Even after dominating them in the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers won’t stop trolling the New York Yankees.
The latest shot comes from reliever Michael Kopech on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast.
Kopech, talking to podcast host Rob Bradford about the importance of well-timed mound visits, said the Dodgers started making fun of Yankees’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo during the series.
“I’m just gonna say it,” Kopech said. “(First baseman Anthony) Rizzo made hundreds of mound visits in the World Series games. You can almost see the pitchers’ faces, just like, ‘What could they be talking about right now?’
"We had a running joke in the bullpen of ‘Rizzo visits remaining.’ Every time there was a visit, it was Rizzo,” Kopech said on the podcast.
Rizzo, who was seen as a leader in the clubhouse and on the infield, is known for going out to settle down pitchers in big spots. He takes that role seriously, but obviously the Dodgers’ pitchers thought it was over the top.
Kopech said he respected how Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas came to him to “settle him down” at times in the postseason, to “be good teammates in that moment.”
This comes on the heels of the Dodgers mocking the Yankees’ defense. Reliever Joe Kelly said that the Dodgers were able to make their Game 5 comeback because the Yankees “started kicking the ball around and playing Yankee baseball.”
Rizzo is no longer a Yankee.
The Yankees declined his option for 2025, because they need an upgrade at first base.
Last season, the Yankees had the lowest .OPS (.619) at first base in all of baseball. They were 25th in the league in home runs from first with just 16. According to FanGraphs, the Yankees were a collective -1.1 WAR at first, the fourth worst in baseball.
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