INDIANAPOLIS — Right after the WNBA All-Star Game, Indiana Fever top-overall pick Caitlin Clark finally got to rest. The Fever didn’t hold practices in that first week into the break and Clark and some teammates vacationed to Mexico. Despite the re-introduction of practices in the last few weeks, Clark used more of the WNBA Olympic Break to tour Yankee Stadium last Saturday.
Supposedly, the tour was a spur of the moment, Clark alluded to in Tuesday's Fever practice.
“I was honestly just in New York for something I had to do,” Clark said, grinning. “Never been to a Yankees game before, so I was like, ‘why not?’ Saw they were at home. [Yankees] were kind enough to let me tour around the facility, the clubhouse, see everything, meet all the players.”
Clark and boyfriend Connor McCaffery were seen on the field and on the steps of the dugout pregame, via the New York Post. The Yankees posted clips on X of Clark signing an autograph for one of the younger fans, and posing for photos beside McCaffery, Aaron Judge, and Anthony Rizzo beneath the stadium. She also shook hands with Juan Soto and manager Aaron Boone.
Boone said postgame of Saturday’s doubleheader split with the Texas Rangers that it was really cool to meet Clark, and it was amusing for the manager to see many of his players starstruck.
“It’s kind of funny, I don’t know why they would be starstruck with me but,” Clark joked. “Aaron Judge is huge, but all of them –– they won 7-0 [sic]. And the first game was a doubleheader. I didn’t stay for the second game, but it was a good day for baseball. It was a lot of fun.”
The Yankees lost the nightcap and are 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Fever are identical.
Caitlin Clark, Fever, gearing up for WNBA second half
But with that comparison above, the Fever did last play in mid-July.
Right as they gained key momentum, they let it slip with losses to the Washington Mystics and the Dallas Wings. Clark said it was frustrating, and that they’ve left two winnable games on the table. Yet the Fever still sit in playoff position in seventh, three games above being knocked out.
They haven’t contended for the playoffs since 2016. (That’s quite unlike the Yankees).
The Fever have an assumed advantage of 11 players on the 12-player roster being stateside during the break. Only Kristy Wallace was absent, who recently medaled with Australia. Only teams in the top half of the table sent players to Paris — some multiple — and it’ll be interesting to see how they transition back. Only 2½ games separate the top spot in the WNBA standings.
But this is unquestionable: barring injury, the rookie single-season assist record will safely be in Clark’s hands. She only needs 13 more. There are 14 more games to go in the regular season. Fever teammate Aliyah Boston said Tuesday that they’ve conducted 10-minute scrimmages in practices and players are waiting, and perhaps itching for gametime. So mentally, they’re ready.
They resume play Friday night at home versus the Olympian-full Phoenix Mercury.
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