After A Trade To The Dodgers, Joey Hopes For A World Series Reunion With The Yankees

Joey Gallo, now playing for the Dodgers in his native California, has yet to get the Hollywood ending in his return to New York for the Dodgers’ three-game series against the Mets. After going 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts and a Homer Simpson-esque RBI via a bases-loaded hit by pitch in the Dodgers’ 4-3 win over the Mets Tuesday night, Gallo went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in the visitors’ 3-2 loss Wednesday.

Maybe the Hollywood ending arrives via a Dodgers-Yankees World Series in late October, when Gallo becomes the least likely can’t-lose Fall Classic participant of all-time.

“Well, it’d be nice,” Gallo said with a smile in the Dodgers’ locker room late Tuesday night. “I get a ring either way.”

Gallo, who earned plenty of praise for his candidness and accessibility during a difficult 12-month period with the Yankees, spent about six minutes Tuesday night talking about the transition back to an atmosphere a little closer to the one he grew accustomed to with the Rangers, with whom he spent the first nine years of his professional career.

Gallo, a renowned three true outcomes guy from the moment he arrived in the majors, hit .211 with 145 homers, 317 RBIs, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 797/324 and an OPS of .833 for the Rangers, for whom he had three seasons in which he hit at least 38 homers. But he hit just .159 with 25 homers, 46 RBIs, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 194/77 and an OPS of .660 in 501 plate appearances with the Yankees following his acquisition on July 31, 2021.

“I didn’t see him, to be quite honest, play a lot in New York,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday afternoon. “I just knew he had a tough go of it from what I gather.”

Gallo’s time with the Dodgers has been somewhere in the middle. He’s hitting .184 with three homers, eight RBIs, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 23/8 and an OPS of .771 in 49 at-bats.

“And this is (from) talking to him, he’s much more relaxed and I think he’s playing really well for us,” Roberts said Tuesday afternoon. “Every time up to bat, I feel confident he’s going to hit the ball hard somewhere.”

There’s also less attention on someone putting up such numbers as an afterthought trade deadline acquisition and for the most successful organization in baseball over the last 10 years — but also in a market where Clay Bellinger has gone from MVP to ninth-place hitter with nary a peep.

“Sometimes a change of scenery helps,” Gallo said. “There’s nothing that the Yankees did wrong. I just didn’t play well there. I wish I played better, but my time was up there. It’s been a nice transition.”

Gallo said he remained in touch with most of his ex-teammate in New York — including Aaron Judge, to whom he sent a congratulatory text after Judge hit his 50th homer Monday night. As for the possibility he gets to see them in an east coast-west coast World Series in a couple months?

“Just from a personal standpoint, I hope for the best for them as well,” Gallo said. “I don’t have any hard feelings. It’d be exciting, obviously, to play them. I think there’s a good chance of that, because they’re a great team. I think we have a great team too. So we’ll see how it plays out.”