Field of Dreams Game or Spring Training Matchup? The Yankees Might Have Fooled You.
Photo Via: Charles Wenzelberg — NY PostMajor League Baseball spent years putting together a plan and carrying out the logistics of re-creating a Field of Dreams game in a real major league game. The Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees were selected to make the trip and play the first ever major league game in Iowa against each other. The matchup was nationally televised on FOX and earned a prime time spot at 7 PM eastern time.
In the grand scheme of things, this game was just 1 of 162 for each team. It does not carry any more weight than a game in late April. However, probably any player would tell you that it was more than just one regular season game. MLB had sports’ fans attention for a night, so a win would help build vital momentum towards a Postseason push. The only thing — front offices nowadays do not believe in momentum. Plans are now made based on numbers. Since attitude, energy, and mental well-being cannot be measured, they are ignored. So maybe the game was 1 of 162 in a mathematical sense, but it was definitely a little more important than your ordinary regular season game.
Clearly, the Yankees did not agree that this game was any more important than any other. Andrew Heaney was given the start against a Chicago team that tees off against left-handed pitching. Even when Heaney himself faced the White Sox in his first start of the season, he was beat up for 7 runs in 3 innings. Heaney’s first two starts as a Yankee bore a resemblance to this year’s Home Run Derby in Coors Field, except he was throwing actual games. So what did the Yankees expect when they selected Heaney? He has been bad recently, he has been bad against the White Sox, and he matches the exact profile of a pitcher who the White Sox would demolish. I am not sure about you, but the result was exactly what I expected. Heaney was tagged for 7 runs, essentially erasing the impressive effort by the offense to chase the AL Cy Young Award frontrunner in the middle of the game after allowing 4 runs of his own.
Now, I know the Yankees are in a peculiar situation. Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery are only now back from COVID stints (Side note: maybe if the Yankees took COVID a little more seriously they would not have to deal with a new player missing two weeks every other day. Did they do a single thing to try and prevent the outbreak from continuing? Do they do a handshake line to say goodbye to each player after he tests positive?). Domingo Germán, Corey Kluber, and Luis Severino are all injured. Deivi Garcia has been so bad in the minor leagues that he is just not an option anymore. I get it. But adjustments could have been made, including trading for a pitcher other than Andrew Heaney at the trade deadline. The Yankees could have shaken up the rotation last week to give us any other pitcher than Heaney to make this start.
That did not happen. Heaney got the start and the White Sox slugged a home run in the first inning. Fine, it is what it is. Then Aaron Judge sent a baseball so far into the corn rows that nobody knows where it is to this day. The Yankees had a 3-1 lead, but it was Heaney’s game. The sidewinding lefty gave the White Sox a 3-run shot of their own. Eventually it became a 7-3 White Sox lead after yet another Chicago home run. The Yankees decided to go to Wandy Peralta and Joely Rodriguez in relief — two more lefties. Truth be told, Peralta and Rodriguez executed pitches and battled through three scoreless innings. Meanwhile, Brett Gardner, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton each popped home runs for the Yankees and this team had the lead in the 9th!
After using three left-handed pitchers against the White Sox, allowing 7 runs, it was a miracle that the Yankees actually had a lead with three outs remaining. But Aaron Boone had to test his luck one more time. Maybe he has information that we do not have. Maybe Jonathan Loáisiga has something going on, but also maybe not. Boone turned to lefty Zack Britton — whose ERA was north of 5 coming into this game — for the save opportunity. It is as if the Yankees care more about scripting rest days than they care about giving the team the best chance to win the baseball game. Naturally, Britton blew the game after walking the ninth hitter in Chicago’s lineup and giving up a walk-off corn shot to Tim Anderson. Four left-handed pitchers against the Chicago White Sox — it was the perfect recipe for allowing 9 runs.
The Yankees may call it bad luck. They may blame it on being shorthanded. They may even be right. There may have been some bad luck and there certainly are a lot of key players not suited up for the Bombers. But the team was not put in position to win, plain and simple. Again, this is just a regular season game. It is not the end of the world. But it did have a little extra juice and it could have been a big time spotlight moment for this team on a journey to digging its way back into Postseason contention.