First of all, someone at Sports Illustrated had too much time on their hands after Tuesday's game. Or did he or she start working on this as soon as the Twins-Yankees wild-card matchup was official:
At the New York Times, Wallace Matthews started this story with his nod to the one-sidedness of the Twins-Yankees playoff history: "For the past 14 years, the Minnesota Twins' relationship with the Yankees in October has been roughly akin to a comic strip, with one character being mercilessly made a fool of by the other."
Read the rest here
Sports Illustrated focused on the Yankees bullpen, which shut down the twins after Luis Severino was knocked out by the Twins in the first inning. The dominance started when Chad Green kept the Twins from increasing their lead from 3-0 to 5-0 in the first inning: "Where a hit could have given the Twins a 5-0 lead, Green instead saved the Yankees' bacon by striking out both Byron Buxton and Jason Castro on 96 and 97 mph fastballs, respectively. "I don't think I had the chance to be nervous," said Green. "It all happened so fast that it kind of helped me out… I was just trying to slow the game down, take it one pitch at a time." The strikeouts sent the crowd of 49,280 into a frenzy that continued into the bottom of the first, when the Yankees worked deep counts against Santana.
More on the bullpen from Joel Sherman of the New York Post, focusing on David Robertson, the former White Sox closer who shut down the Twins with three innings of middle relief: "Girardi had been plotting this kind of possibility. He gave all his best relievers off Sunday, and with no game Monday knew he could push them a little more in a sudden-death game. Robertson came in with the bases loaded in the third and one out. He exchanged a run for an out that tied the score. But that was it. Minnesota would not score again against Robertson or the Yankees' pen. Robertson has always been a very good reliever. But since his return to the Yanks, he has combined the ability to attack early, and for multiple innings like Andrew Miller, with a greater economy and effectiveness that hints at Mariano Rivera. His willingness to accept the ball whenever despite being a proven closer has made it easier for Girardi to ask others to sacrifice."
And, of course, there were lots of glowing words about Aaron Judge, the Yankees' massive rookie slugger who had a home run and a key single. Mike Mazzeo of the New York Daily News wrote: "Aaron Judge always seems to rise to the occasion — no stage too great for the 6-foot-7, 282-pound slugger, who carried these youthful and exuberant Bombers into the playoffs with a historic rookie season. So, of course, the unfazed 25-year-old Judge, who understands that the way to Monument Park is through success in October, delivered a pair of hits — including a two-run homer — in his first-career postseason game, as the Yankees advanced to the ALDS with a 8-4 victory in their wild-card matchup with the Twins on Tuesday in the Bronx. 'There's something about him and the way he carries himself that you just feel really good when he's around,' Joe Girardi said. 'When he's at the plate, when he's playing defense, when he's standing next to you, waiting for you when you come off the field. You just feel really good when he's around, and I felt that.'
Mazzeo's entire column is here
And, finally, in a story with a headline about the bullpen "going nuts," USA Today's Bob Nightengale addressed the indelicate issue of the foul tip that struck Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez where you should never be struck: "That 84-mph knuckle-curve came on a 3-2 count to Twins leadoff hitter Brian Dozier in the sixth inning. The pitch that was a strike, a foul tip actually, caroming straight off the athletic supporter of catcher Gary Sanchez. Sanchez crumbled to the ground, Robertson moaned, grabbed his own midsection as if he got hit, and squatted down as if he wanted to share the pain. 'i had a great view of it,' Robertson said late in the evening at his locker. "Tough shot. I know how it is. ... Not fun. It was like, 'Poor, Gary.' "
Yes it was. And there's more here.
And if you want to see what it looked like:
