The New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians matchup in the ALDS of the 2022 MLB Playoffs has been more dramatic and more exciting than anyone could have realistically hoped for. The Yankees were the best team in baseball for the first half of the season, and still ended the year with 99 wins after an uneven second half. The Guardians won the fewest games of any division winner in baseball (92 wins), and were certainly at a big disadvantage when it came to both power bats and power arms in the series.
The Yankees did the ‘rock the baby’ celebration back at the Guardians after eliminating them
The Yankees mocked Cleveland’s ‘rock the baby’ celebration after eliminating them in the ALDS.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
The Guardians won Game 3 with an incredible ninth inning comeback on Saturday to take a 2-1 series lead. After the Yankees jumped out to an early lead in a do-or-die Game 4, Cleveland slugger Josh Naylor did his best to show that the Guardians weren’t about to back down. After taking Yankees ace Gerrit Cole deep, Naylor called the pitcher his ‘son’ and did a ‘rock the baby’ celebration as he rounded the bases. Watch the video here:
The most amazing part about Naylor’s celebration? The Guardians were losing the game when it happened. The Yankees went on to win the game, 4-2, to tie the best-of-five series 2-2 ahead of the winner-take-all finale on Monday.
Well, guess what: the Yankees won Game 5 to advance to the ALCS with a 5-1 victory on Tuesday night. When New York recorded the final out, the Yankees decided to do the ‘rock the baby’ taunt right back at Cleveland.
Gleyber Torres is a savage. We love to see it. Here’s what he said after the game.
Yankees fans used the taunt against Naylor in Game 5, too.
Naylor’s dinger even got Bob Costas to say “I’m your daddy” on TV. Sorry for including this video, but we had to.
Baseball needs more big personalities. An underdog like Naylor taunting a highly-paid superstar like Cole just seems like a good thing for the game. Everyone loves beef. You need to have the sense of humor of an NFL referee to not appreciate some creative taunting.
The fact that Torres did it right back to Cleveland makes this even better.
Of course, the discourse around baseball always seems to revolve around unwritten rules and respect. Some analysts found Naylor’s celebration to be bush league move meant to show up his opponent. You can always count on the MLB media for a stodgy take like this.
The 2022 MLB Playoffs have been wildly unpredictable and wildly entertaining. Three of baseball’s four teams that won 100+ games in the regular season didn’t make the championship series of the playoffs. Instead, the No. 7 seed Philadelphia Phillies crashed the party, as did a Padres team that won 22 fewer games than the Dodgers did in the regular season.
Some baseball fans just want to go back to the old days, when the playoffs weren’t expanded and there was more decorum on the field. To each their own, for these playoffs have been extremely captivating for a variety of reasons so far.
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