Yankees give Jon Berti professional debut at first base vs. Royals in ALDS Game 2

Jon Berti will make his first professional start at first base when the New York Yankees play the Kansas City Royals in Game 2 of the AL Division Series on Monday night.

Berti, acquired from Miami just before Opening Day, hit .273 in 25 games and 66 at-bats for the Yankees this year while playing second, third and left.

With Anthony Rizzo sidelined by a pair of fractured fingers, Oswaldo Cabrera started at first in the Yankees’ opening 6-5 win on Saturday, going 1-for-4 with three strikeouts and making several sparkling defensive plays.

Rookie Ben Rice, who played at first while Rizzo was sidelined from mid-June through August, was another option on the Yankees roster.

Rizzo hopes to be back if the Yankees advance to the League Championship Series.

The Royals will start ace Cole Ragans in Game 2 after a season in which he went 11-9 with a 3.14 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 223 strikeouts. The Yankees will counter with left-hander Carlos Rodon, who went 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 195 strikeouts.

The Yankees won Game 1 of the ALDS 6-5 thanks to a surprising small-ball approach from their usually power-dependent lineup. New York worked eight walks and weathered an 0-for-4 night from superstar slugger Aaron Judge, whose career playoff batting average dipped to near .200. The Yankees came out on top in a back-and-forth game with the most lead changes (five) in MLB playoff history as the winning run came when Jazz Chisholm raced home on an Alex Verdugo RBI single in the seventh inning.

The Royals will look to do their part in one of the biggest crossover nights in Kansas City sports in recent memory, as the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs will play the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football at the same time.

“I wish the best to the Chiefs tonight that they can win the game,” Royals catcher Salvador Perez said before first pitch in the Bronx. “For us, too. I think it’s a city of champions; that’s how they call Kansas City.”

That’s been the case for the last decade or so.

Sporting Kansas City won the MLS Cup in 2013 to begin the title tide, but it really picked up pace when the long-suffering Royals — who play about 200 yards away from Arrowhead Stadium at neighboring Kauffman Stadium — won back-to-back AL pennants in 2014 and ’15, and captured their first World Series title in 30 years by beating the New York Mets.

Then came the Chiefs, who had not hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in five decades before Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes led them back to the peak in 2020. Now, the latest NFL dynasty has won two straight championships and three of the past five, and has a chance to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls this season.

“I can say from my perspective, once we moved to Kansas City, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro, who took over last season after coaching the Rays. “The support for the Chiefs last year — phenomenal. You’re in your neighborhood and they score a touchdown, you hear cannons going off. Parties every weekend when they’re playing.”

When you combine Royals and Chiefs, the city has won four championships in the four major sports in the last decade. By comparison, New York has not won any between the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Rangers, Islanders, Knicks and Nets.

In fact, New York hasn’t won a title across the major sports leagues since 2011, when the Giants won the Super Bowl.

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You can bet Kansas City fans are reveling in the success, too. They regularly turn out hours before kickoff for Chiefs games for arguably the best tailgating scene in the NFL, while the jerseys of Perez and Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. have started to fly off shelves as the club went from a 106-loss laughingstock a year ago to a playoff team this season.

“What a great job they’ve done to this point, and I know they’re fired up to keep on going,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “I know we’re all glad to have them coming back here and having another chance to see them play.”

The success has made the Truman Sports Complex, just east of downtown Kansas City along Interstate 70 in an area that hardly could be considered bustling, the place to be whenever either of the teams is playing at home.

“I think the setup we have there is very unique with both stadiums side-by-side,” Quatraro said. “I’m excited for (the Chiefs). It’s a great time to be there, and the community supports both teams. You can feel it just walking down the street, you can see more Royals fans out in front of people’s houses. It’s a lot of fun.”

For many years, the two franchises seemed to want little to do with each other. But as both rose to prominence, Royals players became frequent visitors to Arrowhead Stadium and vice versa.

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The bond was strengthened when Mahomes — whose father was a big-league ballplayer — bought a share of the Royals.

He’s been keeping close tabs on the team, by the way, building a tight relationship with Witt over the past couple of years. And regardless of what happens Monday night, Mahomes sounds as if he’s planning to be there for Game 3 on Wednesday — maybe even Game 4 on Thursday, if the series comes to that — despite the Chiefs having next week off.

“I’ve heard all the stories of how awesome the environment was the last time they were in the playoffs, and they’re going up against a great baseball team in the Yankees,” Mahomes said. “They’re hungry and playing great baseball right now, and then to be at the K — a sold-out crowd hopefully, and I get to see that October baseball there, it’s going to be special.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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