Yankees Fall Again In October

Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports

BRONX, NY — “We didn’t do it,” the Yankees said about their failure to go further in the postseason after their 5-2 loss Wednesday evening in the Bronx as the Blue Jays advanced to the ALCS. They took the ALDS in four games as the Yankees were hoping to take this to a decisive Game 5 up in Toronto.

But the odds were against the Yankees, very few have overcome a 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five series. Then again, as it has been all season, the Yankees defied the odds and an Aaron Judge home run in Game 3 provided some hope. Except this time, it was similar, another team advanced and celebrated on their home turf.

It wasn’t the Yankees taking this to a decisive Game 5 Friday night up in Toronto at the Rogers Centre which became their “House of Horrors.” Instead, another disappointing conclusion to a season and once again, a Yankees team slowly exiting their dugout while allowing another team to celebrate on their home field.

Perhaps this Yankees team was destined to play in a World Series for the second consecutive year. Perhaps they had all the components to do that and finally win their first championship since 2009 which now seems to be an eternity.

They were not built to lose and fail. The Yankees were not built to finish in a division tie with the Blue Jays, first place also seems like they had until their June swoon, dropping games they could have won. But the Blue Jays became the obstacle.

And the Yankees continued their nightmare, failure to win a World Series which they deem as a successful season. Not even their captain in Judge could save them with another signature postseason home run, though finishing the postseason with multiple hits in six of his seven games.

The Yankees hurt themselves. They bashed home runs and led the league by a wide margin. They scored runs and led the league. But in the postseason, that part of their game diminished, the Blue Jays outscored the Yankees 34-17 in four games.

And the final and dismal end to their season saw Jazz Chisholm Jr. botch a tailor-made double play in the seventh inning that led to a run. He weakly grounded out to second base in the sixth with two on that ended a potential run scoring inning.

Anthony Volpe, 1-for-15 and 12 strikeouts in the series, another culprit which leads to more questions about consistency that plagued the Yankees often and during their stretch run that got them to tie the Blue Jays.

It didn’t help that Austin Wells hit a ball out to left on a first pitch with two runners in scoring position with two outs in the eighth against Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman. The Yankees down by four runs, again epitomizing obstacles they failed to overcome with stranding runners in scoring position.

Yes, they were good. This Yankees team, again in another postseason they reached but failed to achieve their ultimate prize, a World Series championship that was on their radar when they convened way back in February.

“Not the way we envisioned it and not the way we wanted it,” said Max Fried, the Yankees 19-game winner, though the ace had another postseason failure with a 6.75 ERA, 3.0 innings and 7-runs in the Yankees second game loss. He said you need everything to go well to make it to the end and this was frustrating with all the talent on the Yankees roster. Carlos Rodón with 2.1 innings and six runs Tuesday night as the Yankees avoided elimination, a postseason 9.72 ERA left little to brag about.

The bullpen though kept the Yankees with a chance in the finale and rookie Cam Schlittler lasted 6-⅓ innings, eight hits, four runs (two earned) though not the velocity of a fastball in his clinching AL Wild Card series win over the Red Sox.

So the Yankees in a dismal clubhouse were packing the boxes, some chatting on the side, others including Paul Goldschmidt still in uniform and questions about his future in pinstripes. Similar questions about the future for Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham in walk years. And with Devin Williams who turned around his dismal performance out of the bullpen in the last month.

“I’m grateful to get to have managed these two guys,” said manager Aaron Boone when asked about Bellinger and Grisham. “Hopefully in both cases, I get to keep doing it.”

Boone is expected to return next season which is not what a majority of the fan base wants to hear, then again he does not throw the pitches, get to swing a bat, or run the bases. Overall, the Yankees as a team failed.

Said Boone, “The ending is the worst especially when you know you have a very good group. They did a lot of very good things. It’s a beat up room in there. They truly became a close team and a very good team. This has been a tough year for me personally but all you go through and think you are doing something special and abruptly end is very difficult. It’s terrible, it hurts.”

“We didn’t do our job, didn’t finish the goal,” said Judge. “We had a special group in here, a lot of special players that made this year fun. But we didn’t get the ultimate prize, so we came up short.”

“We didn’t execute enough to win these games,” said Giancarlo Stanton who recovered with two bad elbows, though not making an impact in the postseason with his proficient home run swing.

And just like last October when the Yankees lost Game 5 and a World Series championship chance against the Dodgers, this one will sting. They will have a long and quick Winter to think, rest, and surely, the roster and complexion of that clubhouse will be different.

But the Yankees need to revamp which is in the hands of GM Brian Cashman and the hierarchy, certain to be heavy lifting. And that exit meeting with the media at some point in the next few days won’t lead to immediate answers as to why they failed again.

A team with Judge who is considered the dominant player in the league should not fail. And a team with six players who hit double digits in home runs should not fail. But the Blue Jays were better. The Yankees in their final game could not score runs against a Blue Jays rotation of bullpen starters.

The Yankees won 94 games during the season. Two wins against the rival Red Sox and one against the Blue Jays in the postseason was not enough.

Said Judge, “I want to get back out there right now.”

He has to wait until mid February-late March when it all begins again and the question, will the Yankees sing the same tune if there is another postseason for them next October that is expected?

Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso

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