Yankees Legend's World Series Journey Saw Many Detours

Mattingly's Long Journey

Reaching the World Series has been another story entirely for Mattingly. That journey has been longer. Between playing, coaching, and managing, Mattingly has finally arrived after 5,231 games.

"Obviously, it feels great to get there, and I feel like we're gonna play well too," Mattingly told Sweeny Murti for MLB.com. "Paul O'Neill told me once you get to the World Series, it's almost like this is the fun part. The feeling of fighting to get there is so tense. So, yes, I'm going to enjoy it. It's been really fun."

Very few have seen the things Mattingly has seen. In his prime, he got to play with Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson. His first and only playoff home run had Yankee Stadium shaking.

Mattingly would return to the postseason as a coach. He sat beside Joe Torre as the organization collapsed in 2004. Those Red Sox leapfrogged over the Yankees to snap their 86-year curse. In 2015, he was in a similar position. In the NLCS, Mattingly watched a Chicago Cubs team snap their 108-year-old drought as his Dodgers fell in six games.

It looked like another team with another long World Series drought would send Mattingly home. It didn't happen, though, and it proved to be a full circle moment on two fronts. Those same Mariners who eliminated his Yankees in 1995 took the Blue Jays to seven games, but a George Springer home run sealed the deal for Toronto. Now, Mattingly's journey to the World Series ends in the same country where his playoff road began decades earlier.

Mattingly's Own Words

Mattingly described his route to the World Series as a "long road" to columnist Bill Madden of the Daily News.

“To be honest, I still don’t have the words,” Mattingly said. “It’s been a long road, but I always believed, although I didn’t think it would be Toronto. But this is a real team, a tough team that’s grown together and shown what can happen when you play good defense, put runners on base, keep making contact. All of that.”

What's most unfortunate is that if Mattingly does win his first championship, it won't be with the Yankees. He has two Steinbrenners to thank for that one. George's meddling in the 1980s kept the Yankees out, and Hal's conservative approach to roster building, often prioritizing costs over the product on the field, made the Blue Jays' dismantling of the Yankees feel like light work.

While Mattingly probably never guessed this opportunity would happen in Toronto, he'll probably take it. The captain has earned it after all these years.

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