The Yankees have had a lot of huge postseason moments and series and they have won a total of 27 World Series Championships. Tonight we're going to recap one of those World Series Championships and the first World Series I ever saw as a Yankees fan, the 1996 World Series. Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, John Wetteland, Jim Leyritz and so much clutch and team building against the pitching juggernauts of the Atlanta Braves.
The Yankees got down in the series 2-0 at home with three huge games in Atlanta looming. It didn't look good for the Bronx Bombers but they went down to Atlanta and took three games in a row in dramatic fashion setting up a decisive Game Six in the Bronx. You can watch that entire game above and watch the Yankees get back on top of the baseball world.
The New York Yankees, like many teams this season, played in
162 long and grueling games this season so that gives you 162 opportunities to
name the best game of the season. It’s easy to narrow it down, take the Yankees
losses away and you have cut the field down by almost half, and I finally
decided on a singular game to win the award. Was it the Andrew Miller strikeout
of David Ortiz with the bases loaded causing the retiring slugger to throw one
of the biggest hissy fits in all of Major League Baseball history? Was it the
debut games for Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge when they went back-to-back with
home runs to begin their careers? Or was it the Mark Teixeira walk-off (first
walk-off hit in the regular season of his MLB career mind you) grand slam game
from September?
Of course it was Mark Teixeira’s walk off grand slam, how
could it not be? For Teixeira to do something he has never done in his MLB
career for the first time just four games before his retirement ceremony is
something special. To do it in the Bronx and against the Boston Red Sox in
dramatic fashion makes it that much more awesome but the icing on the cake was
the hands up in the air while Brett Gardner dumped purple Gatorade over his
head. That, my friends, makes for a classic.
Congratulations to Teixeira on the home run, the award and
an amazing MLB career.
The New York Yankees had a whole lot of pitching come
through the Bronx in 2016 whether it be in the starting rotation or in the
bullpen but throughout the entire season they had one man that stood above the
rest. No, not literally, because if it were literally then you would know that
Dellin Betances won the award but figuratively. Instead I’m talking about the
player who stood above the rest in the clubhouse, statistically and as a leader
of the staff. Masahiro Tanaka, come on down.
Tanaka was the leader of the staff for the Yankees, hands
down in my opinion, but he also is at least in the discussions for the American
League Cy Young Award, again in my opinion, for 2016. Tanaka was the third most
valuable pitcher in the American League according to his 5.4 WAR calculated by
Baseball Reference while also posting an impressive 3.07 ERA and 1.077 WHIP in
31 starts.
At 27-years old Tanaka set a career high in the Major
Leagues with 199.2 innings pitched and for much of the year he looked to get
stronger and better as the season went on before a “slight, slight” strain of
his forearm ended his season prematurely as he missed his final two starts.
Congratulations to Tanaka on the award and on the amazing
2016 season.
Ladies and gentleman we are back with the TGP Awards and I’m
your host, Daniel Burch. We have a great show lined up for you today and have
already given out a big award in the MVP Award. Yeah that might be a little bit
backwards to give out a big award first but we like to grab your attention
early and often, sue me. We continue this award show with the TGP Award for the
Yankees Rookie of the Year Award in 2016. You know the nominees, now onto the
winner.
Was it ever any question? Gary Sanchez! El Gary Sanchez. The
Kraken. Gary Sanchez!
Gary Sanchez was the Yankees second most valuable position
player in 2016 according to Baseball Reference and their WAR stat despite only
playing in a third of the team’s games. Sanchez, at 23-years old mind you,
finished the season with a .299/.376/.657 triple slash with 20 home runs and 42
RBI in just 229 plate appearances. Sanchez could win the MLB Rookie of the Year
Award as well, that’s how good he was for the Yankees in a short spurt this
season.
The Yankees went 31-25 with Sanchez in the lineup which
roughly breaks out to a 91 win season if they kept up that pace all season long
instead of the 84 wins the team was able to muster with and without him this
season. I gave him considerable consideration for that reason alone for the
team’s MVP Award but I couldn’t give it to him after just 56 games. I feel
perfectly comfortable giving him the Rookie of the Year Award though and I did
just that.
Congratulations to Gary on the award. We’ll be right back.
It’s that time of the year again ladies and gentleman where
we give out maybe the most prestigious award in all of Major League Baseball.
The TGP Awards. I’ve talked to, or maybe I didn’t, many former MVP Award
winners and Cy Young Award winners and even Rookie of the Year Award winners
and they’ve told me, or maybe they haven’t, that they would trade all those
awards and accolades away for a TGP Award. You know how flattering and humbling
that is to hear? So today we continue with the first of four awards we’re going
to be giving away today, the Yankees MVP for 2016.
Yes, I’m crazy and I’m not afraid to admit it. Didi
Gregorius is the team’s MVP this season and will bring home the TGP Award for
Yankees MVP. Kind of crazy considering that Gary Sanchez put up such an
impressive run in his 229 plate appearances but Didi was just the solid force
that kept everything together all season long.
Didi hit at the top of the order, in the middle of the
lineup and at the end of the manager’s lineup card and did so without a single
audible complaint. Didi anchored the infield at the shortstop position and once
again left us wondering who that Derek Jeter guy was for all those years making
routine plays look spectacular only because of a lack of range and first step
while producing a strong throwing arm. I may be exaggerating about the “Derek
Jeter who” because Jeter was a once-in-a-lifetime type player for the Yankees
but no one can deny just how hard it was to watch him defensively at times
throughout his career.
Didi did it all this season and showed that the second half
of the 2015 season was not simply a blip on the radar, it’s the norm and we all
better get used to it. Congratulations to Didi on his stellar 2016 season and
his TGP Award. Many more to come.
The Toronto Blue Jays and the Cleveland Indians will take their first day off the American League Championship series as the home teams shifts while the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs get caught up in the National League Championship Series. Today Game Two of the NLCS happens in Wrigley Field with the Cubs playing host to Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Enjoy the game and enjoy whats left of your weekend.
Los Angeles Dodgers @ Chicago Cubs (Game 2) inside Wrigley Field at 8:08 pm ET on FS1
Watch the entire Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS right here for free on the blog.
The most hated and closely played rivalry in Major League Baseball history is between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. This rivalry was never stronger, at least during my years of being a fan, then in the early and mid-2000’s. On this day in 2003 the Yankees and the Red Sox played Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. After the Yankees came storming back late in the game off Pedro Martinez Aaron Boone came to bat in the bottom of the 11th inning to face Tim Wakefield. On the first pitch he saw the Yankee third baseman slammed a home run down the left field line helping the Yankees capture their 39th American League pennant of the franchise’s history and yet another decisive blow to the Red Sox.
Speaking of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry in the postseason and Pedro Martinez it was on this day in 1999 when Martinez faced off with the Yankees ace Roger Clemens in the ALCS. This was touted as one of the best pitching matchups of all time on paper but that did not translate onto the field. Clemens did not last three innings in the contest as the Red Sox blew out the Yankees 13-1.
Also on this day in 1962 the Yankees beat the San Francisco Giants in Candlestick Park in Game 7 of the World Series to capture the team’s 20th World Series Championship. The Giants threatened late before Willie McCovey lined out to the Yankees Bobby Richardson as New York won the game 1-0.
It is also worth mentioning that the New York Post sucks... sucked back in 2003 and it sucks now.
As we remember Aaron Boone hit that dramatic walk off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox in 2004 to cap off an improbable comeback for the New York Yankees. The NY Post didn’t share the same enthusiasm and confidence as the team apparently as the newspaper released early editions of the paper claiming that the Yankees had fallen to the Red Sox in Game 7. The game was over shortly after 11:00 pm… whatever.
