It isn’t lost on Jake Cousins how differently this season could have gone.
Now a valued reliever on the AL-best Yankees, Cousins spent spring training with the historically bad Chicago White Sox but didn’t make their Opening Day roster and was traded to the Bronx shortly afterward.
“My wife and I were actually talking about it,” Cousins said. “It was just a totally different scenario. If I would have looked back and saw the year and someone would have said this is how it plays out, I would have signed up right away. To be in New York, playing for the Yankees in October, is a dream for probably almost everyone in baseball.”
That dream became a reality on Saturday for Cousins, whom the Yankees activated from the injured list in time to include on their ALDS roster before Game 1 against the Kansas City Royals.
Cousins, 30, left his Sept. 19 appearance in Seattle with a pectoral strain, ending his regular season, but had expressed confidence he would be back for the Yankees’ first playoff game.
His ramp-up included facing live hitters Thursday, which he said his body responded to well. He feels prepared to pitch in back-to-back games if needed, which could happen as soon as Games 3 and 4.
“I think that was a big reason we wanted to throw live,” Cousins said. “Luckily, I didn’t take that much time off, so I can just be [a] full go. Luckily, with the scheduling in this first series, we’re playing three games in six days. We won’t really have to go back-to-back until the back half of the series, and at that point I’ll be built up even more to where I’ll be pretty normal.”
The Yankees traded for Cousins — a younger cousin of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins — in late March. The right-hander spent most of the season’s first three months at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre but, after returning to the majors in late June, emerged as a late-inning weapon in the Yankees’ bullpen.
Armed with a wipeout slider, Cousins pitched to a 2.37 ERA and 53 strikeouts over 38.0 innings this season, his fourth in the majors following three with the Milwaukee Brewers. He entered the ALDS with one career postseason appearance — a scoreless inning in 2021.
Cousins isn’t the only relied-upon Yankees reliever to start the year with the White Sox, whose 121 losses this season are the most in the modern era of baseball.
Tim Hill pitched to a 5.87 ERA over 23.0 innings with the White Sox, who released him in June. Hill recorded a 2.05 ERA over 44.0 innings after signing with the Yankees, emerging as their primary lefty out of the bullpen.
“It’s a blessing to be in the big leagues, regardless of where you are,” Cousins said.
“But yeah, the fact that both of us are in this bullpen and we play important roles, it’s a very cool scenario to get in a good situation and kind of just get to run.”
