Inside the Yankees’ World Series travel, including their special pilot

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If you subscribe to my newsletter, then you know I’m a big baseball fan and that I love the Yankees and the Dodgers. It’s a dream World Series for so many people but especially fans of both teams and of course, MLB executives. One reason I like both teams is because I grew up 40 miles from Yankee Stadium and then I moved to Los Angeles to go to college and stayed.

New York Yankees at the World Series.
The Yankees are my first love so of course I’m rooting for them (the photo above was taken in 2009 when they played the Phillies, a game I was fortunate to be at) but weirdly, this year I hope they win in seven games so the baseball season is extended and I get to see both teams travel back and forth between coasts. I used to do the Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK) flight every other weekend for three years when my mom was sick with cancer so the trip almost became routine. I learned so much from doing it, which is one reason why I created my newsletter and website.

I don’t fly as much as I used to since I have two little kids but they’ve still managed to visit over a dozen countries each. One thing I’m fascinated about are the sports teams charters and it surprises me that you can track their planes in real time.

There are three things that I’ve found fascinating about the Yankees charters, which they do on a Delta 757.

1. Yankees are using alternate airports
They’re flying in and out of alternate airports, which is something I always recommend to save both time and money. For New York City the Yankees are using Westchester County Airport (HPN) which is 25 miles from Yankee Stadium.

During the season, they seemed to be using Newark (EWR), which is 24 miles from the stadium but going from HPN is a lot less traffic than coming from New Jersey.

For Los Angeles, instead of flying in and out of LAX, they’re flying out of Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), which is 12 miles from Dodger Stadium. LAX is 19 miles. The Yankees are in the air right now (at the time of publication; see screenshot above) and you can see they’re using both airports for their return trip back home. Let’s hope they make the trip back out in a few days meaning they have to win two of the next three games in New York. If they do, games 6 and 7 will be played in Los Angeles.

What’s also interesting is that the Dodgers left at the same time (11am PST) but they’re departing from LAX and arriving to EWR. Their plane’s tracking number is UAL3782.

2. The father of the Yankees’ starting pitcher is their pilot
What’s even cooler is that the Yankees starting pitcher for Game 3 Clarke Schmidt’s father is an almost 30-year Delta pilot and is piloting their charter. Their tracking number is DAL8883.

It’s not the first time his dad Dwight has been their pilot. Here’s an interview from last year with Yankees manager talking about how special it is to have his dad as the pilot.

“Boone recalled a time in Atlanta when he got to fly a simulator with Dwight as his coach, saying it was cool to see him onboard. He praised Dwight’s piloting skills, noting the soft landing and informative rundown during takeoff, describing him as an engaging and great guy.”

Clarke Schmidt on his father piloting the Yankees’ flight to Los Angeles for the World Series:

“Everybody feels like the pilot’s a little bit more personally invested into the flight, so they feel a little safer” 😭 pic.twitter.com/Q0dYr5CHoD

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 26, 2024

Above is a recent interview of Clarke Schmidt talking about his father piloting the Yankees’ flight to Los Angeles for the World Series: “Everybody feels like the pilot’s a little bit more personally invested into the flight, so they feel a little safer.”

I can’t blame them. I know if I was on the plane and I knew one of the captain’s family members was onboard, we were going to have a smooth, quick ride.

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A post shared by New York Yankees (@yankees)

3. Yankees travel style
The third thing I find fascinating is the Yankees travel style. What do the players wear and more importantly what kind of luggage do they bring along? Here’s a slideshow from the Yankees official Instagram handle showcasing many of the their players.