Ben Rice has Yankees on brink of ALDS with MVP-type performance in Game 1 win

And in the Yankees' Game 1 win against the Red Sox on Tuesday night -- as on so many nights during the regular season -- Ben Rice was the player heaving them over a finish line that was not immediately clear they would cross without him. He went 4-for-5 with two home runs, one of which gave the Yankees a second run when the game was close early, the second of which was a grand slam that allowed them to preserve key arms late. He drove in six of the Yankees' nine runs while becoming the first Yankee to homer twice in a playoff game in half a decade's worth of Octobers. He left no doubt.

"Count on one hand," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "One of the best hitters in the league."

Rice's regular season will earn him plenty of down-ballot MVP votes, though he almost certainly will not beat out Yordan Alvarez 's near-Triple Crown season to win it. But if the award were given for sheer offensive productivity, his numbers alone would solidify him as a top-five finish.