They have a bunch of s***** and injured pitchers in Shark and Cueto who make bank, Posey is expensive, Melancon makes $20M a year lmao, Pence $18.5M, and then a bunch of guys who aren't elite but still make a lot of money.
I don't think it's emphasized enough the payroll discrepancy in this game. That's not to take anything away from the Yankees, they are a legitimately excellent team built by very smart people, but it sure helps when your top 5 salaried players alone make more than the opponent team's payroll. There's a $100M difference in payroll between these two teams.
This year was a huge win for analytics. 5 of the top 10 teams in payroll didn't make the playoffs (with the Giants second in the MLB at a whopping $205M), while two teams in the bottom 10 (Brewers and the A's) did make it with the Rays at the very bottom having won 90 games in the AL East.