The New York Yankees are eliminated from playoff contention officially after losing their game on Wednesday night to the Tampa Bay Rays and now that things are over and done with, Mariano Rivera takes center stage, as he is ending his career and will play his final game at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night and he likely will get to appear in the game.
Rivera has been on a farewell tour all season since announcing that he would retire and he has been getting first from every Major League Baseball team and he has also been meeting with fans and league workers at every city stop. The way Rivera has been handling himself this past season after dealing with a terrible injury in 2012 just shows why he will be missed so much by Yankee fans and baseball ball in general.
Click here for the Rivera Live Stream.
Rivera is one of the good guys of the game and he has shown during his career that he is someone that plays the game the right way and represents the game the right way. Rivera leaves the Yankees as the major league leader in saves as well as postseason appearances and postseason saves. As ESPN pointed out last week, more men have landed on the moon than have scored a run off Mariano Rivera in the postseason.
While the Yankees will not be a part of the playoff part this season, one small part of that is a positive for Rivera, as he gets to finish his career with 42 postseason saves. While the chance to make the playoffs would have been great for the Yankees, they weren't going to win the World Series with this team and with Derek Jeter and CC Sabathia out as well, it just wasn't happening and now he will finish his career with the amount of saves as the number on his back.
Rivera was honored by the Yankees on Sunday during a beautiful afternoon of weather, as Michael Kay and John Sterling emceed the event and brought out a number of Yankee greats to join in. Rivera was given custom made gifts from the Yankees and the Giants and he also had the distinction of getting his number retired in Monument Park.
Rivera said that he probably is the only player to have his number retired before he is officially retired and that just shows the impact Rivera has had on the Yankees and on baseball in general. Rivera is considered to be the best closer in history after amassing over 600 saves and he has been doing it basically with the same two pitches, the most prominent one being the cutter.
The way he discovered the cutter is legend, as he was in the bullpen warming up and his fastball just started cutting. Rivera is a religious man and this is likely one reason for it. He didn't try to throw it, it just happened and now that pitch is considered to be one of the best and most well known in baseball history.
The Yankees aren't in the playoffs, but here's the chance to watch Mariano Rivera pitch (or play!) one last time at Yankee Stadium before he retires and goes off into the sunset and he will leave behind a storied career.
