The New York Yankees have a few former players competing in the World Series for either the Tampa Bay Rays or the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Yanks would clearly prefer to be on the big stage themselves, but that’s just not the way things have worked out very often in the Bronx lately.
That leaves Yankees fans sitting at home and seeing a few familiar names and wondering how they got to the World Series with a different team than the Yanks.
Three players who used to be in the Yankees’ organization made their World Series debuts on Friday night as the Brewers won Game 1 in Milwaukee, 3-2.
One was expected: Jake Bauers, who had a brief stint with the Yanks as he bounced around different organizations before settling in Milwaukee, was always slated to be the starting first baseman for the Brewers, and that played out as such.
Two were less certain: Gary Sanchez and Jorge Mateo.
Both got into the game off the bench.
Gary Sanchez Debut
Sanchez was called upon by Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy late in the game as a pinch-hitter for Sal Frelick.
The Brewers already had the lead, and they weren’t worried about needing Sanchez to catch. Starting catcher William Contreras had already thrown out two runners on the bases.
Milwaukee just figured it would give Sanchez a chance to see if he could run into one with runners on base in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Sanchez grounded into a force out, though, with his groundball to third base getting thrown the short way to second base to end the inning.
Since Sanchez pinch-hit for an outfielder, he was quickly removed from the game for Luis Lara to take over in right field for the ninth inning.
Jorge Mateo Debut
Jorge Mateo also got into the game off the bench, being used by Rays manager Kevin Cash as a pinch-runner.
Mateo pinch-ran for Jonathan Aranda at second base with one out in the top of the ninth inning and the Rays down by two runs.
Eventually, Mateo led a double-steal as he swiped third and Chandler Simpson followed him into second base.
The Rays then got a walk from Junior Caminero before Liam Hicks appeared to ground into a game-ending double play.
It was ruled, though, that only one out on the double play had actually been recorded, and so Mateo actually touched home plate with a run to pull Tampa Bay within one.
The next hitter struck out, though, and so although Mateo had a steal and a run in his World Series debut, it came in a loss.
2 Ex-Yankees Make World Series Debuts Off Bench