NEW YORK -- No one in baseball may have been happier than Rays second baseman Richie Palacios when the Knicks won the NBA Finals in June.
The Brooklyn native grew up a Knicks fan and understood what the championship meant to a city that had waited 53 years for it.
Palacios tried to plan a quick trip home for the Knicks’ championship parade, but the baseball schedule made it impossible.
Four months later, he is chasing a parade of his own -- one that would come with the first World Series championship in Rays' history.
Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead over the Yankees in the ALDS with Monday’s 5-2 win, putting the Rays one victory away from advancing to the ALCS as the series shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday.
“He's from New York. He's highly motivated. I know he's got a massive fan base that follows him, and I know [they] will be in Yankee Stadium. He's excited to play there," manager Kevin Cash said. “The Knicks won the NBA Finals and … that might have been the worst he played during the Finals because he was watching Knicks games. Kidding.
“He’s very tied to New York, and when he gets the opportunity to play against the Yankees either here or going to the Bronx, he gets pretty pumped.”
Palacios has made a habit of hurting the team he grew up watching, batting .328/.403/.484 in 23 career games against the Yankees, including the postseason.
“I just enjoy going out there and having fun,” said Palacios, who also doubled off Gerrit Cole in Game 1. “Yeah, I grew up in New York, so I grew up watching that team. I guess the minute I got drafted, I knew I always wanted to perform against every team, but [it’s] exciting to be able to do it against New York.”
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth on Monday, Palacios worked an eight-pitch at-bat before connecting for a two-run single to cap a four-run inning and give the Rays a 5-1 lead.
“That at-bat and the hit was probably the biggest hit in the game for us,” Cash said after the game. “We're seeing a healthy player. We've seen Richie in the past before his knee injuries, where he could really help us on both sides of the ball. There's a lot of versatility there with outfield, infield.
“Really stayed in the infield throughout the course of this season. But he seems as much as anybody in our lineup to really rise to the occasion when we need him to come through. He's come through so many times for us.”
Those moments have become increasingly common since the Trade Deadline.
In late July and early August, second base appeared to be one of the Rays’ most obvious opportunities for an upgrade. Through the All-Star Game, the Rays' .653 OPS at second base was 24th in baseball. That's part of the reason why Luis Arraez was identified as an obvious potential fit before the Deadline.
It made sense. Arraez is one of baseball’s best contact hitters and would have fit naturally into a Rays lineup that already had the lowest strikeout rate in the Majors. But the Rays ultimately didn’t make that move and Palacios began providing the production they were looking for.
Since Aug. 3 through the end of the regular season, Palacios posted an .808 OPS, up from a .649 OPS before that. He has also provided steadier defense at second base, committing six errors before the Trade Deadline and just one afterward.
It has been part of a larger turnaround for Palacios after injuries had previously kept the Rays from seeing everything he could provide.
“He’s been tremendous for us,” Cash said. “When Ben [Williamson] went down [with a right hamstring strain on Aug. 7] … [we] knew we were going to lean on Richie, and Richie certainly answered the bell.
“Defensively, I don’t think we could have asked much more. I don’t think it would have been fair to anticipate that this was coming, given the injuries that he’s dealt with. But he’s fully healthy. The amount of range and ground coverage that he showed all season long, it’s a pretty talented up-the-middle combination between him and Taylor [Walls].”
That resurgence has helped bring Palacios back to a place he knows well.
He grew up attending Yankees games and remembers going to a couple of postseason games at Yankee Stadium while he was in the Minor Leagues. Now he’ll return to the Bronx with a chance to help end the Yankees’ season.
“Those are the environments you dream of playing,” Palacios said.