Mother’s Day is a special holiday in Major League Baseball, as players, coaches and umpires all throughout the league wear pink gear that ends up being auctioned off to support breast cancer.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are at home on Mother’s Day this season, with the Sunday matchup marking the finale of a four-game series with the Cincinnati Reds. Los Angeles needs a win to avoid being swept in what’s been a disappointing stretch.
Additionally, it would be a nice Mother’s Day gift for those in attendance or watching at home. But there’s also a personal request that’s been made by Maritza Valdes, the mother of Yasiel Puig.
She’s asked her son to hit a home run on Sunday, which Puig said he will strive to deliver, per
Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports:
She was on the telephone this week, four days from another Mother’s Day, remembering about the elephants, how holidays still bring elephants, and how lovely they are, how they never fail to make her smile, except for this Sunday she preferred something different.
“Un jonrón,” Maritza said.
A home run.
“Ah, yes, she told me yesterday,” her son, Yasiel Puig, said. “I am going to do my best.”
Puig hitting a home run would be a great present for all fans on Mother’s Day as he has yet to go deep in 2018. Puig has gotten off to a slow start to the season, going homer-less with only seven RBI in 28 games.
The season has not just been disappointing for Puig, but for the entire Dodgers team as well. They had World Series aspirations after falling one game short of the ultimate prize a season ago.
But injuries to key players as well as players like Puig underperforming has the Dodgers in fourth place in the National League West, so they will look to begin turning that around in front of all the mothers celebrating their day at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
