KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ah, right. This is what the main stage looks like. This is what the adult table looks like. This is what varsity ball looks like.
Joe Girardi has been the one to insist — to his everlasting credit — this Yankees season wasn’t some kind of dress rehearsal for 2017 or 2018. Before that, he was the one who insisted — to even more credit — this Yankees season wasn’t some backdrop to Alex Rodriguez’s farewell to baseball.
“We’re in this thing,” he said the day Rodriguez announced his retirement.
“We’re in this thing,” he said five days later, through moist eyes and a cracking voice, as the Yankees won in A-Rod’s finale.