You know, in the superhero movies when the good guys finally get into the villain’s secret lair—expecting a one-v-one fight with him—only to be surprised by a reveal of a huge weapon? Like in The Batman when he catches The Riddler and then, surprise—The Riddler blows up a dam and floods Gotham—or surprise—the president is secretly the Red Hulk and he beats the brakes off Captain America.
Opposing teams prepare to stop Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger and then, surprise—this happens:
Trent Grisham GRAND SLAM 💪 pic.twitter.com/a70wPu1Khe
— MLB (@MLB) September 3, 2025
In the top of the 5th, with the Yankees up 2-0 and 3 men on base—Trent Grisham ruined Framber Valdez’s night with a grand slam.
New York would go on to win 7-1 and take Game 1 of a crucial series in Houston.
28-year-old Trent Grisham has snuck under the radar as he’s easily in the midst of the best season of his MLB career.
Let’s look at his production from this 2025 campaign (and where he ranks amongst his teammates):
- 121 games
- 103 hits (4th)
- 73 runs (3rd)
- 29 homers (2nd)
- 61 RBIs (5th)
- 201 total bases (3rd)
- .839 OPS (3rd)
- 131 OPS+ (3rd)
- 143 Rbat+ (2nd)
- 3.4 WAR (4th)
On any given night, Grisham is the best player not named Aaron Judge.
It’s safe to say, the Yankees won the Juan Soto trade with the San Diego Padres.
They got a year with Soto that ended in a World Series appearance—and now Grisham seamlessly replaced Soto—and the team is right back on track to do the same.
Trent has more home runs than Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.
His 136 wRC+ is better than Bobby Witt Jr and Fernando Tatis Jr.
Grisham is better than all the juniors.
Growing up, my favorite player was Hideki Matsui.
Whenever the Yanks needed a big hit, he was always at the plate—delivering in the most stress-inducing moments.
Trent Grisham is about to win the Yankees their first World Series since 2009 and no one can tell me otherwise.
While we’re here, let’s talk about some other takeaways from the Yankees win over the Astros on Tuesday night.
1. Framber Valdez is an asshole
So there was a bit of drama around that Grisham grand slam.
Before Framber Valdez threw that beach ball down the middle, his catcher, César Salazar—attempted to get Framber to step off the mound and take a second.
Valdez igrnoed Salazar—gave up a grand slam—and then immediately rocketed a fastball into Salazar’s chest out of frustration.
Framber Valdez did not step off the mound when César Salazar motioned for him to moments before Trent Grisham’s grand slam.
Framber Valdez and César Salazar then got crossed up two pitches after the grand slam.
🎥: Space City Home Network pic.twitter.com/GqUOdxm59k
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 3, 2025
Dickhead behavior by Valdez
. César Salazar is a 29-year-old lifetime minor leaguer—probably looking in the mirror every morning—wondering if he has a future as a Major League baseball player—and a veteran starting pitcher just tried to embarrass him—because that pitcher made a mistake.
Gotta give César Salazar all the credit in the world for swallowing his pride and just throwing the ball back to Framber without causing a problem.
Again, this may be Salazar’s final September to at least prove he could be a backup catcher.
He doesn’t need a DFA because Valdez is a loser.
2. The Houston Astros are beatable
For YEARS, the Yankees would get dogwalked by the Houston Astros in the playoffs.
From 2015-to-2022, the Yankees were eliminated from the postseason by the Astros 4 times.
It was almost a guarantee.
I mean, obviously, it helped that the Astros were cheating a few of those years—but regardless—New York could not get past Houston.
And now look at these pathetic worms.
Their “ace”, Framber Valdez, is a moody teenager—ready to pout and throw tantrums at the slightest mishap.
The back half of their batting order is minor league adjacent.
Their best hitter, Yordan Alvarez, is finally off the Injured List—but the season’s almost over.
My guy is going from wearing a cast on his hand to suddenly being thrown into high-leverage must-hit at-bats.
But most importantly, this 2025 season is the first time in this Astros Jost Altuve era where the team hasn’t had an extended winning streak.
They’ve had two 5-game streaks but that’s nothing compared to their salad days.
2017: 11 games (May 25th- June 5th)
2018: 12 games (June 6th- June 18th)
2019: 10 games twice (April 5th- April 16th)(May 8th- May 18th)
2021: 11 games (June 13th- June 24th)
2022: 11 games (May 2nd – May 13th)
2023: 8 games (May 14th- May 22nd)
2024: 8 games (August 5th- August 14th)
The 2025 Houston Astros wouldn’t hurt a fly.
3. Max Fried is the best defensive pitcher in baseball
HUGE double play from Max Fried…wow pic.twitter.com/4LG7kB3unk
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 3, 2025
Smooooth as shit.
Every time you watch a Yankees game, you can expect to see an abandonment of basic fundamentals.
Terrible base running decisions and guys taking the longest paths to fly balls.
Anytime a ball is hit in Anthony Volpe’s direction—it’s a guaranteed hit for that batter.
Volpe will juggle and trip over his own cleats.
The Yankees lost a game in the World Series because their defense collapsed.
Enter Max Fried—a 3-time Gold Glove-winning pitcher who makes the difficult plays look elementary.
Going into the year—dread filled the room following Gerrit Cole’s Tommy John surgery.
The Yankees ace was MIA.
But Max Fried has stepped up—dominated most of his starts—and every 5 days, this man is one of the best pitchers on the planet.
How dare you try to bunt on him?
Max Fried is like a cat pouncing on a laser pointer, except he catches the laser.
Trent Grisham and Max Fried vs. Everybody.
At 37 Years Old, Aroldis Chapman Decided To Become The Best Pitcher in the World
Thanks for reading.
Let me know if you think Trent Grisham will help the Yankees win a chip. Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.
