1. A night after the Yankees came a run away from blowing a nine-run lead on Tuesday, it looked like they may blow a five-run lead on Wednesday.
After taking a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth, Luis Gil imploded like Cam Schlittler the previous night and a 7-2 game became a 7-5 game with the tying runs on base. For the second night in a row, Aaron Boone summoned Fernando Cruz much earlier than he’s used to to relieve his starter and put an end to the Twins’ rally. And for the second straight night, Cruz ended the inning.
2. Unlike on Tuesday, the Yankees were able to tack on in the eighth and ninth. (Then again, you shouldn’t need to tack on when you have a 10-1 lead like they did on Tuesday.) Cruz pitched a scoreless sixth, Devin Williams did the same in the sixth, Luke Weaver matched it in the eighth and even Camilo Doval was able to put up a zero in the ninth. Not only did Doval pitch a scoreless inning, but it was the best he has looked as a Yankee, retiring the side on 10 pitches (eight strikes) with two strikeouts.
3. Doval got Byron Buxton looking at a 101-mph cutter on the outside corner for a three-pitch strikeout for the first out, got Austin Martin to pop up a 99-mph cutter on an 0-2 pitch for the second out and then got Trevor Larnach to swing through a 1-1 slider and then a 1-2 slider to end the game. If Doval pitched like that with any consistency he would be one of the best relievers in baseball, if not the best. That outing is why the Yankees traded for him and why he’s still on the roster despite doing everything he can to pitch himself off of it: because that version of him exists. I don’t know how the Yankees plan on getting that version out of him consistently, but it’s mind blowing that the guy on the mound on Wednesday is the same guy who was atrocious in nearly all of his 18 prior appearances as a Yankee.
4. Trent Grisham homered twice, Cody Bellinger homered, Aaron Judge had three hits (and a walk), Paul Goldschmidt had two hits, Ben Rice and Jasson Dominguez had doubles, Ryan McMahon had an RBI single and Jose Caballero had a walk, run and stolen base. The only Yankee not contribute offensively was Jazz Chisholm with an 0-for-5 night at the plate, though he did have a great game defensively. (Chisholm should sit on Thursday with a lefty starting.)
“A lot of really big contributions,” Boone said. “Just really good offense.”
5. The Yankees won, the Blue Jays lost, the Red Sox lost, the Mariners lost and the Astros won. The Guardians also won. The Guardians’ six-game winning streak now has them two games back in the loss column of the Astros, Mariners and Red Sox.
6. The Yankees are four games back of the Blue Jays in the loss column, but five games overall because of the head-to-head tiebreaker. The division is over. For those of you who believe nothing is truly over until it’s over, here is what needs to happen for the Yankees to win the division:
| If the Blue Jays go … | The Yankees need to go … |
| 5-5 | 10-0 |
| 4-6 | 9-1 |
| 3-7 | 8-2 |
| 2-8 | 7-3 |
| 1-9 | 6-4 |
| 0-10 | 5-5 |
I would say the worst the Blue Jays could go is 4-6, which means the Yankees can only lose one more game. Unless the Blue Jays completely unravel over the next 10 games (which is something they haven’t done all season), there’s no chance the Yankees can overtake them.
7. Certainly I’m still scoreboard watching the Blue Jays praying for their demise and a lengthy losing streak to end the season, but I’m realistic in knowing it’s going to take an all-time collapse for it to happen. If I had to rank who I would want the Yankees to play in a best-of-3 as of now I would go Guardians, Mariners, Astros, Red Sox.
8. The Red Sox aren’t the best team of the four, but the threat of Garrett Crochet in a short series and his dominance of the Yankees combined with the Yankees potentially being eliminated by the Red Sox for the fourth time in the postseason is too much for me. The Astros may be a better option than the Mariners because of the Mariners’ rotation and the absence of Yordan Alvarez, but 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022 have left me forever scared of the Astros. The Guardians would be a dream scenario. The Yankees eliminated them in five games last year when the Guardians were a much better version of themselves, especially in the bullpen. I will always pick an AL Central postseason opponent for the Yankees when given a chance, considering they’re 15-4 against the AL Central dating back to 2018, having never lost a series to that division. The Aaron Boone Yankees have never won a postseason series against a team from outside the AL Central, and the Yankees haven’t won a postseason series against a team from outside the AL Central since the 2012 ALDS.
9. With two crappy starts his last three times on the mound, Schlittler has been giving the postseason Game 3 assignment to Gil. But with Gil’s control issues coupled with an awful outing on Wednesday, I’m not sure who the current frontrunner is to be the Game 3 starter. I trust Schlittler more to throw strikes, but I trust Gil more to escape jams unscathed. They are each scheduled to make two more starts and I guess how they perform in those starts will determine who gets the ball after Max Fried and Carlos Rodon in the playoffs.
“They’re each going to have a few more [starts] here, so hopefully they put us in a tough situation based on them performing well,” Boone said.
10. Fried gets the ball on Thursday in Baltimore as the Yankees go from playing a night game in one city to playing the next night in another city yet again. The left-handed Cade Povich goes for the Orioles, so this is what we should see:
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Aaron Judge, RF/DH
Cody Bellinger, CF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH/RF
Amed Rosario, 3B
Austin Slater, LF
Anthony Volpe, SS
Jose Caballero, 2B
Ben Rice, C
(Please don’t let Slater lead off.)
It’s unlikely that’s what we’ll actually see, but at this point I don’t care as long as I see a win.
Last modified: Sep 18, 2025
