YANKEE OCTOBERFEST!
Bombers in postseason well ahead of schedule with help of big youth movement
TORONTO — The Yankees clubhouse was drowned in Prosecco and Budweiser on Saturday evening, as a team that was supposed to be in rebuilding mode celebrated a surprising postseason berth — at least to those on the outside looking in. Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, the two young cornerstones who brought the promise of a brighter future toward the end of what was a lost 2016 campaign, wore goggles and poured beer all over each other following their team’s 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays. Brett Gardner, now the veteran of the group, received a suds shower from his teammates. Tommy Kahnle, the wild and crazy reliever with the WWE-inspired Yankee Championship belt and a ton of Philadelphia Eagles jerseys in his locker, spun around in a pool of alcohol that had begun to build up on the floor.
Bottles and cans were all over the place. Even the ceiling was soaked.
“This f-----g stings!” Todd Frazier, one of the key acquisitions prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline exclaimed, adding in an expletive for extra emphasis.
The 31-year-old was just one of the jubilant players in a small room full of them.
These Bombers weren’t supposed to be here this quickly — not exactly the norm for this esteemed franchise full of superstars and success for generations — and here they were having fun and enjoying the moment. And still … “It’s great, but it’s just the beginning for this team,” said Judge, who barely won a starting job out of spring training only to turn in an AL MVP-caliber, 46-homer
year as a rookie. “We’re not done yet.” Indeed, the Yankees aren’t satisfied with just reaching at least a spot in the do-or-die AL wild-card game on Oct. 3. They want more. “I think it’s important that we keep our foot on the gas and see where we end up,” said Joe Girardi, the manager who began to believe his team was destined for big things coming out of spring training.
Even though the Bombers trail the Red Sox by four games in the AL East with just eight games left in the regular season, Girardi still wants to try to win the division. If it doesn’t happen, then he’ll change course. “You don’t want guys to lose that edge,” Girardi said. The Yankees went through their share of ups and downs, overcoming injuries and adversity along the way as they received historic production from homegrown youngsters like Judge, Sanchez and Luis Severino.
“To see these kids kind of growing up in front of you, it’s special,” Girardi said.
Veterans like Gardner, Didi Gregorius, CC Sabathia and Starlin Castro responded to Girardi calling them out before the 2017 campaign began, asking for more.
And trades by Brian Cashman for the likes of Kahnle, Frazier, Sonny Gray, David Robertson and Jaime Garcia added an infusion of depth, talent and experience.
No waving of any white flags this time around, as the Bombers caught fire after being swept by the Indians in late August, taking three out of four from Boston in the Bronx and igniting a 16-6 stretch that has them at 86-68.
“I think coming into the year in spring training, a lot of people on the outside looking in really had this as a rebuilding year for us,” Gardner said. “And obviously with a lot of the young guys transitioning up to the major leagues on the roster, I think a lot of guys in our room really believed we could get back here. It’s a lot of fun for me to be able to experience this with a lot of these young guys for the first time.”
Girardi compared the feeling to the beginning of the late 1990s dynasty, when Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte joined Bernie Williams, setting the stage for greatness.
Those names, of course, d a ethim e of of what they delivered in Ochtombee r, iwn rmC s World Series hardware. This group, likewise, could be dcalningecr o usp. “We’ve got one of the best bullpbeenr s in ll we’ve got a stacked lineup and solidwriott atvioicnt,o” dogv e like to have fun and compete our bBultu ts oJfa fe rmy
Greg Bird — whose season was tBhomugbhe t o be l ob st ankle injury but has come up big latpella y, dOucitno g a homer on Saturday — summedba it p tw. “I feel like our motto in the offseason was that we’re going
USA to surprise people,” Bird said. “We had a good spring, but we
TODAY SPORTS knew that wasn’t the real deal. So we came out, played our game the whole year and I feel like we showed people what we’re made of. But we still have a lot of work to do, and obviously we want to do it.”