I want to discuss what is definitely a first-world baseball problem and is about the overall ambience — but perhaps more — of the postseason, notably the World Series.
The teams involved should be thinking about more than who is throwing the ceremonial first pitch but who is catching it (like I mentioned, first-world baseball issues). And no organization should be doing it more than the Yankees, who have such a backlog of worthy candidates and so much potential connectivity to provide their fan base.
And in the case of Game 5, something even greater.
The Yankees are having Hideki Matsui throw the first pitch prior to the final 2024 game in The Bronx. That was a great pick — the World Series MVP of the last Yankee champion in 2009 and someone the Stadium fan base adores for his overall excellence and dignity, but also for how great he was in big games.
But this is a World Series that is crushing in Japan. The games are in the mornings and yet one-tenth of the TVs in the country are tuned into the World Series — while the Japan Series is concurrently going on in the evenings — and the total number of viewers is outstripping how many are watching in the United States.
The reason is obvious. The Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani, who is the most popular player in the world and, according to my unscientific poll of Japanese reporters, the most popular person in the country. The claims from this poll were that the second-most popular mammal is Ohtani’s dog Decoy — and this was dead serious.
Ohtani’s presence/popularity helped the Dodgers also land Yoshinobu Yamamoto over the two other most ardent pursuers, the Mets and the Yankees. And Ohtani has made the Dodgers the team of Japan. And there are certainly team officials around MLB who believe that if Roki Sasaki comes in free agency this offseason (or sometime in the next few years), the Dodgers have a sizable edge to land arguably Japan’s best pitcher.
Which is why I think the Yankees needed to send a statement before a pitch in Game 5 — with a pitch on multiple levels. That should have been delivered by Masahiro Tanaka to Matsui as a subliminal recruitment that: 1) Not long ago, the Yankees would win the duels for the best Japanese players; 2) A reminder that Japanese players can thrive and be happy here; 3) The return of another big-game guy, in Tanaka, that the fan base loves.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
- Yankees’ season ends in heartbreak as they choke away Game 5 of World Series
- Aaron Judge’s crucial mistake erased breakout World Series moment
- Yankees’ Austin Wells hit with catcher’s interference call in brutal World Series moment
- Juan Soto’s season ends with million-dollar questions with Yankees future now murky
Look, I don’t have every ex-Yankees’ itinerary, so who knows who is asked but can’t attend. But the Yankees should be thinking about offering up two-for-the-price-of-one connections. The way this works is teams recommend who they would like to throw out the pitch for MLB’s blessing, which usually comes unless the league has someone who absolutely must jump in.
Derek Jeter threw out the first pitch in Game 3. Again, perfect. But he did so to Oswaldo Cabrera. This isn’t some Bank of America president who has paid for the privilege and you send out any available Yankee to catch him.
Either the current captain, Aaron Judge, should have caught the pitch from the previous one. Or the current shortstop who grew up in New Jersey idolizing Jeter, Anthony Volpe, should have. The two getting together for a picture after Volpe’s brilliance in Game 4 only emphasized how natural of a duo that should have been.
Paul O’Neill threw out the first pitch before Game 4 and it almost was like A.J. Burnett was around and, sure, why not catch the pitch? The two have a faint connection at best, having never played together. If you are going with O’Neill, then someone like Tino Martinez would have been a good catch partner for their ties as the high-end complementary players.
But while O’Neill was well regarded and should be on the potential list, I just think there would have been so many better choices. The Yanks tapped Andy Pettitte, Willie Randolph, CC Sabathia and for some reason Nick Swisher to throw out pitches in the first two playoff rounds (one of these things is not like the other). Really, the Steinbrenner family’s belief that Swisher is some beloved Yankee which elevates him to have a front office voice and first-pitch status is a blind spot. In case the family does not have access to Baseball Reference, Swisher’s .165 postseason batting average is the worst in Yankee history for anyone allowed to bat 100 times.
But I digress. How about Mariano Rivera or Orlando Hernandez to Jorge Posada? Martinez to Scott Brosius (the shocking homers in the 2001 World Series)? Joe Torre to Joe Girardi (the only living Yankees championship managers)?
Is Reggie Jackson out because he now works for the Astros? Is Alex Rodriguez out because he is Alex Rodriguez? Heck, have Reggie throw to A-Rod and see if that messes with the time-space continuum.
Want to bring the house down? I know Brett Gardner has angrily stayed away from the Yankees, including for the past Old-Timers’ Day for how the divorce between team and player went. But, really, do whatever is necessary to bring back the last guy who played with the Yankees from the 2009 champions. He was so influential as a leader to Judge and his lunch-pail ethos endeared him to the fans.
Have him throw to Judge. Or have him throw to Bernie Williams — the center fielders the last two times the Yankees clinched a title.
Sure, it is a first-world baseball issue. But the Yankees can do better here.
