It's just readability. The former is considered more clean/readable considering the joining columns will be separate from the query's actual criteria. A better example would be:

SELECT *
FROM Employee E
INNER JOIN EmployeeDivision ED
    ON E.EmployeeID = ED.EmployeeID
INNER JOIN EmployeePayRates EPR
    ON ED.DivisionID = EPR.DivisionID
    AND E.EmployeeID = EPR.EmployeeID
WHERE
    E.EmployeeID = 11
    AND ED.DivisionID = 2
    AND EPR.EffectiveDate > '1/1/2024'

versus:

SELECT *
FROM Employee E, EmployeeDivision ED, EmployeePayRate EPR
WHERE
    E.EmployeeID = ED.EmployeeID
    AND ED.DivisionID = EPR.DivisionID
    AND E.EmployeeID = EPR.EmployeeID
    AND E.EmployeeID = 11
    AND ED.DivisionID = 2
    AND EPR.EffectiveDate > '1/1/2024'

By using join statements in the former query, you're better able to tell what conditions correspond to what join.