Playoffs Bring Out The Unexpected Like Alex Verdugo’s Big Night For The New York Yankees

Playing against each other in the postseason for the first time since 1980, the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals engaged in a game featuring five lead changes, a first in postseason history according to the Elias Bureau.

The back-and-forth nature of Saturday night prompted injured first baseman Anthony Rizzo to walk up to manager Aaron Boone and state “what a game”.

“What a game” is something to be applied in describing Alex Verdugo’s performance on both ends, turning an ironic plot twist into the first of 11 wins the Yankees hope to attain over the next month or so in order to win the World Series for the first time since 2009.

Verdugo’s game-winning single in the seventh was the difference and made one of the least popular and frustrating players for fans to watch over the past three-plus months a significant reason for the outcome.

Verdugo played a stellar game, perhaps his best in months, making a sliding catch with his bare hand near the foul line in the fourth to avoid things from getting worse for Gerrit Cole after the ace allowed a two-run homer while also reaching base three times for the first time since Sept. 1.

So after the Yankees caught a break on Jazz Chisholm Jr’s stolen base getting upheld on video review despite some possible evidence to the contrary, Verdugo delivered. He lined his single to left on a cutter, a pitch he hit .155 against during a regular season that ended with a 2-for-34 slump and the second hit of that slide being the game-winning two-run, bases-loaded single in the eighth inning on Sunday to end a 94-win regular season where he batted .233.

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Upon reaching second on the off target throw from left fielder MJ Melendez, Verdugo lifted both arms in the air, imploring the crowd to get louder and pounded his chest in celebration.

Keep in mind this was the same crowd ready to pounce on any negative thing such as a groundout to second, something Verdugo did 81 times during the regular season for a groundout or a double play. Nearly half of those instances occurred after June 14 when Verdugo’s respectable start turned into a deep slump that led to constant frustration and annoyance about his game and rising volume in the desire to have Jasson Dominguez supplant him as the everyday left fielder.

While the slumping bat certainly gave the Yankees some pause in their deliberations about the left field situation for the postseason, the idea of starting a novice rookie in Dominguez there also provided them with causes for concern.

Eventually, Dominguez will get enough repetition out there in the future to become a capable defender, the Yankees did not feel a postseason game was the time and place for it. Based on his limited sample, it is highly unlikely Dominguez makes a play on the ball Verdugo got to for the final out of the fourth with two on.

The Yankees gave the possibility about two-plus weeks to become a reality when they called up Dominguez Sept. 9 before a three-game series with the Royals but there was not evidence to justify it and one scary moment when Dominguez overran a ball against the Orioles resulting in a few runs.

“I mean, mentally, man, I feel like I’m pretty real with myself, as in fans booing me, fans getting on me. I understand it. I was booing myself, too,” Verdugo said after his hit warranted the podium and online transcript treatment. “For me, it was just really leaning on my guys in the clubhouse. They all got my back. They all know what kind of player I am and how I played throughout my whole career and just kept telling me, man, don’t let this season or this little glimpse make your whole year. You can make up for a lot of things in the playoffs.”

Not only do the Yankees have Verdugo’s back, so does his manager, which makes Aaron Boone a favorite among players. All you have to do is a search any time Boone says a variation of “Dugie’s a good player.”

“He’s a really good all-around player,” Boone said. “He went through some stretches where it was a struggle, but that’s what he’s capable of. It’s not always what you did, it’s what you’re capable of doing moving forward.”

And if Boone stated that publicly in press conference sessions, it is likely some variation of it was said in private conversations with Verdugo, who is a free agent when the season ends.

“I think for me, if you really want to have a real conversation with him, he'll do that with you. If you don't talk to him or you don't go out of your way to — hey, what's going on, what's your thought process behind this, he'll kind of leave it be,” Verdugo said. “If you have anything you want to address or just stop beating around the bush and just go straight to the source, he's always there to have that conversation with you, to talk to you, and just let you know what's kind of — going behind some decisions and things like that.

The playoffs are a funny animal at times. Star players slump and do things like Aaron Judge striking out three times and the least expected shine, just find Scott Brosius and his 1998 World Series Trophy or Brian Doyle’s .438 batting average in the 1978 World Series in place of Willie Randolph.

“It’s not going to be our big guys that are always going to come through,” Verdugo said. “It’s going to take everybody. Every at-bat, every pitch in the playoffs matters. This is the kind of baseball that I love.”