Royals Breakout Slugger Expertly Trolls Yankees, Carlos Rodón After ALDS Win
The American League Division Series between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees is already getting spicy, and it's only been two games.
After the Yankees took a back-and-forth Game 1 on Saturday night, the Royals got even with a comfortable 4-2 victory in the Bronx on Monday. They scored all four runs off Yankees starter Carlos Rodón in the fourth inning, abruptly ending a start that started on a dominant note for the left-hander.
The spark for the Kansas City lineup on Monday was surprisingly third baseman Maikel Garcia, who manager Matt Quatraro inserted into the leadoff spot because there was a lefty on the mound. Garcia went 4-for-5, including a key RBI single, and added a stolen base on the evening.
After a regular season where he hit .231 with a dismal .281 on-base percentage, it was refreshing to see Garcia step up at the plate when his team needed it the most. The speedster has often demonstrated the ability to hit the ball hard, but no one expected him to show up in the Bronx hitting lasers.
However, as it turns out, Garcia saved his last shot of the evening for social media.
Garcia responded to a video posted by content creator Jimmy O'Brien, better known as "Jomboy," showing Rodón's increasingly boisterous celebrations after striking out the side in the first inning. He quote tweeted the video by simply saying, "Don't celebrate too early," adding a skull emoji.
Garcia wasn't done for the night, either. He added one more tweet that simply said "We don't fear nobody." Royals fans (and perhaps some Yankees haters) were fired up by both tweets, totaling over 13,000 likes on the first tweet and 4,700 on the second (figures as of late Tuesday morning).
It was well-deserved gloating for Garcia after the best night of his young career, and he and the Royals have all the momentum heading into the off-day before the series resumes in Kansas City. But they have to be careful not to get too high.
The playoffs are a roller-coaster, and the Royals haven't experienced those ups and downs much compared to their competition. They have to be prepared for anything when the lights come on Wednesday night.
More MLB: Yankees Superstar Unimpressed By Royals In Game 2 Defeat: 'They Just Got Lucky'
Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org