Yankees fans would be on Cloud 9 right now if not for Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen's walk-off home run to break a 0-0 RISP Fail Fest on Wednesday night.
As it stands, they'll have to settle for Cloud 8.5. They took the first two games in dramatic fashion. They refuted the Aaron Judge cheating allegations. Blue Jays manager John Schneider peed his pants between eight and 20 times. All in all, the Yankees have still maintained the upper hand in this set, regardless of the final result.
But ... things would look better if not for Jansen, who stung his second homer of the season (already) against the Yankees to cut Wednesday's marathon off in the 10th inning.
If it feels like Jansen hits the Yankees better than he hits any other team ... that feeling is accurate. And if it feels like Jansen hasn't done much of anything against anybody else, in a much larger sample size ... yeah, yes, you got it! You're not paranoid. This fella rocks our world and looks like Higgy against the rest of Major League Baseball.
The splits, following his three-run shot on Wednesday, are positively wild.
Danny Jansen hits Yankees better than any other team, and it's not close
Sorry. Sorry. That comparison isn't totally fair. Higgy's career slugging percentage is actually .388. Totally different stratosphere. 10 points lower. Jansen definitely isn't a career backup catcher against the rest of the league and Pudge Rodriguez against the Yankees.
The Blue Jays' main character syndrome knows no bounds, and following Jansen's (surprising, but not-that-surprising) heroics, right-hander Chris Bassitt decided to grab the mic and tell everyone that he actually was working double hard on Wednesday because he had a sinus infection.
He didn't want to tell anyone before the game. Didn't want to cause a stir. But after the game? Everyone had to know. Sorry, Danny, but sometimes a real hero comes along, with the strength to carry on.
The quicker this series ends, the better; when the Yankees and Jays see each other next, it'll be the final two weeks of the season (Sept. 19-21, Sept. 26-28). Hopefully, Bassitt's sinuses have cleared up by then. But maybe he'll have a hangnail?