Yes, Yankees standout Alex Verdugo said exactly what you thought you heard on Tuesday night in the dugout after his first Yankee Stadium home run against the Marlins.
Some men get on one knee and profess their undying love for their lifelong companions. Some men get on one knee and swing a baseball bat extremely hard, resulting in an unexpected home run, then profess their undying love for their lifelong companions in a totally different manner.
And so, on an emotional high, Verdugo -- with no regard for microphones -- ran through a dugout tunnel of Yankees, screaming (quite plainly), "Let's go, f***ers!"
Everybody heard it. There was no avoiding it, no walking it back in the postgame ("Uh, I actually said fathers."). Verdugo has helped take a woodchipper to staid blocks of the Yankees' dour dugout mentality, one chain at a time, and he will not apologize.
In fact, when confronted, he'll cop to the whole thing, because that's just who he is.
Yes, Yankees star Alex Verdugo said exactly what you thought he did on Tuesday vs Marlins
"I call my guys 'f***ers'," with shrug included, was by far the best way to brush that aside. No "deer in the headlights" look. No stammering (though he did briefly claim to "not remember" saying it before admitting it). Just ... yeah. He's got a message for his guys, and that message is that they are most certainly f***ers.
So far, so good for a Yankees team that attempted to collect vibes on affordable contracts this offseason in the wake of swinging a blockbuster trade for Juan Soto -- who, in addition to being one of the game's premier superstars, also appears to be wielding outsized influence early while watching Aaron Judge's moves carefully.
For the first time in quite a while, the Yankees appear to have crafted a roster that feeds off one another's success, as well as a consistent lineup that plays together as often as possible to feed and ride a current hot streak (sorry, Trent Grisham and Jahmai Jones). Verdugo and the other f***ers have been a massive part of that consistent success.