Defense ended up being the New York Yankees’ Achilles heel in this year’s MLB playoffs.
The Yankees’ season came to an end on Sunday as the Houston Astros beat them 6-5 in Game 4 of the ALCS to finish off the series sweep. Though the Yankees led 5-4 heading into the seventh inning, they came unraveled when middle infielders Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa could not connect on a potential double-play ball that would have ended the inning. Torres’ throw sailed past Kiner-Falefa, and everybody was safe.
The error, which was charged to Torres, proved a costly one. Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman followed with back-to-back RBI singles, and the Astros took a 6-5 lead (which ended up being the final score). For a third time in the last six years, the Yankees saw their season come to an end at the hands of Houston.
The Yankees were also felled by a massive defensive error (this time in the outfield) during their Game 3 loss to the Astros. They will likely be kicking themselves all offseason over their failure to get the job done in the field.
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