Imagine losing over and over again to the same team. Being good, but not good enough. That’s the problem with the New York Yankees with the Houston Astros.
In this latest debacle against the Houston Astros, the New York Yankees hit an all-time low. They were destroyed in every aspect of the game. Houston’s pitching buckled the New York lineup to the point of one hit through the first eight innings of ALCS Game 3. The Yanks pressed the wrong buttons while the Astros pressed the right ones. Aaron Boone was once again outmanaged in the postseason when it mattered most. His bullpen decisions were terrible and he let cold hitters get too many chances.
The series loss by the New York Yankees to the Houston Astros isn’t entirely on Aaron Boone, but he didn’t help.
The defense was dreadful in the last two games and it had a negative impact on both games, with back-breaking plays shouldn’t even happen in the regular season. In Game 3, there was a miscommunication between Aaron Judge and Harrison Bader that resulted in the first two runs of the game. On Sunday, there was the flip that will go down in infamy between Gleyber Torres and Isiah-Kiner Falefa. This should have been a routine double play to escape the seventh inning with a one-run lead. Instead, both outs were botched when IKF couldn’t handle the flip from Torres. This is a basic play that at worst should have produced one out. The Astros capitalized with hits from Jordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman. The Astros took the lead and the Yankees never recovered.
New York’s effort was an embarrassment, and everything needs to be questioned from top to bottom. The whole organization has made mistakes, starting with player evaluation to managing game situations.
The biggest issues with the offense started with Josh Donaldson, who struck out 10 times in the ALCS and got just one hit. The trade to bring him and IKF to the Bronx will go down as one of the worst moves Brian Cashman has made. Oswald Peraza should’ve started over IKF in August or September. Peraza deserved to get that chance, but they gave him a shot when it was way too late. They also shuffled Oswaldo Cabrera at shortstop.
New York’s lineup inconsistencies were also an embarrassment with three different leadoff hitters and juggling at almost every spot over the four games. They had no clue what they were doing. How can you make it to the ALCS and still be that lost? Cashman, Boone and the analytics department need to take the fall for this.
Enough is enough with three ALCS losses in six years to the Astros. The Yanks made the wrong kind of history becoming the first team to lose five straight ALCS appearances. The biggest offseason question is if Aaron Judge will resign with the Yankees? They’ll have a shot to get right back in it next year if they do that.
But there is a question that will haunt the Bronx all offseason: How do the Yankees recover from this and finally win the World Series?