1. I thought the Yankees would win Game 4 of the ALDS last October and send the series back to Toronto for a winner-take-all Game 5. They had the dramatic five-run comeback in Game 3, had Cam Schlittler starting on an extra day of rest and Toronto was going with a bullpen game with a bullpen that had to get 16 outs in Game 3. The Yankees had the momentum and they had a distinct pitching advantage.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. The tired and fatigued Toronto bullpen shut the Yankees down. Eight Blue Jays relievers pieced together 27 outs and the Yankees were eliminated after going 6-for-32 with 10 strikeouts. The Yankees’ defense gave the Blue Jays two unearned runs and the always amazing Camilo Doval allowed a tack-on run in the eighth.
I felt like I was watching that same game on Thursday night (complete with the Doval tack-on run) as the Blue Jays went with a bullpen game and stifled the Yankees, shutting them out 2-0 for their ninth loss in their last 13 games. Five Blue Jays relievers pitched in the shutout as the Yankees went 3-for-29 with a disturbing 14 strikeouts. The Yankees struck out 37 times over the final three games of the series. They struck out 33 times in the three games against the Mets and 39 times in the three games against the Brewers. Yeah, this team is different! They definitely won’t do the same thing in the postseason again against only elite starters and relievers every game!
2. “We didn’t muster much,” Aaron Boone said. “The last two nights we’ve been quieted quite a bit.”
Don’t let Boone fool you into thinking it was just the last two nights. The Yankees now have four games this season with three or fewer hits and no runs scored, which is the second most behind the Giants. (Stat from Katie Sharp.) The Giants have the second-worst record in the NL and are trying to figure out how to unload big contracts. Anytime you’re mentioned in the same conversation with the 2026 Giants, you’re doing something wrong.
3. The Yankees’ offense remains three hitters and when those three hitters don’t hit, you guessed it, they lose. Ben Rice hasn’t hit since his wrist injury (.652 OPS since returning), Aaron Judge hasn’t hit for two weeks now (.600 OPS since May 7) and Cody Bellinger doesn’t have enough power to compensate for the other two (Bellinger has six home runs in 50 games this season, but he has two two-home run games, so he has homered in four of 50 games this season). Rice has still hit a few home runs since his return and Bellinger has been hitting overall, but Judge has done nothing of late. Judge has one home run since May 6 and no RBIs in the last 10 games. At one point during the Blue Jays series, Judge struck out in seven straight at-bats.
4. I understand that Judge is immune to criticism from most, but on a team built around his bat that only has two other consistent, productive bats, he can’t be. He can’t be good to great, he has to be otherworldly and generational. He has to be because you have to make up for the automatic outs from the other six spots in the lineup. You have to make up for Jazz Chisholm being the worst situational hitter and worst hitter with runners on in the league. You have to make up for Paul Goldschmidt eventually being exposed now that his playing time has increased. You have to make up for Trent Grisham reverting back to the player he has always been before 2025. You have to make up for Ryan McMahon swinging through every middle-middle fastball he sees. You have to make up for Anthony Volpe undeservedly being an everyday player for the last week-plus. You have to make up for the unmitigated disaster and embarrassment that is the catching tandem of Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra offensively. You have to make up for the injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Caballero.
5. Two weeks ago today, the Yankees were tied in the loss column with the Rays and a half-game ahead of them overall. Now they are six games back in the loss column with a three-game series against the Rays this weekend. If Judge has another series like these last four, the division could be over before actual Memorial Day. The worst-case scenario is the Yankees are nine back in the loss column after this weekend. The best-case scenario is they are three back. To be three back they are going to need a lot of things to happen to beat a team that never seems to lose.
6. The Yankees need Judge to be himself. Whatever these last four series have been have made Judge look like the right-handed McMahon or a giant version of Volpe. If Judge doesn’t hit, the Yankees’ only chance offensively is if Rice does. If Rice continues the way he has since his wrist injury combined with Judge being lost, well, the Yankees don’t have a chance. No one is going to help Bellinger with any consistency to score runs.
7. The Yankees need length from their starting pitching. I’m talking at least six innings in every game this weekend and even that may not be enough. The bullpen can barely be trusted to get three outs, let alone nine, so asking them to get double-digit outs against this pesky, annoying Rays lineup is a recipe for disaster. The Rays scored six runs against the Yankees’ bullpen in the April series in Tampa. If the bullpen is in the game in the sixth inning or earlier all weekend, it could get ugly.
8. They need Gerrit Cole to be himself. The Yankees can’t afford to have Cole look like Carlos Rodon did in his first two starts coming back from injury. Friday’s game is one of the most important games the Yankees will play this regular season and Cole can’t pitch like someone who hasn’t pitched in a meaningful game since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. It’s not unfair to Cole because he talked his way into having his next start (this start) be in the majors. As Derek Jeter used to say, if you’re out there playing, there’s no excuses.
9. They need Jose Caballero to be the starting shortstop. I don’t want to see Caballero being used at short one game then third another game then somewhere else. He’s the best shortstop on the team, so he should play shortstop. Volpe undeservedly got called up and did nothing to deserve to be kept up. But because Volpe needs to play (he doesn’t but that’s what the Yankees think), he will play shortstop because he has idiotically never been asked to play another position for the Yankees. (The Yankees not sending Volpe down means he’s going to play with some regularity in the majors.) Volpe’s continued issues at shortstop like his error upon getting called up or his messy footwork (like when he went down to his knees to field a ball and prevented a double play on Thursday) or his lack of arm strength all remains problems.
10. If Judge and Rice show up, the starting pitching gives the Yankees length, Cole doesn’t have a Rodon-like return and Caballero plays, the Yankees should have a good weekend. (There’s always the Boone variable in that he will ruin a winnable game with his in-game decisions, but I think that’s a given and to be expected at this point, so there’s no point in writing or worrying about it.) If one or more of these things doesn’t happen for the Yankees this weekend, they will spend the summer trying to climb out of an enormous hole.
Last modified: May 22, 2026
