NEW YORK – The night before the biggest start of his career so far, Carlos Rodón was a sea monster.
There was a new toy in Rodón’s house: an underwater playhouse shaped like a tent. Carlos’s wife, Ashley, acquired the thing. Carlos built it. That night, Rodón’s two oldest children, Willow (5) and Bo (3), insisted that Dad play the role of the sea monster. He obeyed with joy.
But Rodón did not completely unplug. The Yankees pitcher watched film and read scouting reports, although preparation did not consume his evening.
Later that night, while his children were fast asleep, Rodón sat at his desk to sketch out some last-minute ideas for the next start. The game plan had been decided for a long time, Rodón planned to bring the notes on Monday just for an extra layer of preparation. At the top of a blank sheet of paper, he scrawled “KWAN,” the name of Cleveland’s dynamic leadoff hitter. Instead of writing down a plan of attack or conclusions from past battles with the left-handed Guardians, Rodón paused.
He crumpled the paper and threw it away.
Less than 24 hours later, Rodón had a triumphant performance in New York’s 5-2 victory in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. He had a whopping 25 swings and misses, the most ever by a Yankees pitcher in a home playoff game. The left-hander worked six innings, striking out nine and allowing just one run.
Juan Soto hit a solo home run in the third, his first home run this October. The Yankees took advantage of a cascade of walks and wild pitches by the Guardians to score three more runs early. Cleveland came close late, bringing the game within three, but New York’s emerging October star, closer Luke Weaver, closed the door with a five-out save.
The home crowd, which at one point included Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, went home happy. The Yankees, favorites in this American League Championship Series on paper and in payroll, began the series with an encouraging, if undominant, victory.
Rodón, more specifically, his dramatic change in behavior from start to finish, was the story of the night.
His departure was in the inevitable shadow of his most recent start, a disastrous implosion in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals. In his first postseason start as a Yankee, Rodón looked frantic, exhausted by the weight of everything. He allowed four runs and recorded just 11 outs.
He started magnificently that night, striking out everyone in an electrifying first inning, gesticulating wildly after each strikeout, mirroring the unhinged energy that pulsed through the Yankee Stadium crowd.
It was exciting. It was also temporary.
When Salvador Pérez led off the fourth inning with a game-tying solo home run, Rodón unleashed. His command and poise deserted him. Five batters and three runners later, he was out of the game, planted firmly in the dugout dugout. Rodón shook his head from side to side in a mixture of disappointment and disgust like the pendulum of a depressed grandfather clock.
In his first real experience on the big stage, Rodón had failed spectacularly: from untouchable to uncomfortable in an instant. The performance led to public reflections on whether the pitcher’s temperament on the mound was too volatile to pitch the biggest games for the sport’s biggest team. Signed in December 2022 for six years and $162 million, Rodón was signed to start Game 2, but fumbled against Kansas City on his first opportunity.
This narrative dominated the buildup to their start in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. In his pregame press conference, Rodón dodged question after question (all justified, given his previous outing) about how he planned to better control his emotions. He talked about staying focused, about channeling your energy productively. He mentioned getting a close look at Gerrit Cole’s series-clinching gem in Game 4 of the ALDS, paying special attention to Cole’s icy stare as he walked off the mound.
Regardless of what Rodón did between starts, the result was wildly different.
Five times on Monday he ended an inning with a strikeout. Not once did the expressive pitcher break out like he did in the ALDS. He was hard-working, assertive and controlled. He was in charge, both of the game and his emotions. Rodón avoided peaks and valleys. The Guardians managed just three hits against him: a single in each of the first two frames and a solo home run by Brayan Rocchio in the sixth. Pitching with a lead certainly helped Rodón, who leaned on his fastball early and often.
Alex Cobb, whose career numbers against Soto would make a statue blush, coughed up the game’s first run on a solo shot from the swashbuckling slugger. After missing low and in with a pair of sinkers, Cobb tried to put one under Soto’s hands. The pitch sailed over the heart of the plate and Soto unwound, sending the poor baseball hurtling through a strong wind toward the Yankees bullpen for a 1-0 lead.
Cobb took off from there, walking a trio of Yankees to load the bases. That marked the end of his evening, but rookie Joey Cantillo kept up the wildness. The left-hander finished the frame, but not before another walk and two run-scoring wild pitches. From there, New York’s offense put him in speed control, for the most part. A 439-foot sonic boom, courtesy of Giancarlo Stanton in the seventh, provided some cover and a stadium full of jaws agape. The Yankees withstood a Cleveland comeback in the eighth inning to give Rodón the first postseason victory of his career.
For the sturdy left-hander, it was an encouraging night, even if he chose to maintain an air of calm during his post-match press conference. Rodón knows that the journey is far from over and his story as a Yankee is far from being written.
A spectacular exhibition cannot, by itself, silence the rumors, not in a city so demanding and with such a short memory. There will be more opportunities for glory or sadness. A poor performance in his next start, whether in Game 5 or the World Series, would turn Rodón from hero to villain in an instant. Such is life in the pressure cooker of the postseason.
But Rodón’s commanding performance in the second game was a strong reminder of why this paid team this man.
The sea monster is there. You just need to tame it.