The sold-out crowd at Yankee Stadium started chanting “We want Soto” for the third straight inning, and you couldn’t blame them: Soto hadn’t thrived in the first two games of this high-profile matchup against the Dodgers, and his replacement, Trent Grisham, was hitting .082 at the plate.
Call it tough love. Call it inspiration. Call it whatever.
But Grisham responded to a rather rude scolding from the crowd by smashing a laser-like home run into the bottom right field to win the final game of the showdown between the two legendary teams at Yankee Stadium.
Grisham’s surprising hit gave the Yankees a 6-4 victory in front of a roaring crowd, proving that victory was possible even without Juan Soto, the Yankees’ popular new superstar, who missed the series with forearm inflammation.
Nobody saw this coming — not me, not the fans, not even Dodgers ace Tyler Glasnow, MLB’s strikeout king, who struck out 12 Yankees batters on Sunday night.
Grisham’s stunning three-run homer off Glasnow in the sixth inning not only changed the game but also captivated the crowd. When Grisham came up to bat afterwards, the call was slightly altered to “Let’s cheer for Grisham.”
As they say locally, that’s baseball, Sujin. And that’s the beauty of baseball.
The only thing we can predict from game to game is the unpredictability, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone deserves credit for his courage in putting a hitter with a .083 batting average fifth in the order (his previous strikeout had dropped him to .082).
Even with his surprising performance, it’s no exaggeration to say the Yankees won’t be the same without Soto.
We’ve suspected that ever since we witnessed the almost indescribable “disaster” of a 2023 season in which Soto played in relative obscurity for the underachieving Padres instead of his natural home, the underachieving 2023 Yankees. (We use the word “disaster,” by the way, because that’s what the team’s architect, Brian Cashman, called it, but we still prefer the word “fissure.”)
Either way, the equally lauded Dodgers helped highlight a potential problem for the newly dominant Yankees in this series — a problem that had previously seemed immovable, insurmountable and, dare I say, almost inevitable.
The Yankees have had a shocking run, but they know they need a second superstar.
Soto singlehandedly transformed a Bronx Bombers lineup that was mediocre at its best last season and looked nothing like the team it was meant to be, and now they need him to perform at their best, and his teammates know it.
Just ask: Do they miss him?
“Only a fool would say no,” Alex Verdugo responded. “He’s a key part of our lineup. He’s a big part of how our offense develops.”
“Soto was always mentioned. [But] “Just playing with him gives you confidence in a way,” Verdugo added. “His vision at the plate, his ability to hit it with power in all directions, it’s spectacular.”
The Yankees already suspected that, having sent more than half their pitching staff to San Diego to acquire him, but now they’re sure, which is why team owner Hal Steinbrenner broke with tradition and offered to negotiate with him during the season. (There’s no evidence that anything’s happening on that front yet, but it’s good to hear.)
No, one superstar can’t do it. Los Angeles’ $300 million team has multiple superstars. Aaron Judge is certainly trying to carry the team, but it couldn’t get any better. He had three more hits, including his 24th home run, and his numbers are so far above the rest now that it’s no laughing matter. He unearthed Soto a month later and is even beating the new superstar.
The enthusiastic crowd chanted “MVP” when Judge came to bat in the sixth inning, and two at-bats before Grisham’s breakthrough, Judge hit a single on a ground ball that hit the glove of third baseman Kiké Hernandez.
Soto is eager to play, according to teammates. That’s not surprising, since he’s one of the rare superstars who never missed a game. He played all 162 games last year in the Padres’ disastrous season, but he’s the biggest drain on the team outside of the Mets in 2023.
It certainly didn’t help that the Yankees faced Glasnow against their winter centerpiece, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto showed a strong will to show the Yankees what they missed, delivering the most impressive performance of his young career on Friday night. Soto was clearly relishing the idea that he might win against a matchup of 25-year-old phenoms. But while they’re praying Soto can play, the Yankees are doing the right thing by allowing the inflammation in his forearm to subside in a few days.
The Yankees are targeting Soto to return for their upcoming series at Kansas City, provided he is fully recovered. “That’s the hope,” Boone said.
The Yankees are currently 46-21 and can certainly afford to wait out Soto for their biggest series of the season, so they were right to bench him, even if it meant a suspension for a game or two, frustrating Soto and angering fans.
