It was late February, a sunny Friday in Tampa, Florida.
As my ticket got punched, it signified that the 2017 baseball season had begun. Walking into Steinbrenner Field, I sort of felt that this season was going to be magic. The announcer begins to tell the starting lineup by introducing a few Yankee great’s starting off with Reggie Jackson, aka Mr. October, Andy Pettitte, David Wells, and lastly Alex Rodriguez. Once the game’s lineup was being told I thought to myself this is a whole new Yankees team with a young core and a few veteran leaders.
It was a rainy Wednesday in early April, the Yankees were in Boston.
As a Yankees fan living in the city of Boston, it's never easy to get around without having comments made because of the team that you follow. But on that day a player named Aaron Judge made his name to a forever fan like me. Coming to Fenway as a Yankee player is never easy, but the way Judge always kept that boyish smile, I knew he had the characteristics of what makes a Yankee.
A Yankee, to a Yankee fan; pride, legacy, core values, and most importantly someone who has fun with the fans while on the field.
What had been missing since 2013 was a true Yankee. When I saw legends like Rivera, Jeter, Posada, and Pettitte retire, I began to think to yourself what the next generation is going to be like.
Then came October.
On a cold Tuesday night, as I entered the ballpark I sort of got a weird tingly feeling because of the atmosphere around me. It was sort of a feeling like when I was a kid. The fans were passionate, into it, and excited for what the new Yankees core had brought to us in the regular season.
When baseball comes around in October it's a whole different world. What baseball comes around in October for a Yankee's fan is expectation.
As the top of the first inning ended, the Yankees were down 3-0 to the Minnesota Twins. The crowd was angry, mad, and began to lose faith, but I knew that with this group of Yankees, losing faith never came to mind. Gardner got on, Judge got a hit, then came Didi. With the crack of a bat the game was tied. 3-3. The stadium was roaring, strangers hugging and high fiving strangers, the atmosphere felt like it was the old stadium that Ruth built.
Then came the Indians.
Growing up a Yankee fan, when I see the Indians in October I think of the loud stupid drum playing in center field, the stupidest plays in baseball, and the midges game. Down 1-0 going into game 2 of the ALDS, the Indians had their ace pitcher out on the mound. When I looked at my phone and the Yankees were winning 8-3, I couldn't believe it. Then those Indian's came back to life. It all started with Joe Girardi not challenging a play that he should have challenged, which loaded up the bases, and with the crack of a bat, the game was 8-7. As the night went by, as a Yankees fan, I knew that somehow the Yankees weren't going to win this game.
Down 2 nothing and taking a trip to the Bronx, I sort of felt down because the hope I had on this team was beginning to fade. Then came the top of the sixth. The score 0-0, Cleveland up to bat, shortstop Francisco Lindor sat on a pitch and hit the ball to deep right field. As the ball began to fall I see number 99 climb up the wall and rob a potential game-leading home run. Seeing that I knew it was only a matter of time until the Yankees got on the board. In the bottom of the seventh Greg Bird came up to bat and hit a mammoth home run. The stadium was crazy. As a fan sitting and watching, I was going crazy. and that hope I may have once lost came back to life again.
Then there was game four.
I sort of had the feeling that there was going to be a potential game 5, and I knew in a game situation you either win and advance, or lose and go home. Anything is possible. When the Yankees surprisingly beat down on the Indian's in game four, I knew that in Sabathia you trusted.
Then game 5.
As Cleveland's ace stepped up to the mound I sort of had a feeling that it wasn't going to be a baby boomer that was going to step up. It was more of a veteran's role to take control in a win or go home situation. While I was at my internship and I checked the game day score and I see that Didi had hit two home runs off of Kluber. In that moment as a fan I got excited. As I got home to watch the bottom of the ninth, as the Yankees were up 5-2 with three outs away from advancing to the ALCS my emotions began to get the best of me. As Chapman recorded the final out, tears went down my face; I called my family and the excitement of being a Yankee fan was once again restored in me.
Even though the Yankees came one win away from advancing to the World Series, what they gave us, the fans, was something no one ever expected from them. They brought back the core values, legacy, and the fan’s faith in the team again. As the 2018 season approaches in a few months, the expectations for the team are high. I can't wait to see what 2018 will be like because as a fan I’m thinking of the World Series trophy.
