ALCS Game 2 Player of the Game: Anthony Rizzo

In Game 1, Anthony Rizzo was suspiciously forced off in the ninth inning when Oswaldo Cabrera came on at first base for the final three outs. It was the veteran first baseman's first game since breaking two fingers on Sept. 28. He had shown some good shots and was 1-3 in the game, but there were concerns about a possible re-injury. Aaron Boone assured fans in his postgame interview with reporters after Game 1 that Rizzo was “kind of physically and emotionally exhausted by the end of the game.”

While Boone said he expected to see him back in the lineup for Game 2, Rizzo expressed some uncertainty after the game, saying he wanted to wait and see how he felt the next morning. Well, in the end, not only did he play on Tuesday night, but he also scored two game-winning hits for the Yankees, who took a 2-0 series lead with a less-than-pretty 6-3 win. Rizzo went 2-for-4, scored a run and hit a double that would lead to an insurance run on an error in right field.

On his first at-bat of the second, with Anthony Volpe on first, Rizzo managed to rip that liner single up the middle that reached 105.1 mph straight away to spark an end-of-lineup rally .

He was eventually brought home on a sac fly by Aaron Judge to build an early 3-0 lead, giving Gerrit Cole some breathing room as he would struggle in his later innings.

When Rizzo entered the sixth inning with New York leading 3-2, the situation quickly turned from a golden opportunity with two runners on and no out to a runner on and one out as Jazz Chisholm Jr. was forced out at second Base. Despite the deflationary loss, Rizzo was able to make the biggest play – in terms of cumulative win probability – of the game. He hit a slider to smash a liner that had just broken down the right field line:

Rizzo was not credited with an RBI because right fielder Will Brennan made an error when he caused the ball to wobble while attempting to grab it. The hit came at an important moment that changed the dynamic, as the Guardians had consistently threatened to break through from back to front on offense, much like they did in the final games of their ALDS, while the Yankees struggled to score runs to score on the offensive board against Cleveland's wild bullpen.

Unfortunately for the story arc, but fitting the game's theme of sloppy play from both teams, Rizzo also made an error on the basepaths that inning and was caught too far from the ball after a throw was slightly off catcher Austin Hedges. Nonetheless, this double ultimately provided all the run support the Yankees ultimately needed, as the bullpen delivered another strong performance.

With most of the team's victories this postseason looking like they came from great pitching rather than hitting, we saw two more worthy candidates for player of the game last night: Gleyber Torres, who went 3-for-5 and scored two runs , and Judge , who found his groove at the plate, made good contact for his sac fly and then hit a blast to center for a two-run home run in the seventh inning for the team's final two runs. However, Rizzo is credited with the old-school mentality he brought to the series, persevering through the pain and mastering good punching skills. He even gave a sports quote of the kind that, while cliché, would give even the most cynical fans goosebumps before a big October series.

“It's just pain,” Rizzo told reporters before Game 1. “It's temporary, and the 50,000 people in the stands and the adrenaline and what's at stake will outweigh any pain I'll feel.” That's what you play for. The clock is just ticking at my age and I'm getting older. You just never know when you'll ever have the opportunity to play for a pennant again. You shouldn’t take any of this for granted.”

After that sixth-inning double, he probably forgot about the pain in his fingers for a while.