World Series – Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees – Game 4 / Sarah Stier/GettyImages

Game 4 of the 2024 World Series will be long remembered by Yankees fans as the night Anthony Volpe cashed in on redemption after redemption after tagging up on fellow youngster Austin Wells’ long double to center.

It will also be remembered for Wells, buried in a month-long (or longer) slumber, tattooing an insurance home run to crack the Yankees’ window open just a touch further.

New York isn’t a city where second place is remembered fondly, and maybe that should change. Still, anyone watching Game 4 and listening to the aftermath should’ve come to the same realization: Volpe and Wells were bonded together long before Tuesday night’s co-heroics. The “Chicken Parm” night that revitalized Volpe’s 2023 season in a summer burst wasn’t the beginning of their brotherhood, either.

And, if the Yankees are going to continue to ascend at their current pace, then both Volpe and Wells having mainstage moments — after sticking together through months of grinding in the spotlight — could be long remembered as the kickstart of something truly great. After all, this isn’t just a friendship. This is the tightness upon which titles are built.

Yankees’ Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells have relationship that goes beyond chicken parm

This is why you build a core. This is why you develop talent — and develop people. This is why you invest resources in fostering both chemistry and a feel for the moment. When the time comes, you spend, backing your internal efforts with veteran know-how and experienced stardom. But you cannot win without a room full of 26 men fighting together like brothers, and you cannot foster that inorganically.

Of course, it certainly helps when players like Volpe grew up with the Yankees already in their blood, allowing them to have forever moments with the legends of old, transcending time’s fabric.

No matter the series’ ultimate outcome (it was very obviously so, so bad), the influence that Volpe and Wells’ coming out party could have on the future Yankees might be Tuesday night’s lasting legacy.

Of course, as a diehard Yankee fan and his sidekick, both men know that there are no moral victories in this town. Based on what we know so far about how these young standouts operate, getting a taste of the bright lights will only motivate them to seek it again — and be better prepared the next time the moment arises. There will be nights when your bats are cold. There will be nights when you must contribute in other ways: defense, baserunning, a dugout joke. There will be nights where none of it works. But that’s never the end. And now, there’s a touchstone to revisit.

After all, once you’ve mashed a World Series grand slam in your hometown with your brother by your side, everything seems a little simpler.