David Lennon: Yankees appear to be staring down the barrel of another October frustration
Yankees manager Aaron Boone on the dugout steps during Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
The Yankees returning to the Bronx, trying to stave off elimination, is nothing new under Aaron Boone’s tenure.
After dropping the first two games of this ALDS at Tropicana Field, including Monday night’s humiliating four-error debacle, Boone & Co. are riding a nine-game losing streak in road playoff games against non-AL Central teams. Their last victory technically came against the Rays in 2020, but that was at a neutral site, San Diego’s Petco Park, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Too bad the White Sox and Guardians are currently busy in the other bracket.
As you can probably surmise, the Yankees lost those previous three series to the Blue Jays, Dodgers and Astros. The fourth was a wild-card matchup with the Red Sox, who knocked them out at Fenway Park back when it was a one-game format in 2021.
Good news first: the Yankees rebounded to win Game 3 at home on each of those occasions. The bad? The Jays and Dodgers wound up popping champagne the very next night in the Bronx. Not only that, the evidence suggests the Yankees are doomed to repeat that history, simply because they haven’t learned from it. Or perhaps more accurately, figured out how to combat the trend against another smart, aggressive, contact-driven team.
On Monday night, the Yankees deployed their best defensive alignment behind the presumptive AL Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler, who had a 1.19 road ERA and finished tied for third in the majors with 239 strikeouts. Before Schlittler could get three outs, the Yankees had made three errors in one inning for the first time in their postseason history. George Lombard Jr. was later charged with a fourth, could’ve been given another and the Rays sprinted their way to a sloppy 5-2 victory, exploiting weaknesses the Yankees thought they had corrected.
“I felt like our preparation was really good,” Boone said Tuesday on a Zoom conference with reporters. “Even after infield [practice] and BP, I said to someone about how sharp I felt like we looked. So obviously we came out and did not play well, especially in the first inning, and that kind of snowballed.”
That’s kind of a chilling statement with the Yankees’ season on the brink heading into Game 3. If Boone honestly believed his team was more than ready, and his ace teed up on an extra day’s rest, then how do you explain the circus that followed? Monday night should’ve been the Yankees’ best shot to tie the series — against the skilled but hittable Freddy Peralta — and yet their entire plate production was limited to a pair of home runs from Ben Rice.
The Yankees’ total offensive numbers for this series, in fact, are astonishing. Rice (two homers), Austin Wells (two doubles) and Cody Bellinger’s single account for their five hits. The rest of the team is 0-for-38 with zero RBIs and zero runs scored. Obviously, Drew Rasmussen was a beast in Game 1, and he’s dominated the Yankees in the past. But this was a lineup that had raked the supposedly competitive Red Sox for 18 runs and 26 hits in their Wild Card Series sweep the previous week, only to vanish at the Trop.
“We’ve got to find a way,” Rice said.
On the eve of Game 3, Boone indicated that he’ll consider some lineup tweaks. But the Yankees have lived by their platoon matchups, so how far would he go with Rays righthander Nick Martinez on the mound? The most logical swap would be to start Jose Caballero over Ryan McMahon at third base, a decision made easier by McMahon’s defensive slump in recent weeks, as well as the topspin grounder he booted Monday. Caballero has limited experience (3-for-9) vs. Martinez, but he makes a good Rays antagonist, as a former player there who knows what makes Tampa Bay tick — and how to irritate them.
It’s tempting to sit Jazz Chisholm Jr., who has continued his playoff streak of being a defensive liability. Remember, it was a Chisholm error that led to the Jays icing last year’s ALDS in Game 4, and his recklessness Monday was inexcusable. But can Boone take out Chisholm’s lefty bat at Yankee Stadium? Same goes for Luis Garcia Jr., who had six homers, 14 RBIs and a .927 OPS in 26 Bronx games since his trade.
Giancarlo Stanton doesn’t instill much confidence after striking out in Saturday’s Game 1, his first at-bat since April 24. What the Yankees could really use is a serviceable Aaron Judge, but they made the call to keep him off the ALDS roster in the hope he would be better functioning — and possibly used as a rightfielder — for the later rounds. Judge’s limited mobility weighed heavily into that decision, but his bat was getting up to speed, and the Yankees may regret being cautious if their playoff run ends without their three-time MVP taking a swing. A spark has to come from somewhere.
And it can’t just be about the Yankees’ stellar rotation anymore, because the Rays have overcome their rival’s greatest strength so far. Gerrit Cole’s only mistake in Game 1 was a solo homer to Jonathon Aranda, but Rasmussen made it stand up. When it was Schlittler’s turn, the Rays did what they do by putting balls in play and the Yankees cracked.
History suggests it won’t be any different for Game 3 starter Max Fried, who is well aware of the Rays’ strategy. But that familiarity doesn’t make it any easier to stop.
“It’s important to have a little bit of pride,” Fried said. “To be able to say that’s not us and we’re going to prove it.”
If the Yankees fail to accomplish that Wednesday night, their October ends in frustration. Again.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
