Which Yankees best represent the individual Infinity Stones?

On May 2, 2008, almost 10 years ago to the day, Robert Downey Jr. declared that he was Iron Man. At the time, no one imagined that would become an iconic moment in cinematic history. The success of that film launched what is known today as the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the MCU. Since Iron Man, 17 other movies have been entered into the MCU, all of which lead up to today. Tonight, Avengers: Infinity War is released.

I’ve spent the last week or so working my way through re-watching the MCU movies. I didn’t get a chance to get through them all, but I distinguished the “necessary” ones and worked my way through those. Throughout the movies, the looming threat of the Infinity War has always been present. From the first Avengers introducing us to Thanos, to the Infinity Stones making their way throughout the movies.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor goes to the Well of Seeing. The Well is a hidden pool that grants visions. In his vision, Thor sees that the scepter they had been chasing throughout this movie housed one of the Infinity Stones, the Mind Stone. He also saw other Infinity Stones, some that he had previously encountered, all culminating in a fist of some sort. Once the Avengers come together to defeat Ultron, Thor sets out on his own journey to find out what’s going on with these Stones.

“The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. It’s not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. And once all these pieces are in positions...”

So that begs the question: what exactly are the Infinity Stones? The Infinity Stones, also known as Infinity Gems or Soul Gems (but not in the MCU), are six extremely powerful stones that each have unique powers. In the trailer for Infinity War, we get a look at Thanos wearing what is known as the Infinity Gauntlet. The Infinity Gauntlet is an item that can hold all six Infinity Stones together and give the wearer pretty much unlimited power. That’s the “fist” that we see in Thor’s vision in Age of Ultron.

Thanos wants to collect all of the Infinity Stones and essentially rule the Universe. It’s on the Avengers to stop him. We’ll see how they fare. Before we get to the Infinity War, I thought it’d be fun to take a deeper look at the individual Infinity Stones and their powers and see which Yankees best represent them.

Space Stone

The Tesseract, first seen in Captain America: The First Avenger, houses what is known as the Space Stone. The Space Stone has the ability to allow its user to manipulate space. Its powers include the ability for the user to teleport themselves and others to any place they can imagine, increase their speed, and alter the distance between objects contrary to the laws of physics. In other words, Aaron Judge.

Aaron Judge has launched 63 home runs in his career, and more often than not we refer to them as moon shots. Whether it was just in batting practice or during actual games, Judge’s home runs tend to defy the laws of physics and see their way to the Moon. For being such a power threat, Judge isn’t the typical pull hitter that many would expect. He has the ability to hit baseballs to all parts of the field at will.

Reality Stone

In Thor: The Dark World we are introduced to the Aether. A red liquid that attaches itself to a host and allows that host to convert matter to dark matter. From Thor’s vision, we learn that the Aether can solidify itself to become what is known as the Reality Stone. The Reality Stone allows its user to alter reality or break the laws of logic. Remember when the Yankees took Starlin Castro and others and turned that into Giancarlo Stanton?

As our former manager Tanya Bondurant said, Giancarlo Stanton becoming a Yankee was a dream come true. “Having Stanton be a Yankee right now was the Christmas present I didn’t know I was allowed to ask for and got anyway.” When the trade for Stanton was announced, it was essentially a bad trade proposal that somehow happened in real life. Stanton best represents the manipulation of reality to form a dream lineup for our beloved New York Yankees.

Power Stone

No, I’m not taking about the fantastic SEGA Dreamcast video game here. In Guardians of the Galaxy, fans of the MCU are introduced to the Orb. Later in the movie, we learn that the Orb houses the Power Stone. The Power Stone does exactly what it sounds like. It increases the user’s strength and stamina to unlimited levels and can also support and boost the power of the other Stones. Or what I like to refer to as the Gary Sanchez of Infinity Stones.

Judge and Stanton were also in the running for the Power Stone, but it’s Sanchez who best represents it. We’ve all seen what the Kraken can do when he’s unleashed. Not just the sheer strength he displays with his bat, but his spot in the lineup is generally fifth where he offers the ultimate protection to those ahead of him. On the defensive, he’s armed with a canon that allows him to throw out baserunners at will and he calls a pretty good game to help support the pitchers as they work through the opposing lineup.

Mind Stone

Age of Ultron is where we first learn about the looming threat of the Infinity War and that some items actually house Infinity Stones, but it’s also where we are first introduced to the Mind Stone. In the first Avengers movie, we saw what Loki was able to do with his scepter, but we didn’t know that it was home to the Mind Stone. The Mind Stone allows the user to enhance their mental and psychic abilities and access the thoughts of others. Haven’t you seen how Luis Severino fool enough batters to know where this is going?

Luis Severino has certainly certified himself as the ace of the Yankees. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff going, he’s able to work through lineups and limit the damage for the most part. Just look at this past Sunday when Severino struggled with his command a bit and still managed to get through seven innings of just one-run ball. He’s clearly messing with the heads of opposing hitters and fooling them with his pitches.

Time Stone

In Doctor Strange, the Eye of Agamotto presents itself as Strange’s amulet that has the ability to manipulate probabilities and time. That’s because it’s home to the Time Stone, which allows users to see into the past and future, manipulate the speed of time, travel through time, change the past and the future, and trap people in unending loops of time. When it seemed like time had finally caught up with him, CC Sabathia was able to reinvent himself and slow down the effects of time to resurrect his career.

We give a lot of credit to his knee brace, but it’s also Sabathia’s willingness to learn how to improve as a pitcher and become craftier that’s helped him succeed so long after everyone thought he was done. At age 37, 38 before the end of the year, Sabathia shows no signs of slowing down or giving into the degenerative knee condition that many feared would force him to retire. Praise be.

Soul Stone

There are many theories out there as to where the Soul Stone is hidden, but it has not yet made an appearance in the MCU. I won’t go into the theories so as to not potentially spoil or ruin anything for anyone, but if anyone was curious just Google it. In the comics, the Soul Stone has the ability to control other souls, both living and dead. Remember the AL Wild Card game when a certain knight hit a game-tying three run home run to bring the Yankees back from the dead?

Sir Didi Gregorius is the heart and soul of the Yankees. His personality and character are a breath of fresh air after years of seeing the Yankees wage war against fun. His dugout celebrations, victory tweets, and ability to deliver in the clutch have helped him capture the hearts of not just his teammates, but Yankee fans everywhere.

With different Yankees representing different Infinity Stones, that has to make Aaron Boone Thanos, right?