From the desk of: THE SULTANS OF SO WHAT
AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES
Rays defeat Yankees; 3-2
I - NYY 9; TBR 3
II - TBR 7; NYY 5
III - TBR 8; NYY 4
IV - NYY 5; TBR 1
V - TBR 2; NYY 1
A.L. East Champion Tampa Bay Rays Eliminate Bronx Bummers
The Yankees lineup features a keen balance of young talent and veteran leadership, as well as this season's American League batting champion and home run leader. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are healthy and in the line-up together. Kyle Igashioka is batting over .300 and providing a needed upgrade behind the plate in place of beleaguered catcher Gary Sanchez. On the mound, New York's $300 million dollar man is on the mound while one of baseball's more formidable closers stands at the ready.
Entering Game Five the Yankees have everything perfectly set up. All is going according to Brian Cashman's plan.
Pitching on only two days rest, Tampa "opener" Tyler Glasnow allows no runs and no hits in 2.1 innings pitched. In the fourth inning Aaron Judge takes reliever Nick Anderson deep to right for a 1-0 Yankees lead. Tampa ties the score in the bottom of the fifth when right fielder Austin Meadows connects against Gerrit Cole who is pitching on three days rest. In the bottom of the sixth Brett Gardner reaches above the left field wall to intercept left fielder Randy Arozarena's potential home run. Aaron Boone immediately makes a pitching change. Enter Zach Britton who holds Tampa scoreless for 1.1 innings. After which Aroldis Chapman is brought into the game with two outs in the seventh. Rays reliever Peter Fairbanks contributes two scoreless innings and Diego Castillo holds the Yankees scoreless in the top of the eighth. With one out in the bottom of the eighth Michael Brosseau deposits Aroldis Chapman's tenth offering of the at-bat into the left field seats for a 2-1 Rays lead. Diego Castillo closes out the game with strikeouts of Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit and retiring Gio Urshela on a liner to third. The A.L. East champs win the series three games against two and advance to the ALCS versus the waiting and defending World Series champion Houston Astros.
#StayAngry
The Yankees fall short of their mission statement, again, forgoing an opportunity to avenge last year's ALCS loss against the Astros. With no banging garbage cans anywhere to be heard the Yankees have no excuses. No Luis Severino? No, sorry, that's hardly a viable reason why the Yankees lost in five to Tampa.
They couldn't prompt the offensive machine at will when faced with superior post-season pitching. Home run or nothing loses again. The Yankees do not string together hits. That's a difficult task with Aaron Judge batting second and Giancarlo Stanton hitting clean-up. Despite a .316 average in the series, Stanton's six home runs are largely inconsequential. Aaron Judge goes 4 for 30 (.133) with three home runs, five runs batted in and ten strikeouts. Together, Stanton and Judge combine to hit .214 (12 for 56) with nine home runs, 18 runs batted in and 20 strikeouts. The Yankees strikeout eleven times in Game Five and 18 times in Game Two (accounting for 66% of their allotted outs). Yet, Yankee analytics say strikeouts be damn; it's better than grounding into a double play.
Therefore ... the Sultans of So What!
Someone tried getting too cute and completely botched Game Two. Without knowing who is largely responsible, both Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone are equally to blame. They tried outsmarting the small market Rays and failed. This is the organization Chaim Bloom left behind in favor of the Boston Red Sox position. Cashman the general manager needs to reassess himself and this grand master plan of his. Some on the outside looking in might say Cashman has done everything perfectly. But the results do not agree.
Game Two essentially becomes a lesson in upper management meddling and analytical oversight. You can not script games ... at least not like the Rays. Aaron Boone was clearly left speechless. But when Jordan Montgomery saved the Yankees from elimination, Game Two became less of an issue. Now that the Yankees have bowed out of the playoffs Game Two again becomes a most glaring issue.
Brian Cashman has essentially recruited a bland band of narrowly focused stormtroopers. Armed with analytics the Yankees have become robotic and stationary. I'm sure everyone knows what bad shots stormtroopers are - these aren't the pitches you're looking for. The Yankees ability to tap into the force at the flick of a switch is equally suspect. Analytics may steer teams during the regular season when the law of averages rule the day. The playoffs, however, require far more humanism in order to deal with the nuance of short series baseball.
Michael Brosseau avenges an Aroldis Chapman fastball aimed right at his head back in September.
Tampa outclasses the mighty Bronx Bombers.
The Evil Empire is once again outdone by smaller rebel forces.
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