For Yankees' Anthony Rizzo, it doesn't hurt to desire a return from injury in postseason
Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo singles against the Cleveland Guardians during the second inning in Game 2 of an American League Championship Series baseball game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
When Oswaldo Cabrera replaced Anthony Rizzo at first base for the ninth inning in Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday, it was fair to fear the worst.
Was the pain in the two fingers that Rizzo broke on Sept. 28 so bad that Rizzo couldn’t make it all the way through his first game back?
No, said manager Aaron Boone.
“He was just kind of physically and emotionally spent,” Boone said.
Who needs 10 healthy digits? Rizzo, after going 1-for-3 with a walk on Monday, went 2-for-4 with a double on Tuesday night in the Yankees’ 6-3 victory in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium.
Rizzo said he is taking a "less is more" approach at the plate because he has to.
"I cannot do too much," he said, "or my hand will fall off."
The Yankees have won five of six in the playoffs and take a 2-0 lead to Cleveland for Thursday’s Game 3 in a series in which neither team is playing particularly well.
Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio dropped a pop-up in the first inning to allow the Yankees’ first run to score. Rightfielder Will Brennan booted Rizzo’s sixth-inning double, allowing Anthony Volpe to score after he had initially held up at third. That gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead after some tense moments in a rare short (4 1/3 innings) start by Gerrit Cole.
And that was after Guardians reliever Joey Cantillo threw four wild pitches in Game 1. Four!
The Yankees weren’t immune from a little postseason folly in Game 2. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Rizzo were both picked off second base in the sixth (Rizzo’s was officially a caught stealing because he got caught in a rundown. Official scoring minutiae).
The Yankees went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and are 8-for-52 in the playoffs.
Still, the Yankees' bullpen got the job done again, and Aaron Judge finally joined the party with a two-run home run in the seventh to make it 6-2.
The Yankees are two wins from the World Series.
Rizzo, a key cog with the 2016 champion Cubs, is one of two Yankees with a World Series ring. Juan Soto is the other.
“I've had opportunity throughout my career to play a good amount of postseason baseball,” Rizzo said before Game 1, “and this is what you play for. ... You just never know when you're going to have an opportunity to play for a pennant again. You can't take any of this for granted.”
Rizzo is 35. Over the past two seasons, he has been a below-average hitter and has been beset by injuries. The Yankees hold a $17 million option on Rizzo with a $6 million buyout for 2025. It’s possible this will be his pinstripe swan song.
Rizzo was back in the lineup for Game 2 despite being, according to Boone, “a little sore this morning — but nothing out of the ordinary.”
What is ordinary when it comes to how two recently broken fingers on your right hand feel when you try to hit a 93.7 mile per hour fastball in a playoff game?
Rizzo answered that question right away. In his first at-bat on Monday — after a sustained ovation from appreciative Yankees fans — Rizzo lined that 93.7-mph fastball from Alex Cobb into centerfield for a single.
The ball left Rizzo’s bat at 105.4 mph. That had to feel good. Or did it?
“It didn’t really hurt,” the always stoic Rizzo said.
In his first at-bat of Game 2, Rizzo added an almost identical, 105.1-mph single to center. It was part of the Yankees’ two-run second inning as they took a 3-0 lead.
Then came the sixth-inning double down the rightfield line.
“I was super pleased with his at-bats,” Boone said after the opener. “I didn't expect him to be that good.”
Rizzo was even better in Game 2. And he played all nine innings.
The phenomenon of injured players returning in the postseason is not new.
Kyle Schwarber, who suffered a torn ACL in his second game of the 2016 season, returned for Rizzo’s Cubs in the World Series. Schwarber hit .412 with a .971 OPS as the Cubs bested Cleveland in a seven-game classic.
Just recently, Kodai Senga made a surprise NLDS Game 1 start for the Mets against Philadelphia after missing all but one outing this season with multiple injuries. Jeff McNeil (broken wrist, Sept. 6) made his 2024 postseason debut with a pinch-hit appearance in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Dodgers.
The Yankees are also hoping Nestor Cortes can be an option if they reach the World Series. The lefthander, out since Sept. 25 with a flexor strain in his elbow, has been throwing, and the club is hopeful.
If the Guardians don’t make themselves a true threat in Cleveland, this ALCS will be over fast. Then Rizzo will get plenty of time to rest his sore fingers while the Yankees wait for the Mets and Dodgers to — the Yankees hope — slug it out for the full seven games.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.