The Yankee Stadium sellout crowd started chanting “We want Soto,” with the Dodgers threatening to sweep this marquee series, and Juan Soto’s series replacement, Trent Grisham, toting an almost unspeakable .082, at bat.
Call it tough love. Call it inspiration. Call it whatever you want.
And frankly, some Yankees weren’t calling the chant such great things after Grisham turned the game around with a stunner of a three-run homer, and amusingly, wound up turning the chants around, too. (More on that later.)
“I wasn’t too happy about it,” Yankees captain and MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge said later about the initial chant. “But I think he made a good point.”
Darned if Grisham didn’t respond to the crowd’s rather rude rebuke, hooking a laser of a home run into the lower deck in right field to help salvage the final game in the confrontation of celebrated teams at a raucous Yankee Stadium. Grisham’s surprise shot sent the Yankees to a 6-4 victory before a raucous third straight sellout crowd in what Judge noted was a “playoff atmosphere.” (He did very much like that.)
Grisham’s shocking heroics against MLB strikeout leader Tyler Glasnow demonstrated that, yes, it is possible to win sometimes without Soto, the Yankees’ beloved new superstar who sat out the series with his elbow inflammation issue. Truly, nobody saw this one coming, certainly not the crowd, which made amends later, amending the chant slightly, to “We Want Grisham.”
As they say around here, that’s baseball, Suzyn. That’s also the beauty of the game.
Game to game, only unpredictability is predictable. Though Yankees manager Aaron Boone does deserve a hat tip for having the guts to pencil a sub-.100 hitter into the fifth spot in the batting order.
“I’m happy for Grish,” Soto told The Post afterward. “We need everybody in this clubhouse. I’m glad he did that.”
The clubhouse was uniformly thrilled for Grisham, a quiet pro who’s struggled at bat early (he has only five hits, though three of them are home runs). But even with the surprise heroics, it’s fair to say they aren’t the same without Soto.
We suspected as much since we witnessed the “disaster” of that almost unspeakable 2023 season, when Soto was playing in relative obscurity for the underperforming Padres instead of here – where he belongs – for the underperforming 2023 Yankees. (And by the way, we use “disaster” because that’s what the team’s architect, Brian Cashman, calls it, but we still favor debacle.)
Anyway, the equally celebrated Dodgers helped expose one potential issue of these newly dominant Yankees in the series, which until now appeared unmovable, impenetrable, and yes, dare we say it, almost inevitable.
The Yankees got some shocking heroics, but they do know for sure now they need that second superstar. Singlehandedly, Soto transformed a lineup that was average on good days last season, that in no way resembled what the Bronx Bombers are supposed to be. To be as great as they can be now, too, they need him. His teammates get it.
Just ask: Do they miss him?
“Only a fool would say no,” Alex Verdugo answered. “He’s a big part of our lineup. He’s a big part of how our offense rolls.
“The Soto hype’s always been there. (But) just playing with him is kind of validating,” Verdugo added. “His vision at the plate … his ability to hit to all fields with power … it’s eye-opening.”
The Yankees already suspected as much since they sent more than half a pitching rotation to San Diego to acquire him. But now they know for sure. Which is why club owner Hal Steinbrenner broke with tradition and offered to negotiate with him in season. (Though there’s no evidence anything’s happening on that front yet, it was nice to hear.)
No, one superstar isn’t going to do it consistently, not against the likes of a $300 million roster from L.A. with multiple superstars of its own. Judge certainly is trying to carry the club, and he couldn’t possibly be doing any more. He stroked three more hits, including his 24th home run, and his stats are now so far above everyone else’s it isn’t funny. He spotted Soto a month, and he even beats the new superstar.
The boisterous crowd chanted “M-V-P” when Judge batted in the sixth. But characteristically, he paid homage to Soto, saying. “He’s been carrying this team all year.”
The Yankees appear to be targeting the next series at Kansas City for Soto’s return, and that works if he’s fully healed. “That’s the hope,” Boone said.
Soto said he will try but will see how he feels before he went off for more treatment post-game. He’s very tough and badly wants to play. But the team knows to be careful with its second superstar.
At 46-21 now, the Yankees certainly have the luxury of making Soto wait, even if it meant missing the season’s biggest series. They are doing the right thing sitting him, even if it costs them a game or two and irks Soto, and even if it upsets the fans.
