First pitch, slider down and in. Ball one.

Juan Soto, bent at the knees, now straightened up, never taking his eyes off pitcher Hunter Gaddis. There was some symbolism in the confrontation that was just beginning Saturday night in Cleveland. If you’re romantic, or poetic when it comes to baseball and not affected by dislike for a particular team, you might’ve been pulled into it.

Game 5 of the ALCS, the New York Yankees need a win to reach the World Series. Two on, two out, tie game, top of the 10th.

Second pitch, strike at the knees. One and one. Soto grimaced; looked a bit low.

The Yankees, after missing the playoffs in 2023, acquired Soto last Dec. 6, sending San Diego a cache of young talent including starting pitcher Michael King, who has the makings of the star. This they did knowing they might only have Soto for the 2024 season, and to keep him beyond that will require a mega-contract, something the Yankees already have too many of.

A year and a half earlier, when Soto was traded from the Nationals to the Padres, the Yankees deemed such a price too high. It might have meant a championship in 2022 if they had gone for it. Now, after missing the playoffs altogether, they were desperate enough to do it.

This was a set of circumstances fraught with hazard, a New York team, the marquee New York team, looking for a savior, especially with a home-grown hero in residence, Aaron Judge.

“There’s this big electric fence surrounding the City of New York,” Reggie Jackson once wrote. “and they want it to be tough for you to get over that fence. When someone who is good in a particular field and says he’s moving to New York, New Yorkers say, ‘Great choice. Great decision. Take your best shot.’ But as soon as you walk away, they grin, shake their heads and say, ‘he’s got no idea what it’s going to be like trying to make it here.'”

Pitch three. In the strike zone, hard swing, fouled off. Soto shakes his head. That was a pitch he could’ve hit.

Reggie, already a superstar, came to the Yankees as a free agent in 1977. The year ended in ultimate triumph, three homers in Game 6 of the World Series, but it was painful getting there, with legendary battles involving teammates, his manager Billy Martin, owner George Steinbrenner. Books and miniseries, “The Bronx is Burning” have been done about it.

Dave Winfield came with a huge contract in 1981. He had a decent first year, but it ended with a 1 for 22 in the World Series and he did not live that down until he left the Yankees, especially after Steinbrenner dubbed him “Mr. May.”

Others who have followed had to endure hard first years, often drawing boos with the first sign of failure. First years with the Yankees, historically, have been hard, even on future Hall of Famers.

Pitch four: Slider down and in. Good pitcher’s pitch, but Soto fouls it off.

Jason Giambi signed a landmark deal with the Yankees in 2002, but was engulfed in the steroids scandal, often injured. His defense at first base, not an issue in Oakland, became one with the Yankees. Alex Rodriguez arrived in 2004, and despite monster offensive numbers, he wore the “can’t-hit-in-the-clutch” label, and his first, second, third and fourth postseasons ended in disasters. He got his ring in 2009, the last time the Yankees won.

When these kind of players come to New York, whatever their abilities, the focus is likely to be on the one thing they don’t do well. Bobby Bonds, in 1975, was known for his 30-homer, 30-steal seasons, and he had one with the Yankees, but his high strikeout total came into focus and he was traded after one season. Curtis Granderson hit 105 home runs in his first three seasons with the Yankees, but always there was focus on his struggles against lefthanded pitchers. Giancarlo Stanton hits in October, but fans are frustrated by his frequent injuries.

It’s like that in New York. What would be Juan Soto’s “but”?

Soto nods before Gaddis delivers pitch five. High change-up, fouled off.

So expectations were enormous for Soto and Judge when the season began. Judge started off slowly, but he had built up equity with New York fans. Soto needed a fast start. Not known for defense, he threw out a runner to help the Yankees beat their long-time nemesis, the Astros, on Opening Day. He went 9 for 17 with a homer as the Yankees took four in a row. He was off and running, not a boo bird to be heard.

By June 14, the Yankees were 50-22 and Soto was hitting .319 with 17 homers. With past superstars, the cry was often, “why did they give him all that money?” Now, with Soto, the cry was “pay the man.” Maybe this was the secret weapon all along. All those others came to New York with big contracts to which they had to live up. Juan Soto was playing for his four- or five-hundred million now. He was as laser-focused all season as he was Saturday night, still staring down Hunter Gaddis, still waiting for that fastball.

Pitch six: “Back-door” Slider down and away, fouled off. “How do you pitch to a guy who’s got no holes?” Ron Darling asks on the telecast.

Judge, with his new partner in the lineup, took off in May and overtook Soto in any competition for the MVP award. With 58 home runs, 144 RBI, Judge will be the AL MVP. Soto finished with a .288 average, 41 homers, 109 RBI, and led the league with 124 runs scored, which would be MVP material most seasons.

The Yankees won the AL East, and beat Kansas City in the Division Series. Soto’s hitting .333 in the postseason so far, with three homers. He’s still only 25, but this is not the Dominican-born Soto’s first October Rodeo. He helped Washington take it all in 2019, hitting .333 in the World Series as a 20-year-old.

Pitch No. 7. High fastball. Bingo.

Soto hits it to centerfield, high and drifting away into the night. Radio icon John Sterling, who decided over the winter that Soto should get the George Gershwin treatment, was ready to sing “S’Wonderful, S’Marvelous” as the ball landed in the bleachers, centerfielder Lane Thomas resigned to watch helplessly. Soto turned to the dugout to gesture to his teammates, then rounded the bases. The Yankees now led 5-2, three outs later they were in the World Series.

“Incredible,” manager Aaron Boone, who hit an ALCS-clinching homer for the Yankees in 2003, told reporters in Cleveland, “and just such an ability to seize the moment. Every big moment that (Soto) finds himself in the middle, he delivered over and over and over again for us. Obviously he put up an amazing season statistically speaking, but in the biggest moments, that’s what he does, and it shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

This is not the end. Next, the Yankees will face the Dodgers in the World Series, the chance for Soto to write a final chapter. Will the Yankees ante up a huge contract, more than the $360 million they committed to keep Judge in 2022? History says they will do what it takes.

But whatever happens next, Soto has prevailed, succeeded where so many others failed. His epic at-bat took 2:53, from Gaddis starting his windup for the first pitch to the moment the ball landed in the bleachers, two minutes, 53 seconds that cannot be taken away from Juan Soto. New York is his right now. October is his.

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