Carlos Rodon shakes off the emotional outing and quickly dominates the ALCS opener for the Yankees

On a quiet Sunday afternoon as the Yankees embarked on a quest for four more wins to reach their first World Series in 15 years, Carlos Rodon reflected on how his postseason debut with the Yankees left him in a wave of emotions and Adrenaline had escaped. He reflected on how he hoped to be more like Gerrit Cole, stoic, showing no emotion and focusing only on the task at hand on the mound, collecting outs by any means necessary.

“The biggest thing I saw from him in the seventh game was that he didn’t respond every inning. When you watch him come out, it’s like a robot going to the dugout,” Rodon said Sunday. “Then at the end of the seventh set there’s a loud roar because he knows I’ve done my job. I think that impressed me from the start.”

After saying he wanted to accomplish something very similar to Cole's behavior, all eyes turned to Rodon after every strikeout. Last week, after seven strikeouts in three innings against the Kansas City Royals, there were plenty of fist pumps in a start that was faltered by a series of poor sliders in the fourth, prompting some of his opponents to point out on social media they would celebrate too soon.

After a strikeout by Lane Thomas, there was composure in him as Rodon left the mound to end the first inning. After Josh Naylor sent a third strike to start the second, Rodon calmly walked to the third base side of the mound and waited to face the next batter.

The other remaining seven strikeouts on a night were more of the same, as he got 25 swings and misses on a night with 52 fastballs, 25 sliders and a handful of changeups, curveballs and cutters.

“That was a dominant performance. That was really nice to see,” said manager Aaron Boone. “He’s intense; he is emotional sometimes. I thought he did it all so well. That’s what he’s capable of when he’s in that mindset.”

All evening, it seemed like Rodon made a conscious effort to remain stoic and quickly focus on the next batter after collecting his 18 outs.

“There are some great opportunities for Gerrit in this game,” Rodon said. “I can't remember, there are runners out and he's getting out of a traffic jam. It's pretty consistent running off the hill. There is no shouting. There's no fist pumping or anything. He's just, like I said, like a robot. He goes out and goes over the line and into the dugout.

“Yeah, it’s not like it’s hard. It’s just a matter of being aware of it and focusing on the next pitch, and I think that leads to that robot, that poker face.”

Perhaps the only thing remotely resembling emotion happened at the end of the sixth movement, and that was something to watch closely. He lost the shutout bid by allowing a home run to open the sixth, then ended the outing by watching Aaron Judge run back to the gap in left-center field and track down a 385-foot lineout from Jose Ramirez.

Ramirez's lineout ended a grueling nine-pitch encounter. Rodon moved forward with his changeup, watching Ramirez foul three of the next four pitches, take two balls to tie it, foul on a fastball. As Taylor Swift watched in a right field suite, he shook off the frustration of not finishing off Ramirez early and watched as the star third baseman sent a strike into Judge's glove.

When Rodon saw Judge secure the ball, he raised his arms slightly, clapped his glove and pointed at Judge to acknowledge the defensive play.

In theory, Rodon's start in Game 1 is a low-pressure point. Even a loss wouldn't necessarily cause panic since Cole is on the field for Game 2, but the sight of Rodon calmly dominating through six and blocking every hit was aesthetically pleasing for the Yankees.

“He was very aware of how the last outing ended and how the emotions drained from him early,” pitching coach Matt Blake said. “After every inning you could tell he was trying to stay calm and neutral and just keep racking up outs.”

The Yankees need to collect 81 outs and win three more games to advance to the World Series, and Rodon's stoicism was a good start.