N.Y. Yankees: Evil Empire Once Again Undone By Rebel Forces

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.

N.Y. Yankees: Jordan Montgomery to the Rescue

From the desk of: THE SULTANS OF SO WHAT

AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

Series Tied; 2-2

I - NYY 9; TBR 3

II - TBR 7; NYY 5

III - TBR 8; NYY 4

IV - NYY 5; TBR 1

Yankees Hurlers Toss Three Hitter; Force Game Five

Many people should be thanking their lucky stars for Jordan Montgomery.  A Bronx sized blunder in Game Two is less of an issue now, but only if the Yankees win the series.  In the meantime, they've successfully forged a decisive Game Five against the Rays.  Gerrit Cole remains on course to fulfill his mission.

Making his first ever post-season start, southpaw Jordan Montgomery faces 17 batters, allowing one run on a fielder's choice in the third, three hits and three walks with five strikeouts through the game's first four innings.  In the second and third innings Tampa leaves five runners on base as Montgomery pitches through their threats.  Relievers Chad Green, Zach Britton and Aroldis Chapman then slam the door shut on Tampa.  In a dominant display the trio allows no runs, no hits and just one walk with seven strikeouts over the final five innings.  The Rays are limited to one extra base hit and go hitless in four at-bats with runners in scoring position.

No Rays pitcher goes unscathed.  The Bombers score twice against Ryan Thompson in the second on Luke Voit's first home run of the playoffs and a sac-fly by D.J. LeMahieu.  Glayber Torres connects on a two run home run off Ryan Yarbrough in the sixth and Kyle Higashioka drives in the Yankees fifth run against Aaron Slegers in the eighth.

Aaron Judge goes 0 for 4, and is now 3 for 27 (.111) for the series with two home runs and four runs batted in.  

Still no sight of Gary Sanchez.  He surely will not be catching Gerrit Cole and the Yankees aren't going to insert him at DH over Giancarlo Stanton.  Higashioka is now 5 for 15 (.333) in four starts with a home run and two runs batted in and only one strikeout.  Sanchez has four strikeouts in eight at-bats.  His only hit of the post-season is a home run against Cleveland.

SHOWDOWN

In four starts this season against the Rays, Gerrit Cole has yielded twelve runs (4.88 ERA) on 18 hits and eight walks with 35 strikeouts through 22.1 innings pitched.  His Game Five opponent will be Tyler Glasnow who likewise has made four starts this season against the Yankees allowing ten runs (4.71 ERA) on twelve hits and ten walks with 32 strikeouts over 19.1 innings pitched.  Cole was the winner in Game One; Glasnow the winner in Game Two.  This will be their third head-to-head confrontation of the season.  On August 19, the Rays defeated the Yankees four against two.  Glasnow allowed two earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched.  Cole also allowed two runs over 6.2 innings pitched.  On August 31, Tampa defeats the Yankees by a 5-3 final.  Glasnow allows no runs over six innings pitched.  Cole is roughed up for four runs in five innings pitched.  Gerrit Cole has surrendered seven home runs through four starts against Tampa.  Glasnow has yielded just four home runs to the Yankees in four starts but two came in Game Two.