Daily dose of Yordan (ALDS Game 1)

Game stats: 3-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBIs, 2 R

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At bat 1 (Bottom of first): 1 pitch popout to 3rd

Down 1-0 early in the game, Yordan looked a little tentative early, as he swung away on a decent first pitch slider and hit a high popout to end the inning.

At bat 2 (Bottom of third): 2 pitch double to left, 2 RBI

Yordan next came up in the bottom of the 3rd, this time with the deficit widened to 4-0. Seemingly unfazed, he watched a high fastball outside to settle into a groove before getting a nice curve that stayed in the zone. While last year's Yordan may have simply wasted the pitch or induced early weak contact, this time he stayed back and made great contact, launching a moonshot off the wall into the left center field gap. Altuve (who reached on a walk earlier in the inning) and McCormick (whose leadoff single started the inning) scored easily on the play, a huge hit that kept the Astros in the game and set up a dramatic finish later on.

At bat 3 (Bottom of fifth): 3 pitch groundout to 2nd

After such a good approach in the previous at bat, it was a bit disheartening to see Yordan swing and miss at a middle-middle fastball to begin the at bat, although considering it was 98 MPH heat from Logan Gilbert it was partly understandable. He followed this up by taking a curve down and away for a ball, and then made good contact on another fastball in the zone, although unfortunately it was a ground ball right to the shifted second baseman.

At bat 4 (Bottom of eighth): 3 pitch single to right, R

Like last at bat, Yordan did not start his battle in an optimal strategy, as a whiff at a slider away and a watched middle-middle fastball led to him staring down an 0-2 count. Once again, however, he displayed the selective aggressiveness that made him so good this year, swinging hard at an offspeed pitch down and driving it down the line to right and off the wall. He missed a home run by a couple degrees of launch angle, and settled for a single, but would come around to score the very next play on a Bregman 2 run home run that again allowed the Astros to keep it a single score game.

At bat 5 (Bottom of ninth): 2 pitch home run to right, 3 RBIs, R

With the tying run on base and the game on the line, Mariners manager Scott Servais chose to bring out Robbie Ray to pitch to Yordan, choosing to prioritize the platoon advantage despite him pitching poorly a few days ago during the wild card round. Yordan started the at bat off by sizing up Ray's fastball, hard hitting a sinker foul into the stands. I swear I saw him nodding after the pitch as he entered the box, perhaps having recognized the pitch's pathing and spin rate. Then on the next pitch Ray just hung a fastball middle-middle, curving towards the inside, and Yordan absolutely destroyed it, nearly sending it into the second row for a walk-off 3 run home run that also was the biggest single postseason WPA change of all time. What a game for him, single handedly carrying the offense at times and delivering the death blow to end it.

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I did not originally plan on writing this, but Yordan's heroics may have pulled me in for another postseason run of daily post-game write-ups. Hope you guys stay safe and see you all for game 2 🤟