The case might be made that Ben Rice simply had the best hitting recreation within the historical past of postseason baseball for the New York Yankees.
He achieved one thing so outstanding that Babe Ruth by no means did it. Lou Gehrig by no means did it. Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Aaron Decide — none of them ever did it, both.
Rice is the primary participant within the storied historical past of the winningest franchise in MLB historical past to have an evening just like the one he did on Tuesday.
It was made all of the sweeter by the truth that Rice did this whereas the Yankees bludgeoned their hated rival, the Boston Purple Sox, by a 9-0 throttling.
For these holding at house, that’s the identical rating as a forfeit. The Purple Sox would possibly as nicely haven’t even proven up.
Besides it’s an excellent factor they did, so far as the Yankees are involved, as a result of it allowed Rice to have an unprecedented night within the Bronx.
Ben Rice Unprecedented Historical past
Rice achieved historical past by totaling six RBI and 4 hits all in the identical playoff recreation.
A Yankees participant had by no means accomplished that earlier than, ever.
Ben Rice: 1st participant in Yankees historical past with 6+ RBI and 4+ Hits in a postseason recreation.
— Katie Sharp (@SharpStats17) September 30, 2026
Rice didn’t arrive at these numbers cheaply, both.
He had a double and two house runs. One of many homers was a grand slam with two outs within the eighth inning that actually put the sport to mattress.
Rice scored a pair of runs, as nicely. The one blemish on his stat sheet was that his one out was a strikeout.
In any other case, Rice was nearly as good as they arrive. He channeled the uplifting ghosts of all of the Yankees greats and used that to placed on a efficiency for the ages.
The one purpose it has the potential to be forgotten over time is the truth that it occurred within the Wild Card Spherical and never later within the postseason. However ballplayers can solely compete within the recreation in entrance of them, and Rice certain made probably the most of this evening.
From Dartmouth to Goals
Rice wasn’t purported to be this good of a participant, a man who might end an MLB common season with 41 house runs after which singlehandedly declare a playoff opener along with his swings.
He went to Dartmouth, an Ivy League faculty identified extra for producing sensible contributors to society and fewer for creating clean left-handed swings.
Rice, although, left faculty with the latter. The Yankees drafted him, so he wasn’t completely unheralded, however he was additionally solely a Twelfth-round decide.
By his pedigree, Rice was purported to be, at finest, a grinder who scraped his method into the main leagues.
As an alternative, Rice spent Tuesday evening because the brightest mild for the shiniest franchise in skilled sports activities.
For many years, the Yankees constructed their roster by shopping for gamers so good that they didn’t want breakthrough performers like Rice.
Now, Rice has confirmed that the pinstripes look fairly good on a participant who nobody expects to be this good.
The truth is, in some methods they appear higher. Rice wasn’t a participant purchased to guide the cost. He merely constructed himself into such a participant, and it culminated on Tuesday evening in a recreation for the ages.
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