Familiar Yankees problem dooms them again in postseason

In yet another disappointing postseason, the New York Yankees have fallen, this time to their division rival Toronto Blue Jays, in the ALDS. The Blue Jays will go on to face either the Detroit Tigers or the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS.

Throughout the series, the Yankees' pitching staff gave way to extensive parades of Blue Jays base hits and home runs. Strangely enough, the worst damage came against the Yankees' more prominent starters in Max Fried and Carlos Rodon, though each is known for postseason blowups. The Yankees' high-leverage relievers, who have struggled mightily this year, were surprisingly effective this postseason, with the exception of Luke Weaver. In Wednesday’s final defeat, the same struggles that have long plagued the Yankees haunted them once more.

The game got away in the seventh inning when Jazz Chisholm Jr. bobbled what would have been an inning-ending double play ball, allowing the Blue Jays to tack on two unearned runs against Cam Schlittler, taking a 4-1 lead. Schlittler pitched a solid, yet error-sullied start, giving up two earned runs in 6.1 innings. The night would end in a 5-2 Blue Jays victory. However, the real story isn’t Chisholm’s error, but another instance where the Yankees experienced an untimely lack of production. 

Yankees' quiet bats seal playoff disaster

Although Yankees' pitching was woeful throughout the series, it was the Yankees offense that came under the spotlight. And as explosive as the batting order has been nearly all year, the Yankees' usual brand of inconsistency lost them the ALDS. 

In the first game, they would only score one run. They would score seven in what was an already meaningless Game 2, where Toronto pummeled them with 13 runs. The nine-run game on Tuesday marked their only victory, having exploited repetitive fielding errors courtesy of the Blue Jays. On Wednesday, the only Yankee runs came on a Ryan McMahon home run and an Aaron Judge single, scoring Jasson Dominguez in his 2025 postseason debut.

In the series, the Yankees were outscored 34 to 19. The Yankees recorded 34 hits (four home runs) compared to 50 from the Blue Jays (nine home runs), nine of New York’s hits coming from Aaron Judge, whose tendency to find his way on base was usually wasted by the lifeless Yankee batting order behind him. In a true measure of weakness, the Yankees struck out a whopping 42 times over this four-game span, including two separate games where they struck out 15 times. 

What’s next for the Yankees? No one really knows. But if the Yankees don’t add quality contact hitters, these detrimental lulls in their otherwise explosive offense will prove to be an Achilles’ heel for the club as long as they let it remain.