New York: Aroldis Chapman threw the heater Friday night. Mike Brossman hit the deciding home run and the Rays advanced to the ALCS. The Yankees for the 11th straight year did not advance to the World Series.
Last year, Chapman threw the fastball. Jose Altuve hit the walk-off home run and the Yankees were denied their opportunity. All the opinions Saturday as to why the Yankees once again failed to play on and some with clarity.
But it is easy to understand why the Yankees are not headed to the ALCS and denied another championship. The Yankees continue to spend money and lots of it. Geritt Cole with the richest contract granted to a pitcher.
And there is Chapman as a top paid closer in the game.
They failed, so did the Yankees overall as a team.. And this brings more to the meaning that spend all the money and that does not guarantee a trip to the World Series. So the Yankees will watch again as baseball continues in late October for the Braves, Dodgers, Rays, and Astros.
And yes, spend all the money and not advance to the ALCS. Spend all the money and count on that pitcher to bring home the trophy. The Yankees, during this unusual 2020 season, as is always the situation, are not a success unless they win it all.
And two of their best, Cole and Chapman, failed to make this season a success. You can also pinpoint Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez. Gio Ursehla and all the others that went cold at the plate again in Game 5. The lone run was the long ball from Aaron Judge.
But in the end, during this pandemic baseball season, the Yankees were a team of streaks. And they depended on Cole, who basically did his job on short rest They depended on Chapman, once again who did not do the job.
However you look at it, the Yankees will have an entire Winter or more to go over this and who knows where this global pandemic will stand come February, March, or April. Who knows when the 2021 season will begin and if it will return to normalcy as we all wish.
But we do know this, the Yankees failed again with one of the top two payrolls in the game along with the Dodgers.
So, what went wrong? The Rays are a better team with one of the lowest of salary structures among 29 other teams. They don’t have the high profiled players, Yet, the Rays hit in key situations. They pitch with an outstanding rotation, have a deep bullpen, and depth.
Overall, put that all together and the Rays have that opportunity to be the last team standing in a few weeks. The Yankees, well, they can only wonder what went wrong. They are as perplexed as their loyal fan base.
Blame the manager Aaron Boone? Or was it Aroldis Chapman, the closer and put in position to get seven outs? Instead, Chapman is the first pitcher in MLB history to allow a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later in consecutive postseason games with a team that was facing elimination.
Or was this another situation of analytics that the Yankees and baseball have become heavily involved with making decisions? Boone, well, he is not going to be outspoken about how the game has changed.
The manager, and after all of this has no control. The manager is no longer making the decisions. The analytical geniuses, hired by teams, are putting numbers in a computer and make decisions about the lineup, a bullpen situation.
So, Chapman was put in that task.Yes, that was a good at bat before Brosseau got hold of a Chapman heater as was the Altuve at bat last October. The game has changed and Aroldis Chapman may not be the dominant pitcher that once was out of the bullpen.
The scouts and insiders are experts of this great game. Listen to them. They say, the Rays have the top advanced scouts in the game and similar to other teams go with analytics. But the Yankees are more dependent on analytics and numbers.
And according to a longtime insider, a veteran scout of four teams, analytics has hurt Aroldis Chapman. It has also hurt his command and location. Also, that rhythm is so important for a closer who is not accustomed to sitting on the bench in between innings and asked to go on the mound again for another inning.
“Analytics causing pitchers to shake off a pitch,” the insider said. “ Fans don’t realize how much it’s out of control of the manager and the players. Guys never played the game are dictating . Managers are just becoming cheerleaders in the clubhouse. Fans have fallen for the home runs, strikeout, walk. “
But, Friday night, Chapman did not get the strikeout. Three home runs were the story of Game 5. The runs were difficult to get in a classic postseason baseball game.
Yes, it is analytics. And it is also the Yankees and once again spending all of their money that became a failure in October.
Rich Mancuso: Twitter@Ring786 Facecbook.com/Rich Mancuso
Julio Pabon
October 12, 2020 at 4:24 pm
You raised two good points. Money does not buy championships, something the Yankee culture does not understand. The fact that managers are now being second guessed and told how to manage is never going to replace human experience and intuition.