronx.