Anthony Rizzo's bizarre appearance, abrupt retirement coincides with Yankees collapse

The New York Yankees, after winning back-to-back series against the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays, just let the Detroit Tigers, who have been struggling mightily, waltz into the Bronx and outscore them 23-3 in the first two contests of their three-game set.

For some bizarre reason, former Yankee Anthony Rizzo was in attendance on Tuesday. Rizzo has been unable to latch on with a team this year despite going to the World Series with the Yankees in 2024, and it's been quite upsetting to see.

But most would agree his playing days were behind him. Injuries started to catch up with the veteran slugger and his abilities on both sides of the ball were slipping fast. And that made it all the more inexplicable that the Yankees stuck with him (and Alex Verdugo) in an all-important World Series run with their only guaranteed year of Juan Soto.

Rizzo's appearance in the Bronx was nice. He got an ovation from the crowd. He chugged a beer. Manager Aaron Boone had some pleasant things to say about his former player. Yankees fans reflected and wished his tenure would've been better, and wondered what could have been if he hadn't suffered that 2023 concussion.

On the other hand ... the Yankees suffered one of their most embarrassing defeats of the season with an historic bullpen meltdown. They logged just four hits. They didn't walk once. They made an error. They lost by 10 runs. To follow it up on Wednesday? An 11-1 loss where they logged just eight hits and one walk, with three of those hits coming from players off the bench.

Just before that Wednesday game, too, Rizzo announced he'd be retiring from baseball as a member of the Chicago Cubs.

Anthony Rizzo's bizarre Yankee Stadium appearance promptly resulted in his retirement

Rizzo was always going to retire a Cub, but this timing couldn't have been more confusing. Maybe he wanted one last hurrah from the Yankee Stadium crowd? His retirement the next day didn't exactly come as a shock — his career was clearly nearing the very end — but why now?

He's going to honored at Wrigley Field on Saturday before a game against ... the Tampa Bay Rays? There were two other prime opportunities to do this as the Cubs close out the season in Chicago against the Mets and the hated Cardinals.

Whatever the case, congrats to Rizzo. He is a Cubs legend and an historic World Series champion. He might not be a Hall of Famer, but he will not be forgotten because of his impact on the game from 2014-2019.

His Yankees tenure from 2021-2024 was unfortunately a disappointment because of the injuries and the fact it coincided with some of the worst playoff losses in recent memory, but that was through no fault of his own. He was a good teammate and a positive presence in the clubhouse. It's sad that the Yankees hung him out to dry during the 2022 postseason (when he dominated) and didn't get ahead of his troubling head injury the following season, and it's even more upsetting that's how his time with the team will be remembered.