And there you have it. The Yankees were set up in 2026 to get to the World Series due to an historically weak American League but they came up short against the Rays. Let’s be clear: the Rays are the better “team.” Collectively, they make each other better and they have a great manager in Kevin Cash. Many of their players are home grown and in terms of pitching, they have a way of taking journeymen pitchers from other teams and making them great. You tip your cap to the Rays and they will easily cruise to the World Series. The National League will field a better team but let’s see what happens.

As for the Yankees, if you happen to stumble onto “X”, there are many irate Yankee fans calling for the firing of both Cashman and Boone. SU has never called for anyone to be fired and I will not start here. However, the way Baseball Operations is run at the Yankees starting at the minor league level is not working. Yes, they have now developed a few cornerstones for the future (Schlittler, Rice, Lombard Jr., Jones, Judge) but they are always scrambling at the trade deadline to fill multiple holes in the roster. And the focus on the home run and upper cut swings seems stupid given how pitchers are now all throwing 100 mph. Is the goal to really roll out a bunch of .220 hitters (Jazz, Grisham, Wells, McMahon, etc.) and expect great results? The Rays have a bunch of hitters who make contact and when you do that, things happen.

From what SU has read, Hal will not make any changes this off-season with the lockout effective December 1st. It’s not the time to start over – too much uncertainty. Boone has one more year on his contract but Cashman’s contract ends this year. I predict they are both in place next year. Regarding Boone, he is a bad in-game tactician but you can overcome that. The issue is more not being enough of a hard-ass. This got Girardi fired but it’s exactly what they need. They can start with having players run hard to first base (see Bellinger, Grisham, Jazz). I know guys have hamstring issues but players even when healthy are jogging to first all season long. Boone is too much of a players’ manager. SU does not hate on Boone as do others as he is a great communicator. But the culture is off here. Perhaps some new batting coaches?

Some short term moves SU would like to see:

1. Buy out Stanton’s last year of his contract for $25 million. Rice is your DH and Garcia Jr. is your first baseman. Where is he going to play next year? Rice needs to play every day. Did you see Stanton’s batting stance last night? He has always had a pronounced closed stance. He was not doing that last night and SU suspects he has concluded that the old stance is contributing to his pulled calf muscle injuries. Stanton is a good, stand-up guy but time to move on. Someone will pick him up and he will do well for 40 games in 2027.
2. Buy out McMahon’s last year of his contract also. I think it’s $16 million but his defense is regressing and he certainly cannot hit. The Yankees never make guys better.
3. Let Jazz and Grisham go into free agency. We thank you for your service but no way is either worth a new contract.
4. Make Volpe your new 2nd baseman in 2027. Good for him to get his 2 hits last night. And think about it: Spencer Jones mis-timed his jump on that one home run and really should have caught that. And on Volpe’s, it’s really about 6 inches. Sure, the fan was an idiot to reach over but it was going to hit off the top of the wall.
5. The Yankees are stacked with starting pitching. Even this year, they had the best staff in MLB. That is what makes this series loss so painful. Fried wasn’t great last night but he wasn’t terrible. The team just could not score. And was the game plan to swing at the 1st pitch every time and then at every pitch after that? What was that? So many mindless at bats.

Bottom line for SU: the 2026 version of the Yankees was unenjoyable and uninspiring. This was an unlikable team other than Ben Rice who is the man. He was the only reason to turn on the games. Low baseball IQ team that was sloppy and could not win extra inning games. I am ready to move on and as an arrogant, entitled Yankee fan, I will not likely watch another game this year. Yankee fans have a higher bar that we aspire to. For 2026, it was just getting to the World Series – did not have to win it. Offensively, every game was hard to watch this year.

That is my rant for today. Feel free to share your thoughts as we turn to the NBA and NHL (see? I did mention hockey for once!).

Yankee fans will know that this is a common refrain of Joe Girardi’s and was often heard during his managerial tenure with the team. SU says it is very appropriate today as the Yankees go down 0-2 to the Rays in a best of 5 series.

SU watched last night’s game and like others, was struck by how poorly the team’s defense showed at almost every position. I read that a scout at last night’s game from some other team texted to the Athletic that the word is that the Yankees’ defense will crumble if put under pressure. Seems like that dude is spot on! While there were 4 errors, there were other bad plays that were not scored an error but contributed to runs as well as running up the pitch count of Schlittler. To his credit, he actually called out his teammates in his locker room comments for not showing up. Love that! Schlittler was not as sharp as he has been in past appearances and SU wonders if throwing 117 pitches last start had any impact here? Possible right?

SU saw the following:

1. Actually in both games, hitters came out swinging on the 1st pitch. Especially vs. Peralta. I mean, in the first 2 innings, basically swinging at every pitch. Whatever happened to working the count? Is this what they were told to do? As opposed to the Rays, who are constantly taking pitches, fouling them off and then hitting to the opposite field. The Yankees go for home runs – be it Garcia or Caballero or Volpe. Mindless approaches. This is what we saw all year. The Red Sox series was an aberration. For SU, these last 2 games are much easier to process as I have processed these types of anemic offensive games all season.
2. Take Schlittler: ERA of 1.12 or something like that on the road and near 2.00 overall. And started 33 games or so. Won only 14 games. That says it all about the Yankees’ offense. So, games 1 and 2 are rinse and repeat.
3. The fielding sucked. For SU, it got to the point where any ground ball was terrifying. Bases were stolen easily although Wells made some good throws. The Rays are more athletic and the hitters are looking to the put the ball in play. The Yankees, year after year after year, go into October swinging for the fences. Doesn’t work – we know that.
4. Boone had an opportunity later in the game to pinch hit a few of his right handed hitters. He did not. In the 7th and 8th innings, you are putting up all of these left handed hitters against the Rays’ lefty reliever. No hits, no production. Now, SU does not like any of these guys but still – was that not the plan?
5. SU has seen enough of Jazz. Start Volpe in game 3 at 2nd base. And if you want, start Caballero at 3rd instead of McMahon. You lose nothing and at least field a more balanced attack. And if Rasmussen starts game 4 (assuming there is a game 4), start some right handed hitters. I mean, do something different as we can see if cannot hurt.
6. From what SU has read, the Rays do not hit as well vs. left handed starters vs. right handed ones. Fried goes tonight. Let’s give Rodon a shot in a game 4 (if needed). Fried should keep the running game in check tomorrow but he gives up a lot of grounders so that will be a test for the Yankees’ defense.
7. Ben Rice is the man. It’s unlikely the Rays will give him anything good to hit the rest of the series as there is no protection in the lineup. But 4 home runs in 4 games is impressive. Naturally, 3 of the are solo shots as the bottom of the order can’t get on base typically. But he always worth watching for every at bat.

SU will say this. In sports, you are never as good as you look when things are going well and you are never as bad as you look when things are going off the rails. The Yankees were winning it all after Boston. Now they are on the brink. So it goes. SU does expect the Yankees to win game 3. If they can get it to a game 5, Boone will have to decide between Cole and Schlittler if things work out. That will be interesting to see.

Anyone feeling more positive?

OK, OK. SU gets it that the play by Austin Wells last night trying to stretch a double into a triple with 2 outs was a boneheaded play that they teach in Little League. You don’t make the 1st or 3rd out at 3rd base. We all know that. Especially in the 8th inning.

But last night, the Yankees were determined to show everyone that they cannot hit Drew Rasmussen at any time – be it regular season or now the playoffs. Despite having faced him a million times, they pride themselves on not figuring anything out or anything new. Maybe try and run up the pitch count and get him out of the game? How many hitters swung at the 1st pitch? That’s fine. The Red Sox have not figured out Cam Schlittler in the same way.

However, what Wells’s play really shows is the lack of discipline by the Yankees year after year under Aaron Boone. SU is a long-time fan and I watch many games. Seriously: have we not seen Jazz Chisholm or Caballero not make dumb baserunning plays all season long? Caught stealing, picked off 1st, picked off 2nd? At really bad times? Errors in the field by many players? Runners thrown out at home due to bad reads by the 3rd base coach? Boone is a players’ manager – he will defend them all the time and there are no apparent repercussions for making dumb plays. It is part of the team’s culture.

What Wells did is what many of his teammates have done all year. Again, it was not a smart play. Does SU think the next hitter was going to knock him in? Stanton? No way. For SU, that softens the blow. This was their first hit of the game – in the 8th inning. Wells had lined out to deep right field earlier and he has been hitting well for a few weeks now.

Game over – we move on. For the Yankees, the goal now is to not make Freddy Peralta look like Cy Young in game 2 on Monday night. And you have to expect Rasmussen is lined up to pitch a game 4 (if needed) on Thursday. The Yankees put the ball in play against the Red Sox. We will see if they can make the adjustment at Tropicana Field. If they want to win this series, they need to do that at least once.

SU will not hate on Wells. And I think he will respond in game 2.

SU did not have the Yankees scoring 18 runs in 2 games in the Wild Card series against the Red Sox and in the process, accumulating double digit hits in both games. We saw bunting, stealing, and deliberate attempts to put the ball in play. I repeat: deliberate attempts to put the ball in play.

Did Brian Cashman get stranded in Tampa? Was there no communication with the analytics team? As always, SU has a few thoughts to share with the intergalactic subcriber base:

1. It was subtle but all of a sudden, there is competition for playing time in the playoffs. By taking 16 position players on the roster for this series, we now see platooning going on in center field, right field, 2nd base and 3rd base. Players like Jazz Chisholm can no longer assume that they will be playing every day after hitting .220 for most of the year. Same with McMahon at 3rd, Ramos in right and Grisham in center.
2. Think of what we saw. Grisham sacrificed and even got a hit out of it. McMahon tried to bunt for a hit and then hit a weak grounder to the left side to get a run in from 3rd with less than 2 outs. Volpe sacrificed. This was like the Toronto Blue Jays in the playoffs last year. Here’s a question from the fan base: why not do this all year long?
3. Grisham cannot play centerfield in the next series with the Rays. On artificial turf, he is a liability. Jazz made a great over the shoulder catch on a pop up last night that SU would guess 99% of all centerfielders catch easily. He also jogged in on a bloop hit that became a double. Is his hamstring an issue? Perhaps. If the Yankees add a pitcher, he may have to be sacrificed although SU would also keep Rosario off the roster.
4. Thank goodness Boone resisted putting up Stanton with the bases loaded and no one out in the 2nd game. Face it: if Stanton hit a hard ground ball at someone, that is a triple play waiting to happen. No way he can run hard. I would not put him on the roster for the Rays series.
5. As for Judge, if he is going to play, he has to be able to play right field. You cannot DH him and then sit either Garcia Jr. or Rice. The Yankees need to protect Judge from himself. You do not want him to tear his Achilles and then miss all of 2027. And you don’t want him playing the field on turf. Not worth the risk. SU would add that he is a rhythm hitter and needs a lot of repetition to get in the groove. I don’t see it as a smart move.
6. Can we all agree that managers need to actually look at the game in progress before taking out a starter vs. following the analytics? Gray was having no issues last night and the dude won 18 games this year. Just a dumb move to take him out in the 5th inning. Of course, it backfired big time.
7. Willson Contreras is a punk. Enough of this guy. His home run trot could have been timed with a sun dial. Just ridiculous and no Yankee fan would have had an issue if he was drilled his next time up. SU loved that Bellinger took his sweet time rounding the bases after his home run as that was surely a response to Contreras’s nonsense. Just play the game the right way.
8. SU was very surprised at just how anemic the Boston offense was in this series. But they were terrible in September and it clearly carried over.

Regarding the announcing, SU is a fan of Joe Girardi on the YES broadcasts. He always comes prepared and is very smart. But NBC having 4 guys talking (including Anthony Rizzo next to the dugout) was way too many words per minute for SU. I rarely mute the television for any sports event but they hit the maximum that my brain could handle. They are still not at the level collectively of John Smoltz on FOX who is the worst in the business in terms of “please stop talking.” But very close here.

Credit to Aaron Boone for not over managing this series and getting his players to “check your egos at the door.” That needs to continue the next round. The Rays series is best of 5 and the Yankees historically find ways to lose games in Tropicana Field. Defense is going to matter. The Rays have great pitching and they also just put the ball in play on the turf. It will be interesting to see what Boone does with the rotation. There is an off day on Sunday and then again on Tuesday and Friday if necessary. Rodon has pitched very well down the stretch. Cole much less so. The Yankees have the best rotation in the playoffs. The goal is to not screw this up.

Stay tuned…