#brett-gardner

#brett-gardner

There is no play, in my opinion, more exciting than the straight steal of home.Extremely risky and with a relatively high opportunity cost - you're already on third base, a hit scores the run - it stands alongside half-court buzzer-beaters and 90-yard touchdown runs among the rarest regularly-occurring plays in sports.

The Yankees seemed dead and buried through the first two games of the 2017 ALDS.After getting shutout in the series opener, they seemed destined to get back to New York tied, only to meltdown and eventually lose that game in extra innings.That put them in a 2-0 hole to Cleveland, who were the top seed in the AL and had gone on a 22-game winning streak during the year, with no iota of wiggle room.

There are must-win games, and there are must-win games.Heading into Game 3 of the ALDS in 2017, the Yankees were coming off a loss as heartbreaking as they come.It was do-or-die in Game 3, with Cleveland up two games to none.New York called on Masahiro Tanaka - the man who they signed in 2014 with playoff moments like this mind - and Cleveland went with their standout veteran, Carlos Carrasco.

Alex Rodriguez was a headache; nobody's denying that.But amidst all the controversies, the PED scandals, and the big contract that was an albatross at the end, it's easy to forget that he was a really, really great baseball player.He won the AL MVP in 2005 and 2007, was named to the All-Star team in six of his first seven seasons in pinstripes, and won multiple Silver Sluggers.

One of my favorite Yogi-isms of all time is, "It's déjà vu all over again."Originally coined to refer to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris's tendency to hit back-to-back dingers in the early 1960s, it's come to be used to refer to problems that just won't seem to let themselves be solved.

The 2018-19 offseason was an eventful one for the Yankees.They had the chance to sign not one, but two generational talents in Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.The latter reportedly preferred to go to the Bronx, but the Yanks let other teams take the lead and he ended up signing a 10-year, $300 million contract with the San Diego Padres.

One week ago, Rawlings and Major League Baseball announced the 2022 Gold Glove Award winners, with two members of the New York Yankees, Jose Trevino and DJ LeMahieu, honored for their performance behind the plate and at multiple positions, respectively.At that moment, voting for the annual Platinum Glove Award began.