NEW YORK (AP) — Ben Rice's route to stardom with the New York Yankees was anything but routine, even though he is a creature of habit.
A rare Ivy League graduate playing big league baseball, the baby-faced 27-year-old has filled the offensive void created by Aaron Judge's injury-filled season. Rice had a night to remember in the AL Wild Card Series opener, hitting a grand slam with six RBIs and four hits in a 9-0 rout of the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.
He tied the Yankees RBIs record for a postseason game, matching Bobby Richardson, Bernie Williams, Hideki Matsui and Robinson Canó.
“Ben is Mr. Consistency, on top of being a Ivy League graduate," teammate Spencer Jones said. “He’s incredibly smart. He doesn’t take himself too seriously.”
A 12th-round pick in the 2021 amateur draft from Dartmouth, Rice played just 30 college games over three years due to the coronavirus pandemic. He grew up in Cohasset, Massachusetts, less than an hour’s drive south of Fenway Park.
He was a Yankees fan surrounded by Red Sox Nation, idolizing New York captain Derek Jeter.
“I was always playing with the Yankees on MLB 2K6 when I was a little guy. What a team to root for. They’re always so good. Pretty cool," he said.
Rice thought back to his youth at Joseph Osgood Elementary School.
“Definitely wearing the Yankees jersey to the first-grade picture day probably got some weird looks," he said.
Rice was a 10-year-old in Massachusetts when he watched the Yankees win their last title in 2009.
“It’s probably a little hazy for me,” he said. “I was pretty young.”
Rice is likely to get MVP votes after leading the Yankees with 41 homers, 97 RBIs and 105 runs while hitting .264 in his second full big league season.
“Count on one hand, one of the best hitters in the league,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
New York struggled when Judge was out with a toe injury in 2023 and had difficulty generating offense this year when their captain missed most of the season with a broken rib. Rice became the key cog, living up to the “Benny Barrels” nickname given to him by Yankees broadcaster David Cone.
Rice was hitting .306 through May, then batted .196 in June. An 18-for-58 (.119) slide after the All-Star break dropped his season average to .248 on Aug. 22 but he hit .327 (37 for 113) over the remainder.
“For as great a year as he had, he had a stretch there for a month where it was a grind and a struggle,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But he kind of got himself out of it. Really finished the last month with a flurry, and obviously carried it in here the first game of the postseason.”
When Rice debuted with the Yankees two years ago, he joined Yankees coach Brad Ausmus, Kyle Hendricks and Jim Beattie as Dartmouth graduates in the major leagues. Rice's degree is in psychology.
“He's a Dartmouth grad — he's an intelligent guy,” Ausmus said when Rice first made it to the big leagues.
Before heading to Yankee Stadium, Rice makes sure to start every day with scrambled eggs and toast.
“Same breakfast every day. Same routine in the cage every day. The whole timeline of the day is the same. Really just everything," he said. “Of course, you’ve got different pitchers on the mound, there’s different ways you prepare, but I think the consistency just leaves you asking yourself fewer questions throughout the day because you just go out there, OK, this is what I do, and this is how I’m going to go about my business and just be ready for whenever the game starts.”
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New York Yankees' Ben Rice runs the bases after hitting a grand slam off Boston Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello during the eighth inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Wild Card Series, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees' Ben Rice watches his ball while hitting a grand slam off Boston Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello during the eighth inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Wild Card Series, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees' Ben Rice, right, reacts next to first base coach Dan Fiorito, after collecting an RBI on a bases loaded single against the Boston Red Sox during the seventh inning in Game 1 of baseball's American League Wild Card Series, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military announced Wednesday that it completed the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group. The last U.S. troops left an air base in northern Iraq under a deal between Baghdad and Washington.
The withdrawal, agreed on two years ago, comes against the backdrop of the ongoing war between the United States and Iran that has also sometimes spilled over into Iraq, with Iran-backed militias firing on U.S. troops and the U.S. striking the groups' strongholds.
In recent years, Washington has appeared to seek to shift its focus from the Middle East toward Asia, but that shift has been inconsistent, with the Pentagon alternating between reducing its Mideast presence and then finding itself engaging in new conflicts — including the ongoing war in Iran.
Baghdad touted the end of the U.S. mission as a sign of the country's increasing strength and sovereignty.
The withdrawal was also celebrated by Iran-backed groups but raised concerns among some other Iraqis, particularly in the Kurdish region, where many fear a resurgence of the Islamic State group as well as more attacks by Iran-linked groups, possibly emboldened by the departure of U.S. forces.
Meanwhile, questions loom around the future of the Iraqi militias, which the Baghdad government has sought to disarm, with little success so far.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that U.S. troops and equipment had completed an “orderly departure” from the air base in Irbil, in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
“This milestone reflects the success of a 12-year campaign that defeated ISIS as an organized military threat in Iraq and across the region,” he said. “It also marks a transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more normal bilateral security relationship.”
He added that the U.S. military “will continue to provide targeted training and intelligence support to our Iraqi partners.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi presided over the handover ceremony and described the U.S. withdrawal as the beginning of a “new phase, one defined by Iraq’s sovereignty, the strength of its institutions, the readiness of its forces, the unity of its decision-making, and balanced partnerships with its friends.”
He said Iraqi security forces will continue the fight against IS and the government will ensure that non-state groups no longer hold weapons.
U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. They departed in 2011, but three years later, Iraqi authorities invited a smaller U.S.-led mission to fight the Islamic State group, which had rampaged across Iraq, seizing large swaths of territory.
With the extremist group reduced to scattered sleeper cells, Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind the mission down.
U.S. troops pulled out of bases in most areas of Iraq last year but maintained a small presence of hundreds of troops in the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. Bases there have regularly come under attack since the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran on Feb. 28. Iran-backed Iraqi militias also have coordinated with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia.
The Iraqi government initially linked the Sept. 30 deadline for U.S. withdrawal to the disarmament of non-state armed groups by that date.
While a handful of less-influential militias have agreed to turn over their weapons, powerful groups close to Iran rejected the prospect or set conditions for disarming that the government would be unlikely to meet.
Al-Zaidi has since walked back the deadline. He told The New York Times earlier this month that the deadline for militia disarmament has been pushed to June 2027.
The effects of the U.S. withdrawal may not be immediately visible, particularly since the U.S. military presence had already been scaled down. But officials in Iraq's Kurdish region have expressed anxiety about the departure and particularly about the removal of U.S. air defense systems.
The Kurdish regional government's Peshmerga Ministry said the Kurdish region had faced more than 1,000 drone and ballistic-missile attacks during the recent U.S.-Iran conflict.
“The departure of the United States from the Kurdistan Region under these complex regional circumstances, without the provision of a defense system, is a matter of concern,” the statement said.
Iran-allied groups in Iraq, meanwhile, have celebrated the U.S. withdrawal.
“The expulsion of the occupation forces, defeated, from the land of Iraq is the beginning of full sovereignty,” Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a security official with the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, said in a statement.
He added a warning to al-Zaidi and his government not to carry out American plans, threatening that “any government that does not work for the benefit of the people will be overthrown by all means.”
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, said in a statement that negotiations with the government over the regulation of weapons have not resulted in an agreement and that it was “not bound by any timeline or agreement” announced by the government or political entity. The group said it is open to “any dialogue that guarantees Iraq’s sovereignty and dignity.”
Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Iraqi security officers flash victory signs as they ride on vehicles decorated with national flags and ribbons during a convoy celebrating the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi police vehicles decorated with national flags and ribbons drive in a convoy as officers flash victory signs while celebrating the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi police officers stand beside security vehicles decorated with national flags and ribbons during a convoy celebrating the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi security vehicles decorated with national flags and ribbons drive in a convoy past a billboard depicting slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and slain Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis seated with religious figures around a fire, as they celebrate the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi security officers ride atop vehicles during a convoy celebrating the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi security officers flash victory signs while riding in vehicles decorated with national flags during a convoy celebrating the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi security officers flash victory signs as they ride on vehicles decorated with national flags and ribbons during a convoy celebrating the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A demonstrator holds a portrait of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, during a protest against the suspension of flights between Iraq and Iran outside Najaf International Airport in Najaf, Iraq, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)
