How Meredith Marakovits and YES Network crew prepare for champagne celebrations in the Yankees' clubhouse

The Yankees already have held one clubhouse champagne celebration this season. It took place after they clinched a playoff berth on Sept. 14 in Minnesota.

If all goes well, the Yankees will have four more clubhouse celebrations — after the American League Wild Card Series, the American League Division Series, the American League Championship Series and the World Series.

That’s a lot of bubbly (and a good amount of beer, too).

For longtime clubhouse reporter Meredith Marakovits and the rest of the YES Network crew, trying to do an extended postgame show during a raucous champagne celebration is not an easy task.

But it’s one they are happy to do even though it’s impossible to avoid getting some (or a lot) of champagne or beer on their clothes and in their hair while doing the job of bringing the celebration to Yankees fans.

“I know I'm going to get splashed with some secondary beer and champagne,” Marakovits told Newsday in a telephone interview. “But honestly, it's part of the fun because you travel an entire season. It's nice to see them be able to kind of let loose and enjoy the moment after what is a very long season.”

Marakovits, who has been YES’ Yankees clubhouse reporter since 2012, estimates she did about 40 minutes of interviews during the celebration in Minnesota. Because it wasn’t her first rodeo, she came prepared.

“I always try to make sure I have rain boots,” she said. “That's a big one and some type of a raincoat or maybe a poncho. But realistically, I know that I'm going to be in there for a very long time and it is going to be nearly impossible — especially as they advance and the rounds get more and more important when you get closer to the World Series — to stay dry in that clubhouse situation. So I kind of go in with the mentality that I am going to come out looking like a different person.”

In those situations, YES also has a producer and two camera operators with Marakovits in the clubhouse, trying to coordinate and video the interviews while keeping themselves — and perhaps most vitally to the broadcast, their expensive equipment — as dry as possible.

“We have ponchos for all of our staff,” said Port Washington native Blayke Scheer, YES’ director of creative content, who works as a field producer during the celebrations. “All of our gear is wrapped up so nothing gets too much champagne and stops working, because that's a big concern.”

When you watch a champagne celebration, many times you’ll see the players wearing goggles. Not so for Marakovits.

“She always debates it,” Scheer said. “ 'Am I wearing goggles?' We've had this conversation that we're going to get her goggles. But it feels like it wouldn't work for her. We laugh all the time. I send her goggle options every year and we never actually do it just because she's great in those moments. But I typically have a bag of what I call survival things.”

You can prepare for a clubhouse champagne celebration, but what about the other potentially wet and sticky situations a live TV reporter faces? We’re talking about the on-field Gatorade bath given during the postgame interview to a player responsible for a walk-off victory. There’s no way to dodge that one.

Or is there?

“Our producer and director in the truck, sometimes they're able to tell her in her ear, ‘Hey, they're coming,’ ” Scheer said. “And she also sees it. She sees what's surrounding her while she's doing the interview, so she's great at multitasking that. She's very good. As a former athlete, we joke all the time that she's able to do that.”

Said Marakovits, who played volleyball on scholarship for La Salle: “There's one I remember. It was a while ago. I got absolutely drenched. Nobody told me it was coming. I didn't see it coming. It might have been one of those where they decided to go from two different angles. Sometimes it's just going to happen, right? Part of the gig. Occupational hazard, as I like to say.”

Who gets the dry cleaning bill?

“I used to joke with Brett Gardner all the time, 'You owe me,’ ” Marakovits said. “YES would pay for it in the event that I actually submitted an expense report. But I will tell you, my dry cleaner here is a huge Yankees fan, so he actually kind of gets excited, I think, when I bring him the coat that's been drenched in Minnesota or whatever.”

As we said, the Yankees hope to have four more clubhouse celebrations before the postseason is over. They’re not the only ones hoping for that. It's good for Yankees fans and it's good TV for YES.

“You always look forward to those moments because it's just pure fun and you never know what's happening,” said Scheer, a 20-year YES veteran who has a bag in her office filled with corks from Yankees celebrations over the years. “It's the best of live TV in the best way because everyone's so happy.”