Sports Illustrated is very excited about the 20s. It is also very excited about baseball in New York this upcoming decade.
In Sports Illustrated’s baseball preview, the cover graces “New York’s Finest” — Pete Alonso and Gleyber Torres.
The cover shows the two players smiling, with Torres pointing at Alonso and the Polar Bear smirking over his shoulder, looking at his fellow infielder.
Big Apple, big expectations.
(via @SINow) pic.twitter.com/xVpC1Q29pB
— MLB (@MLB) March 10, 2020
But the cover tells us “Why MLB’s next decade will roar.” Its feature athletes are two players who are already superstars extremely early in their careers, aged 25 and 23, and wearing No. 20 and 25, respectively.
Alonso was voted the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year after hitting a major league-leading 53 home runs, the most ever by a rookie in a single season. The 25-year old also drove in 120 runs, finished in seventh place in the National Leagues’ MVP voting, and won last year’s Home Run Derby in Cleveland. Alonso played in all but one game in 2019.
Torres put up career-bests in just about every offensive category in his second year in the majors. He blasted 38 home runs and drove in 90 runs. Torres additionally posted a .278/.337/.535 slash line in his age-22 season. He was the second runner-up in 2018’s American League Rookie of the Year voting. Torres also came in 17th place in last season’s AL MVP voting.
Barring any moves, Alonso will be in Queens through 2024. The same goes for Torres with the Yanks.
Baseball fans in New York should be excited for the future, and it’s all because of these two individuals.
