NEW YORK — On the eve of the biggest start of his career to date, Carlos Rodon was a sea monster.
The Rodon family has a new toy. This is an underwater playhouse that looks like a tent. Carlos’ wife Ashley got it. Made by Carlos. That night, Rodon’s two older children, Willow, 5, and Beau, 3, insisted that their dad play the role of a sea monster.
He happily complied. But Rodon hasn’t cut corners completely. The Yankees pitcher watched film and read scouting reports, but no nights were spent preparing.
Late at night, with his children long asleep, Rodon sat at his desk and wrote down his last-minute thoughts for his next start. The game plan had been decided long in advance, and Rodon planned to bring notes with him on Monday to further strengthen his preparation. At the top of a blank piece of paper, he scrawled “KWAN,” the name of Cleveland’s dynamic leadoff hitter. But instead of writing down his plan of attack or what he learned from his past battles with the Guardians’ lefties, Rodon stopped.
He crumpled up the paper and threw it away.
Less than 24 hours later, Rodon delivered a game-winning performance in New York’s 5-2 victory in Game 1 of the ALCS. He whiffed a whopping 25 times, the most ever by a Yankees pitcher in a home playoff game. The southpaw pitched six innings, striking out nine and allowing just one run.
Juan Soto hit a solo shot in the third inning, his first home run this October. The Yankees took advantage of the Guardians’ cascading walks and wild pitches to score three more points early on. Cleveland caught up late and brought the game within three points, but closer Luke Weaver, New York’s October breakout star, made a five-out save to seal the victory.
The home crowd, which at one point included Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey, went home satisfied. The Yankees, who had the advantage on paper and payroll in this ALCS, started the series with an encouraging, if not overwhelming, victory.
Rodon, and more specifically his dramatic change in demeanor from start to finish, was the talking point of the night.
His appearance was overshadowed by the inevitable fallout of his most recent start, the disastrous blowout in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals. Rodon, making his first postseason start for the Yankees, looked exhausted and delirious under the weight of it all. He allowed four runs while recording just 11 outs.
He got off to a flying start that night, striking out in the shocking first inning, gesticulating wildly with each punchout and mirroring the unbridled energy pulsating from the Yankee Stadium crowd.
It was very thrilling. That too was temporary.
When Salvador Perez hit a game-tying solo home run in the fourth inning to take the lead, Rodon was upset. His command and composure abandoned him. After putting out five batters and three runners, he retired from the game and sat firmly on the dugout bench. Rodon shook his head back and forth like the pendulum of a trampled grandfather clock, his expression a mixture of disappointment and disgust.
In his first real taste of the big stage, Rodon failed spectacularly – he went from untouchable to uncomfortable in an instant. This performance led to public discussion of whether the hurler’s temperament on the mound was too erratic to pitch in the sport’s biggest team’s biggest game. Rodon, who signed a six-year, $162 million deal in December 2022, started Game 2 against the Yankees but fumbled at his first chance against Kansas City.
This story dominated developments leading up to the start of Game 1 of the ALCS. At the pregame media conference, Rodon fielded question after question about how to better control his emotions – all of which were to be expected given his last fight. He talked about staying focused and channeling your energy productively. He said he closely watched Gerrit Cole’s series-clinching gem in Game 4 of the ALDS, paying particular attention to Cole’s cold expression as he came off the mound.
No matter what Rodon did during the start, the result was very different.
Monday ended the inning with a strikeout in the fifth inning. The expressive hurler had never exploded like he did in the ALDS. He was workmanlike, assertive, and controlled. He was in command of both the ball game and the emotions. Rodon avoided mountains and valleys. The Guardians got just three hits from him: a single in each of the first two frames and a solo home run off Brayan Rocchio in the sixth inning. Pitching with a lead certainly helped Rodon, who often relied on his fastball early on.
Alex Cobb, whose career record against Soto would make a statue blush, scored the game’s first goal on a solo shot from the fearless slugger. After missing a low and hitting a pair of sinkers, Cobb tried to place one in Soto’s hands. The batted ball went back over the center of the plate, and Soto was reeled back in, sending the poor baseball flying into the strong wind into the Yankees’ bullpen for a 1-0 lead.
Cobb broke free from there, giving up a walk after the Yankees had three outs, and loaded the bases. That was the end of his night, but rookie Joey Cantillo continued to play wild. The left-hander scored, but a walk and two wild pitches kept him from scoring. From there, the New York attack put us on cruise control for the most part. In the seventh, a 439-foot sonic boom courtesy of Giancarlo Stanton provided a cushion, and the stadium was filled with dropped jaws. The Yankees withstood Cleveland’s eighth-inning rally to give Rodon his first career postseason victory.
It was an encouraging night for the burly left-hander, even if he chose to maintain a calm demeanor during the postgame media conference. Rodon knows that the journey is not yet over, that his story as a Yankee is yet to be written.
One great show won’t silence the whispers. No other city is more demanding and has such a short memory. There will be more opportunities for glory or gloom. The next time a bad guy starts, whether it’s Game 5 or the World Series, Rodon will go from hero to villain in an instant. This is postseason pressure cooker life.
But Rodon’s commanding performance in Game 2 was a stark reminder of why this team paid this guy.
There are sea monsters. He just needs to tame it.
