NEW YORK – There was no team meeting held, no rah-rah speech offered in the clubhouse as the first pitch approached on Wednesday night. Their backs against the wall, these Yankees understood the stakes: Play well for the next nine innings, or endure another long winter filled with questions.
The Yankees prepared and spoke as though they were not ready to let their season end. Despite those intentions, their championship hopes expired with a 4-3 loss to the Rays in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, with the Bronx hosting yet another visitors’ celebration.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a failure since we weren’t able to get the job done,” said Ben Rice. “It’s on to next year, unfortunately. … They outplayed us, plain and simple. They outpitched us, out-hit us. It’s really that simple.”
After 93 regular-season victories and a lopsided sweep of the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card Series, what manager Aaron Boone described as his “broken clubhouse” will spend the rest of October as observers, the franchise’s World Series drought now extended to 17 seasons as a 2009 parade through the Canyon of Heroes fades further into memory.
“We’ve got to be more complete offensively, defensively, pitching,” Boone said. “We did really good things this year, but ultimately not good enough to beat a really good Rays team.”
Max Fried surrendered a go-ahead home run to Victor Mesa Jr. on his final pitch, a hanging sixth-inning sweeper that landed in the seats. But the more memorable play was the homer that wasn’t – what initially appeared to be an Anthony Volpe game-tying home run over Mesa’s head in left field.
Mesa immediately pointed into the crowd, where the ball had struck a man’s hands. A crew chief review determined spectator interference on the play, as one replay angle showed the fan reaching past the wall. George Lombard Jr. was awarded home plate, and Volpe was credited with a double.
The crowd of 48,865 howled, and after debris was cleared from the warning track, Spencer Jones struck out to end the inning.
“We were expecting to move on,” Volpe said. “If they beat us down and we had no shot, in some ways it’d probably be better.”
The Yankees never held a lead across 27 ALDS innings, swept in a best-of-five series for the second time in franchise history. The other time was in the 1980 AL Championship Series, won by the Royals.
For the second time in 15 days, Yankee Stadium’s visitors clubhouse was filled by a Rays party – this time, toasting their advance into the ALCS, awaiting the conclusion of the White Sox-Guardians ALDS.
“We don’t like that, other teams celebrating in our place,” said captain Aaron Judge, who was inactive for the postseason. “But if you don’t like it, you’ve got to play better.”
Much like the Blue Jays a year ago, the Rays were a problem the Yankees never seemed able to solve, finishing 4 1/2 games behind in the AL East and losing seven of their 13 regular-season meetings.
Tampa Bay’s reputation for buttoned-up play shone through: The Rays ran the bases aggressively and pressured the Yankees’ defense.
Those differences were more pronounced in the ALDS, however, especially in the series-opening games at Tropicana Field. The Yankees were held to one hit in Game 1, then committed four errors in a Game 2 loss, falling for the seventh time in nine games at Tropicana Field this season (including the playoffs).
“We gave them some room to breathe, and they took it and ran with it,” said Lombard Jr. “It hurts. It sucks. But we’re going to have to learn from it and not let it happen next year.”
New York erased a pair of early deficits in Game 3, punching back after Tampa Bay delivered the first blows. Rice lined a run-scoring single facing Nick Martinez in the third inning, and Jones greeted Ian Seymour with an RBI double in the fourth.
It wasn’t enough. Judge’s absence was certainly a factor, as the offense never seemed the same after losing him to injury in late May, but that alone does not explain why a team with baseball’s third-highest payroll (approximately $308.3 million) is once again packing its bags three weeks before Halloween.
“At this point, I don’t even think motivated is the right word,” Volpe said. “I think it’s just [we are] pissed off. There’s too many chips added to your shoulder that it feels like enough’s enough.”
Wednesday’s outcome assures them plenty of time to ponder what went wrong, and what this group may need to get over the hump.
“We went through a lot as a group this year,” Boone said. “We had a lot of challenges, and a lot of people in there met those challenges – but obviously not enough. And today is the worst.”