October 15, 2025

ALCS 1: Mariners 3, Blue Jays 1
ALCS 2: Mariners 10, Blue Jays 3

NLCS 1: Dodgers 2, Brewers 1
NLCS 2: Dodgers 5, Brewers 1

The Seattle Mariners have never won more than two games in an ALCS. They lost both the 1995 and 2000 ALCS in six games. If they win Game 3 tonight, it will be the farthest the 49-year-old franchise has ever gotten in the postseason.

Also: No team has ever won an LCS (best-of-5 or best-of-7) after losing the first two games at home. We will see if the Blue Jays and/or Brewers can pull it off.

While Shohei Ohtani (1-for-7) and Mookie Betts (0-for-7) have been quiet atop Los Angeles' lineup (the pair has walked five times), Blake Snell (8-1-0-0-10, 103) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (9-3-1-1-7, 111) have carried the team with two superb starts.

Sarah Langs

Starts of 8+ innings & 1 or no runs allowed in each of first 2 games of postseason series, last 50 years:
2025 NLCS Dodgers
1983 NLCS Dodgers
1981 NLDS Dodgers
1981 ALDS A's
1981 NLDS Astros 
h/t @EliasSports

The 17 IP pitched by Snell and Yamamoto are the most by any team's SP over the first two games of a postseason series since the 2005 White Sox threw 17 1/3 IP in the ALCS
h/t @MLBNetwork research squad

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the 5th pitcher to throw his first career MLB complete game (reg or post) in the Postseason, joining:
Marco Estrada G1 2016 ALCS, 8.0 IP
Josh Beckett G5 2003 NLCS
Liván Hernández G5 1997 NLCS 
Jim Beattie G5 1978 WS
h/t @EliasSports

This is the second season where the road team went up 2-0 in BOTH LCS in the same year, joining:
1970, the second year of LCS play, when the round was best-of-5

Frst postseason complete game since: 2017 Justin Verlander ALCS G2
Last first for Dodgers since: 2004 Jose Lima NLDS G3

This is the first time the Dodgers got consecutive postseason starts of 8+ innings since Oct. 4-5, 1988 Games 1 & 2 of NLCS vs. Mets – Orel Hershiser & Tim Belcher.
h/t @EliasSports

Allowed leadoff home run and threw complete game, postseason history:
2025 NLCS G2 Yoshinobu Yamamoto
1954 WS G2 Johnny Antonelli
1942 WS G5 Johnny Beazley 
1909 WS G5 Babe Adams
Only Yamamoto and Antonelli also allowed no other runs

The Dodgers are the 5th team in postseason history to allow a leadoff home run and allow no other runs the rest of the game, joining:
2025 ALCS G1 Mariners 
2018 WS G5 Red Sox
2012 ALDS G1 Tigers 
1954 WS G2 Giants

Lowest starters ERA in 1st 8 games of a postseason:
2018 Brewers: 0.68 (26 2/3 IP)
2012 Tigers: 0.96 (56 1/3)
1972 A's: 1.33 (54)
1981 Dodgers : 1.44 (62 1/3)
1995 Cleveland: 1.46 (55 2/3)
2025 Dodgers: 1.54 (52 2/3)
1983 Orioles: 1.54 (52 2/3)
1981 Expos: 1.54 (58 1/3)

Complete game with no opponent at-bats with runners in scoring position, postseason last 20 years:
2025 NLCS G2 Yoshinobu Yamamoto
2010 NLDS G1 Roy Halladay (no-hitter)
2005 ALCS G3 Jon Garland

Fewest hits allowed in first two games of a postseason series:
2019 NLCS Nationals: 4
2025 NLCS Dodgers: 5
1906 WS Cubs: 5

The Dodgers are the second team (2016 Blue Jays) to not throw a CG in the regular season and then throw one in that postseason 
But TOR's CG was a loss and only 8 IP
So the Dodgers are the first to do so in a win 
h/t @Spokes_Murphy
Since ERA became official in both leagues in 1913, only one MLB pitcher has had a 6-start span at any point (reg or post) with:
5-0 or better record
sub-1.00 ERA
50+ strikeouts
15 or fewer hits allowed
That pitcher is Blake Snell over his last 6 starts (3 reg, 3 post).

Blake Snell of the Dodgers is the first MLB pitcher to face the minimum through 8.0 innings of a postseason game since Don Larsen in his 1956 perfect game.

Jorge Polanco of the Mariners is the first player in MLB history to have a go-ahead hit in the 5th inning or later in 3 consecutive postseason games.

Blake Snell has won his last four postseason games, with more strikeouts than innings pitched in each game. It's the longest such streak in MLB postseason history.

Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers is the second rookie in MLB history to earn a win without starting in each of the first two games of his postseason career, joining Francisco Rodriguez, who did so with the Angels in 2002.

This Tigers-Mariners Game 5 is the fourth winner-take-all game in MLB postseason history to go 12+ innings, joining Rockies over Cubs (2018 WC, 13 inn), Royals over A's (2014, WC, 12) and Senators over Giants (1924, WS Gm7, 12).

Kerry Carpenter is the first MLB player to reach base five times and hit a home run in a winner-take-all postseason game since Babe Ruth in 1926 (World Series Game 7).

Tarik Skubal is the first player in MLB history to strike out 13 batters in a game twice in the same postseason.

Schadenfreude 371 (A Continuing Series)


Brian Cashman's Biggest Challenge Is Fixing The Yankee Offense
Bill Madden, Daily News, October 11, 2025 

Now that another Yankee season has concluded prematurely without a championship trophy, the usual finger-pointing begins and fans in every corner of Yankeeland are looking for culprits. But I'm here to say in this latest playoff elimination at the hands of the Blue Jays the blame should fall squarely on the players themselves.

In short, the Blue Jays proved themselves to be a better team — and that was not the fault of Yankees GM Brian Cashman. He did everything he could . . .

You could certainly make the case — as I have — that no GM in baseball had a better year than Cashman . . . 

What the AL Division Series — and actually their regular season matchups in which the Yankees were 5-8 against the Blue Jays — came down to was a matter of Toronto being the best team in baseball in terms of making contact and putting the ball in play and the Yankees one of the worst. During the season the Jays' batters had the most hits and second lowest strikeouts in the majors.

By contrast, the Yankees had the third most strikeouts behind only the Rockies and Angels, and the 12th most hits. In addition, the Yankees hit 83 more homers than the Jays during the season but scored only 43 more runs.  When it came to clutch hitting, the Jays led the majors hitting .292 with runners in scoring position as opposed to the Yankees who ranked 12th at .255.

Although on paper it could be argued the Yankees had a quality player at every position . . . the fact remained they were still the same home run-or-bust offense they've been for the last few years. And it was much the same in the ALDS as the Jays out-hit the Yankees 37-24 in the four games and struck out only 34 times to the Yankees' 50 — 12 of them by Anthony Volpe.

Which brings us to what comes now for Cashman in his effort to rectify the one over-riding Yankee flaw that seemingly shows up way too many times in the regular season and especially against good pitching in the postseason – too many damn strikeouts and two few multi-hit rallies. If Cashman could be blamed for anything this year it was his blind loyalty to Volpe, who hit .212 with 150 strikeouts and just 43 walks in one of the historically worst seasons ever by a major league shortstop. And his 73.3 strikeout percentage in the ALDS was the worst mark ever in a divisional series (minimum 15 plate appearances).

This cannot continue. . . .

What the Yankees need more than anything else is a leadoff hitter, who makes consistent contact and doesn't strike out. They're . . . looking at turning over left and center field to the kids (Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones). But again we're talking more strikeouts — Dominguez had 115 as opposed to 41 walks as a part-timer this year and Jones . . . had a disturbing 179 strikeouts [in AA and AAA]. . . .

It's what Cashman does about the hitting that will once again determine how far they go in October.
So . . . the Yankees getting humiliated in the ALDS "was not the fault" of the team's General Manager, who "did everything he could". In fact, "no GM in baseball had a better year", so presumably none of the other 29 GMs could have constructed the Yankees' 2025 roster any better than Cashman.

AND YET . . . the MFY's lineup was "still the same home run-or-bust offense" that their fans have loudly complained about for years. Indeed, Cashman has let "the last few years" go by without addressing the team's "over-riding" "flaw" of "too many damn strikeouts and two few multi-hit rallies". (That's "too few multi-hit rallies", Bill and Bill's editor.)

So "once again", Yankee fans have to wait and see if Cashman at last will turn his attention to something he has been either ignoring for years or consistently failing to fix, despite that "flaw" being blindingly obvious to everyone who watches the team. I don't know, Bill, it sounds to me like Cashman's culpability in the Yankees' chronic postseason failures (16 consecutive YEDs (and 24 of the last 25 seasons) at this point) is not nothing.

Madden's thesis is that Cashman is all but blameless for his team's poor showing – the blame rests "squarely on the players" – but he spends almost all of his piece outlining how Cashman – with access to seemingly endless amounts of money – brought these blame-worthy players together and put them on the field.

You can't blame players for not doing what they are incapable of. If the Yankees need to abandon their masterplan of "too many damn strikeouts and two few multi-hit rallies", someone in charge of the roster should sign players who don't strikeout too damn much and can hit for a higher average. 

It seems as though Cashman and Boone will keep on doing the thing that fails everytime and hope that blind luck brings them a different result. That's fine with me, because I take great pleasure in the Yankees' chronic misfortune.

October 12, 2025

One Of These Four Teams Will Win The 2025 World Series: Brewers, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Mariners

This is not a thoughtful and incisive overview of the ALCS and NLCS. I was looking up some things yesterday and figured I'd share them rather than not.

First of all, I was extremely pleased to watch the Blue Jays hardly break a sweat while humiliating the Yankees. But then I thought . . . shit, the Blue Jays are now really close to going to the World Series. . . . which means they could actually win the World Series. . . . But then I thought, I no longer live outside Toronto (and am extremely unlikely to ever set foot in Skydome again) and the few Blue Jays fans I would encounter on the west coast are not the annoying know-nothing assholes in Ontario. . . . But I would rather see any of the other three teams remaining win it all.

My preferences, in order:

Mariners (how can I root against a team with the Big Dumper on it?)
Dodgers (Roberts . . . Mookie . . . Ohtani . . . but they won last year)
Brewers (not the Blue Jays; franchise debuted as the Seattle Pilots)
Blue Jays (superb job humiliating the Yankees, but you can all fuck off now)

Normal Endorsement: with Scuttlebutt Beer to produce Big Dumper beer.
Unusual Endorsement: with Honey Bucket ("a leader in portable sanitation services")

The 2025 World Series will feature a matchup that has never happened before. This would have been a bigger deal if interleague play did not exist. But it does. In 2025, the Mariners and Blue Jays each played both the Brewers and Dodgers. And they have done that for the past three seasons. (So that's ruined.)

Mariners

2021: vs Dodgers: 1-3
2023: vs Dodgers: 0-3 / vs Brewers: 0-3
2024: vs Dodgers: 0-3 / vs Brewers: 1-2
2025: vs Dodgers: 0-3 / vs Brewers: 1-2

Blue Jays

2022: vs Brewers: 1-2
2023: vs Brewers: 2-1 / vs Dodgers: 2-1
2024: vs Brewers: 1-2 / vs Dodgers: 1-2
2025: vs Brewers: 1-2 / vs Dodgers: 1-2

2021-25:

Blue Jays vs Brewers: 5-7 / vs Dodgers: 4-5
Mariners vs Brewers:  2-7 / vs Dodgers: 1-12
Brewers vs Blue Jays: 7-5 / vs Mariners: 7-2
Dodgers vs Blue Jays: 5-4 / vs Mariners: 12-1

The Mariners finished atop the AL West standings for the first time since 2001, when they won an astonishing 116 games. In 2025, they won 90 games, their most wins in a full season since 2003

Mariners Seasons Winning 90+ Games

2001 116-46
2003 93-69
2002 93-69
2025 90-72
2022 90-72
2021 90-72

In 2022, Seattle was one of the wild card teams, making their first postseason appearance in more than two decades. They beat the Blue Jays in the ALWC 4-0 and 10-9. And then they lost three straight ALDS games to the Astros 8-7, 4-2 and 1-0 (18 innings).

Mariners in the Postseason

1995 Lost ALCS 2-4 to Cleveland, won ALDS 3-2 (Yankees)
1997 Lost ALDS 1-3 to Orioles
2000 Lost ALCS 2-4 to Yankees, won ALDS 3-0 (White Sox)
2001 Lost ALCS 1-4 to Yankees, won ALDS 3-2 (Cleveland)
2002 Lost ALDS 0-3 to Astros, won ALWCS 2-0 (Blue Jays)
2025 ALCS vs Blue Jays, won ALDS 3-2 (Tigers)

Blue Jays' Winningest Seasons, All-Time

1985 99-62 Lost ALCS 4-3 to Royals
1992 96-66 Won World Series 4-2 (Atlanta), won ALCS 4-2 (Athletics)
1987 96-66 2.0 GB in ALE
1993 95-67 Won World Series 4-2 (Phillies), won ALCS 4-2 (White Sox)
2025 94-68 ALCS vs Mariners, won ALDS 3-1 (Yankees)

Blue Jays in the ALCS

1985 Lost 3-4 to Royals
1989 Lost 1-4 to Athletics
1991 Lost 1-4 to Twins
1992 Won 4-2 over Athletics, won World Series 4-2 over Atlanta
1992 Won 4-2 over White Sox, won World Series 4-2 over Phillies
2015 Lost 2-4 to Royals, won ALDS 3-2 (Texas)
2016 Lost 1-4 to Cleveland, won ALDS 3-0 (Texas), won ALWC 1-0 (Orioles)
2025 ALCS vs Mariners, won ALDS 3-1 over Yankees

The Brewers Have Played In Four Divisions

1969 AL West (6-team division; Seattle Pilots)
1970-71 AL West (6-team division)
1972-76 AL East (6-team division)
1977-93    AL East  (7-team division)
1994-97 AL Central (5-team division)
1998-2012 NL Central (6-team division)
2013-25    NL Central (5-team division)

Brewers in the Postseason

1981 Lost ALDS 2-3 to Yankees
1982 Lost World Series 3-4 to Cardinals, won ALDS 3-2 (Angels)
2008 Lost NLDS 1-3 to Phillies
2011 Lost NLCS 2-4 to Cardinals, won NLDS 3-2 (Diamondbacks)
2018 Lost NLCS 3-4 to Dodgers, won NLDS 3-0 (Rockies)
2019 Lost NLWCG 0-1 to Nationals
2020 Lost NLWCS 0-2 to Dodgers
2021 Lost NLDS 1-3 to Atlanta
2023 Lost NLWCS 0-2 to Diamondbacks
2024 Lost NLWCS 1-2 to Mets
2025 NLCS vs Dodgers, won NLDS 3-2 (Cubs)

It's well-known that the Dodgers are playing in the postseason for the 13th consecutive season, but I 'm shocked to see that the Brewers have been a postseason team in seven of the last eight seasons, but they have been bounced so early (a 1-8 record from 2019-23), their presence has hardly registered.

October 9, 2025

Schadenfreude 370 (A Continuing Series)


UPDATE: All NY tabloid back pages now uploaded. Also: SuperVlad photo!







Hilarious! Not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, but an amazing FIVE TIMES!!!!!







Yankees' Season Comes To Bitter End With Lifeless ALDS Game 4 Dud
Andrew Battifarano, Post

Another fall of discontent has arrived.

The Yankees have gotten there in many different ways over the past 16 years, but the all-too-familiar end result came crashing in with a thud on Wednesday night in The Bronx.

A thrilling comeback in Game 3 . . . only delayed the crushing disappointment that came with Game 4.

The offense . . . went silent at the worst time, the Yankees mustering just six hits against a parade of relievers in a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays in front of a restless sellout crowd . . .

[T]he Yankees are going home after the ALDS, with the Blue Jays winning the series 3-1 . . . 

At the beginning of the postseason, Aaron Boone said that he felt as good about this team as any he had managed in his eight years at the helm. And yet . . . these Yankees ended the same as each of the last 15 iterations: coming up short. . . .

[T]he Yankees spent Wednesday searching for the big hit – or any hits, really. . . .

The Yankees stranded eight runners over the final four innings, only adding to the pain as they watched the game and their season slip through their fingers in slow motion.

Cam Schlittler . . . pitch[ed] into the seventh inning with a 2-1 deficit. He generated what should have been an inning-ending double play, but Andrés Gimenez's grounder shot off Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s glove and sailed into center field, putting runners on the corners.

Nathan Lukes made the Yankees pay, lining a two-run single off Devin Williams that gave the Blue Jays some breathing room at 4-1.

After Chisholm had stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the sixth, Trent Grisham had another chance to get the Yankees back in it in the seventh with two on and two out. But Grisham . . . capped off a rough postseason (4-for-29) by popping out in foul territory.

The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the eighth . . . further quieting a crowd that was starting to come to grips with reality.

The Yankees offered one last gasp in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with two outs, only for Austin Wells to fly out against closer Jeff Hoffman.

The pesky Blue Jays lineup gave the Yankees pitching staff one more night of frustration in a series full of it. It had beat up on the Yankees' starters in the first three games, as Luis Gil, Max Fried and Carlos Rodón combined to last just eight innings while giving up 15 runs.

Schlittler . . . did what none of Gil, Fried or Rodón could do by recording an out in the fourth inning.  . . .



Jazz Chisholm's Costly Error Pushes Yankees Season To The Edge
Justin Terranova, Post

Shoddy Yankees defense in an elimination game — we've seen this movie before.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. allowed the Blue Jays to break a 2-1 game open in the seventh inning on Wednesday night in The Bronx when the second baseman botched an inning-ending double play ball.

With one out and new Yankees killer Ernie Clement on first base, Andres Gimenez hit a one-hop bullet up the middle that deflected off Chisholm's glove and into center field.

The error ended Cam Schlittler's night . . . Devin Williams replaced the young righty, and after striking out leadoff man George Springer, Nathan Lukes lined a two-run single to left to increase Toronto's lead to 4-1.

On the Fox broadcast, analyst John Smoltz claimed the ball on Chisholm's miscue "exploded" off the edge of the grass, and that made the play more difficult for the second baseman.

The veteran was coming off an up-and-down Game 3 when he fell asleep on a relay throw, allowing a Blue Jays run to score . . . 

The Yankees dealt with an offseason of criticism after several brutal defensive blunders allowed the Dodgers to rally in Game 5 of the World Series to end the 2024 season.

Yankees Doomed By Missed Opportunities As Season Ends With ALDS Game 4 Loss To Blue Jays
Peter Sblendorio, Daily News

For the Yankees, the scene was all too familiar.

For the second year in a row, opponents spilled out of the visitors' dugout and mobbed each other on the Yankee Stadium grass.

Last year, it was the Los Angeles Dodgers who clinched their World Series title in the Bronx.

On Wednesday night, it was the Toronto Blue Jays doing the celebrating after defeating the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS.

But for the Yankees, the result was ultimately the same. . . .

"You don't like seeing somebody celebrate on your field," Aaron Judge said . . .

The Blue Jays — the Yankees' Achilles heal all season — proved again to be the superior team by winning the ALDS, 3-1.

Toronto outscored the Yankees, 34-19, over the four games, but Wednesday night's clincher was much more about missed opportunities by the Yankees . . .

The Blue Jays deployed a bullpen game, and the Yankees managed only six hits against eight Toronto relievers.

The Yankees stranded at least two baserunners in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, the last of which ended when Austin Wells, who represented the tying run, flew out with the bases on the first pitch he saw . . .

The Yankees finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.

"We didn't execute when we needed to," Giancarlo Stanton said. . . .

Schlittler surrendered an RBI single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first inning and a sacrifice fly to George Springer in the fifth, the latter of which gave Toronto the lead for good.

But the Blue Jays didn't pull away until the seventh inning, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. booted a one-hopper off the bat of Andres Gimenez. Had Chisholm come up with the ball, he could have turned an inning-ending double play.

Instead, the error put runners at the corners and ended Schlittler's night. Both runners would score on Nathan Lukes' two-out, two-run single against Devin Williams, which gave Toronto a 4-1 lead.

"I didn't think it was gonna play the way it played," Chisholm said. . . . "Can't get it out of my head . . ." . . .

Guerrero went 9-for-17 (.529) with three home runs, nine RBI and a 1.609 OPS in the ALDS, further cementing his status as a Yankee killer. . . .

"The ending's the worst, right?" manager Aaron Boone said.

Aaron Judge's Scorching Playoffs Ends Without A Last Best Chance To Save Yankees' Season
Dan Martin, Post

Aaron Judge . . . couldn't keep the Yankees alive.

And another historic season from the slugger ended without a World Series title. . . .

[H]e never got his best chance to alter the game on Wednesday, as with runners on first and second and two out and the Yankees down by three runs in the seventh, Trent Grisham continued a miserable postseason by popping out to shortstop Andrés Giménez, who made a terrific catch down the line in foul territory to end the inning and keep Judge in the on-deck circle.

By the time he came up again, the Yankees trailed by four as he led off the bottom of the eighth and struck out. . . .

[Judge singled twice] but too few of his teammates joined him in the finale, as the Yankees failed to get much going offensively — even with Toronto going with a bullpen game. . . .

[This] October exit . . . was no fault of Judge's and that hasn't always been the case, something that's been well chronicled since his October slump began in 2018.



The Ugly Truth That You Can't Ignore About These High-Priced Yankees
Jon Heyman, Post

The $320 million Yankees are an October failure once again. No other way to look at it . . .

This year they couldn't even survive a junior circuit without a juggernaut.

They were ushered out by a bargain Blue Jays bullpen. They pitched poorly the first two games of the ALDS, then didn't hit enough in an unsatisfying 5-2 defeat before a very sad, sold-out crowd . . .

So to summarize: They went out without a division title, then followed up with a losing record in the postseason . . . 

The highest-priced AL team is too talented to be ushered out of the playoff derby in four mostly unsightly, unhappy division series games, too talented to fail to show up strong for their second round.

That's what they'll surely tell themselves . . . 

No reason this series should have been a rout. But it was that. The Blue Jays outscored the Yankees 33-19. They split here at Yankee Stadium, but let's not forget the Jays decimated the Yankees two games Up North. . . .

This team should not have gone out like so many others, as a quick casualty. This team has big names. . . .

[T]hey didn't get it done when they had to. . . .

Judge hit a home run that will become part of Yankee lore [JoS: No, it won't.] . . . 

Judge calls his teammates "the boys." Whatever you call them, collectively they didn't do enough.

As a team, they simply got outplayed and outclassed. . . .

Better to begin thinking about what they can make of themselves next year.

Next year. That's supposed to be the rallying cry of a perennial also-ran . . . 

Yet, this is where they are. They are in the very spot they've been 15 of the past 16 years, out way too soon. [JoS: I gotta tell ya, Jon, that sounds like "a perennial also-ran".]

They didn't hit like they can. And they didn't pitch like any playoff team should. . . .

Folks were figuring this was a toss-up. Then they started playing.

The $218M ace Max Fried didn't get an out in the fourth inning in Game 2. And he lasted longer than Luis Gil the game before. And longer than Carlos Rodón did in Game 3 on Tuesday.

Together the three of them didn't even combine for a complete nine innings. That's the saddest stat of the sorry week.

The Yankees didn't hit enough either, at least not when it counted. . . .

Next year should work out better, really it should.

Yankees Are Stuck In An Endless Loop — And It's Getting Harder To Believe They'll Ever Figure It Out
Joel Sherman, Post

These days, the only thing around the Yankees that has a ring to it is the familiarity of falling short this time of year.

The Yankees are now through a 16th straight season without a title. . . .

[T]heir season concluded with another team triumphantly celebrating on The Bronx grass. 

The Yankees once more are in their endless loop, trying to convince themselves and others that they really have the ingredients to be a champion as the title drought drives on. And as it becomes a little harder each year to believe that it is in them . . .

"It's the worst conversation to have," Giancarlo Stanton said of the annual explanation of why the Yankees have fallen short. . . .

The Yankees were eliminated Wednesday night in division series Game 4. The Blue Jays won behind their offensive style — relentlessly putting the ball in play . . . The Yankees lost without delivering enough of what they do best — putting the ball over a fence. . . .

An overmatched Anthony Volpe, a regressed Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. combined for nine hits in this series — or the same number as the pesky Ernie Clement, who symbolizes Toronto's tenaciousness mode. The Blue Jays force you to keep playing the ball, which the Yankees did remarkably well — until they didn't. Until Chisholm made a seventh-inning error . . . two unearned runs . . . score[d] and the door to a cold Yankees winter was again being walked through. . . .

[T]here is a familiarity to it now for the Yankees. . . . 

Judge's dramatic Game 3 three-run homer [became] a feel-good pit stop for the Yankees rather than a series-changer. It helped provide just an extra 24 hours of life for the team . . . Chisholm said was coming into October to "step on necks." [They] lasted seven playoff games and won three of them. . . .

So we will get the familiar outcry that comes with this time of year — that the Yankees must fire Brian Cashman and Boone . . . [But] under this version of the House of Steinbrenner, that duo has the job security of Supreme Court justices. . . . [T]he Yankees did not lose this division series because of managing. . . .

Judge will be 34 in April . . . Stanton turns 36 next month. Gerrit Cole turned 35 last month . . . [T]he sands are beginning to run thin to change the mantra away from "Wait Till Next Year." . . .

Volpe looked as lost as ever, striking out in all three at-bats in Game 4 to make it 16 in 26 at-bats this postseason. . . . 

The Yankees again figured out how to get to the biggest games. But again didn't win enough of them. . . .

For a 16th straight season, not good enough.


The Yankees Are Becoming Next Year's Team Far Too Often
Mike Vaccaro, Post

"Wait till next year!" 

That's what the Yankees are right now. They are Next Year's team. 

Cody Bellinger struck out at 10:31 p.m., and that slammed the trunk on the 2025 Yankees, meaning it's now 16 years without a World Series championship. . . .

Hal Steinbrenner might not express his anger the way his father did. But let his own words from earlier this year speak for the man: "If you think it doesn't make me sleepless-at-night furious when we fall short of our goals … let me put it this way: Tell me you don't know me without telling me you don't know me." 

That's hollow consolation right now, as hollow as the 94 wins the Yankees piled up across the regular season . . .

[Aaron Judge:] "You didn't win. It's not what you want." 

Said Aaron Boone: "The ending is the worst." . . .

What's going to rankle a lot of Yankees fans . . . and what ought to chafe Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman and Boone the most — is that for the second straight season they weren't just eliminated by a better team, but by a team that by its own fundamentally sound standards exposed those same deficiencies in the Yankees. 

Last year it was the Dodgers . . . This time . . . it was the Blue Jays, a team it seemed the Yankees never quite believed was as good as its record . . . even as they seized control of this series before finally closing it out. 

The Jays, 1 through 9, specialized in quality at-bats. . . . The Jays don't have the black hole in their lineup of Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells [and Ryan McMahon] . . . 

The Jays run the bases better. They play defense better . . . They do everything better except hit home runs — and they did that pretty well, too . . . So the Jays have a date on Sunday against either the Mariners or the Tigers, four out of seven to win a pennant. 

The Yankees? 

The Yankees have next year. . . .

That's how it's been for Next Year's darlings, the Yankees, for 16 straight years, going on 17. And for who knows how many more?

SUPERVLAD LAUNCHING HIMSELF TOWARDS THE PLATE!




Vladimir Guerrero Channels David Ortiz To Mock Yankees In Beer-Soaked Blue Jays Celebration
Michael Blinn, Post

On the heels of their 5-2 win in Game 4 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium –  advancing them to the American League Championship Series – Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero twisted the knife in a postgame interview from the clubhouse on Fox on Wednesday night.

"Daaaaaaa Yankees lose!" he said after being showered with beer in the raucous scene, channeling former Red Sox great David Ortiz.

That drew laughter from Ortiz, a noted Yankees hater, who didn't need much pleading to get Guerrero to repeat himself.

Yankees icons Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were less enthused on the FS1 panel.

If there is any Yankees pain that comes with the words, it's secondary to that inflicted by the first baseman in the four-game series.

He batted an absurd .529 in the series (9-for-17) with three home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.609 OPS to continue his longstanding torment of the Bronx Bombers.

Guerrero – who has held a decades-long grudge against the Yankees – wasn't alone in his trolling.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider implored his team to "Start spreading the news, bitches!" Before they blasted Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" and then sprayed everyone and everything down in the visitors' locker room at the Stadium with champagne and beer.







Tormented By Toronto All Year, The Yankees' Season Comes To A Fitting And Disappointing End
Gary Phillips, Daily News

The Yankees . . . entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in baseball . . .

Then came those pesky Blue Jays in the ALDS.

Tormented by Toronto all year, the Yankees saw their season end with a Game 4 loss . . . after losing two laughers north of the border and delaying elimination with a win on Tuesday. . . .

[In] the Yankees' clubhouse, Boone called it a "beat-up room" . . . By the time reporters entered the space, cardboard boxes and half-packed suitcases sat in front of nearly every locker. The screech of packing tape and metallic zippers replaced the voice of George Benson, whose 1980 hit, "Give Me The Night," has become a staple of the Yankees' post-win playlist.

Then there were players, whose comments were loaded with sorrow after yet another season ended without a title. . . .

Giancarlo Stanton, who hit an uncharacteristic .192 this postseason . . . "The frustration adds each year and each time we gotta come up and do this."

Anthony Volpe, mostly at a loss for words after striking out 13 times in four ALDS games, kept calling the Yankees' early exit "brutal." Max Fried . . . regretted that he wouldn't have a chance to redeem himself for his Game 2 clunker. . . .

Unable to overcome their latest bout with adversity — the Bombers left the bases loaded in the eighth and totaled 10 stranded runners — the Yankees could only watch in distress as their division rivals celebrated on their home turf. It felt somewhat fitting, their season snuffed out by Toronto as the untidy play that plagued the team all summer reared its ugly head. . . .

With their postseason now over, the Yankees went 6-11 against the Jays overall. That includes losing 8-of-9 games at the Rogers Centre . . . Toronto exploded for a record-setting 23 runs there between Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS. . . .

The Yankees, meanwhile, came up short in their attempts to avenge last year's World Series loss, a messy showing that had the bottom of the Dodgers' victorious roster mocking them all offseason. Fresh off another letdown, the Yankees are left to contemplate the future . . .

[T]ime is of the essence.

Judge . . . only has so many prime years left . . . Stanton and Gerrit Cole, who didn't throw a pitch this year thanks to Tommy John surgery, aren't getting any younger, either. Both are 35 . . .

Clarke Schmidt will also miss time in 2026 after his own Tommy John procedure . . .

The bullpen will be a major offseason project, as the unit routinely struggled from start to finish this season. . . .

[J]ust how many of those players will the Yankees want back . . .?

At first glance, the response may be "not many" . . .

October 8, 2025

Yankee Elimination Day – 2025

YED!
2025 EDITION


Yankee Elimination Days
YED 2001 - November 4
YED 2002 - October 5
YED 2003 - October 25
YED 2004 - October 20
YED 2005 - October 10
YED 2006 - October 7
YED 2007 - October 8
YED 2008 - September 23
YED 2010 - October 22
YED 2011 - October 6
YED 2012 - October 18
YED 2013 - September 25
YED 2014 - September 24
YED 2015 - October 6
YED 2016 - September 29
YED 2017 - October 21
YED 2018 - October 9
YED 2019 - October 19
YED 2020 - October 9
YED 2021 - October 5
YED 2022 - October 23
YED 2023 - September 24
YED 2024 - October 29
YED 2025 - OCTOBER 8
Bottoms up, motherfuckers!

YEDs highlighted in red are seasons in which the Red Sox directly eliminated the Yankees.

October 7, 2025

Schadenfreude 369 (A Continuing Series)

What Lies At The Heart Of The Yankees' Season-Threatening Lost Weekend In Toronto
Zach Braziller, Post

Somewhat lost amid the [ALWC series win] was the underwhelming offensive performance in that three-game series. The Yankees moved on in spite of their lineup's shortcomings.

It hasn't gotten better in the ALDS, a major reason the Yankees will face elimination in Game 3 in The Bronx trailing, 2-0. 

Look, the pitching has been abysmal. Max Fried laid a complete egg on Sunday, hammered for seven earned runs in three-plus innings.

On Saturday, the bullpen led by Luke Weaver turned a close game into a rout after Luis Gil was ineffective in 2.2 shaky innings. You're not winning games by allowing 23 runs in two games . . .

But this series really began to turn on Saturday, when, in the sixth inning and the Yankees down 2-0, Aaron Judge struck out with the bases loaded and nobody out, and the Yankees managed just one run.

They were non-competitive against rookie Trey Yesavage a day later, striking out 11 times in 5.1 innings without managing a hit against the righty. . . .

The Blue Jays haven't made mistakes to give the Yankees chances to rally.

They have hammered their pitching and shut down the Bronx Bombers, who have gone deep just once in the two lopsided games. It has given Toronto a stranglehold in this series, needing just one more victory to advance to the ALCS. 

Yankees Confident Coming Home Will Change Their Fortune: 'Handle Business'
Greg Joyce, Post

The Yankees need coming home to matter, or else they are actually going home. 

After leaving the building that has doubled as their personal hell this season at a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five ALDS, the Yankees returned home Monday for an off-day, trying to shake off a pair of embarrassing blowouts to extend their season past Tuesday's Game 3. . . .

"It's going to be different," Will Warren said . . . "We're a good team." . . . 

The Yankees insist they have been preparing for this moment all season.

But doing it against the Blue Jays will be a different kind of challenge, coming off being handled by a combined score of 23-8 in Games 1 and 2 . . . 

Carlos Rodón will be tasked with trying to hold a pesky Blue Jays lineup off the board . . .

"We're human. You feel things," manager Aaron Boone said Monday. "It sucks when you lose."

Fan Comments

Eyeman
"Pesky" lineup ? They got bludgeoned 23-8, that's not "pesky".

Scott Zimmer
Delusional! Nothing about this team gives any confidence they can win 1 game much less 3. Not one player has done anything to give them a chance

The Yankees Are Doomed If Aaron Judge Keeps 'Passing The Baton'
Joel Sherman, Post

. . . the odds are not exactly stacked in their favor.

There have been 90 best-of-five series in MLB history in which a team has gone up 2-0. And only 10 times has the trailing team rebounded to advance. On the past 18 occasions that a club has built a 2-0 advantage, it has won the series 17 times, including 11 in a sweep. . . .

It feels impossible to believe these Yankees can construct a three-game winning streak and reach the ALCS unless Judge transforms from a singles-hitting Luis Arraez to All Rise. . . . [S]even of his [eight] hits are singles. There are no homers and just two RBIs — one a present when Red Sox left fielder Jarren Darren botched a fly ball and the other was a single in Game 2 . . . that brought the Yankees to within 13-2.

When asked how he was feeling at the plate after Game 2, Judge said, ". . . Trying not to do too much. Help the team. . . . just kind of passing the baton."

That is a wonderful vanilla sound bite. But I am sure that was not, say, what Judge and his representatives led with when they convinced Hal Steinbrenner to award him $360 million — you know, he is just one of the boys passing a baton. . . .

There is a Baseball Reference metric called Win Probability Added that attempts to determine which plate appearances most influenced a victory.

Judge's No. 1 in 63 postseason games is a two-run game-tying homer he hit off Emmanuel Clase in last year's ALCS Game 3 — a game the Yankees lost to the Guardians.

No. 2 is an eighth-inning double off Ken Giles in 2017 ALCS Game 4 that tied the score.

No. 3 is a two-run homer off Triston McKenzie in the third inning of 2022 division series Game 3, which the Yankees also would lose.

No. 4: A fourth-inning two-run homer off Justin Verlander in an ALCS Game 2 against the Astros that the Yankees also would lose. 

No. 5: A first-inning two-run homer off Jack Flaherty in last year's World Series Game 5 — a game in which he dropped a fifth-inning fly ball that would open the door to the comeback that would seal a title for the Dodgers.

You are getting the picture right: Lots of early innings, lots of losses. . . .

What seems impossible is the Yankees assembling a season-saving three-game winning streak without Judge finally putting an indelible signature on October.

This Is Aaron Judge's Time To Rise, But He'll Need Help To Save The Yankees' Season
Peter Botte, Post

The Yankees have been here before, including Aaron Judge.

No. 99 was a rookie in 2017, when the Yanks dropped the first two games of the AL Division Series in Cleveland . . .

Judge . . . finish[ed] his first career playoff series with an anemic batting average of .050 (1-for-20) with no home runs and 16 strikeouts, his first of several poor postseason showings for the Yankees over the past decade.

Down 0-2 again while headed back to The Bronx for Game 3 on Tuesday night — after getting thumped in Toronto by a 23-8 aggregate — the Yankees need a lot to change in order to push this five-game set back to Canada. . . .

The longer the starters last, obviously the fewer outs will be required to be amassed by a shaky bullpen . . .

The pinstriped offense also needs to build on the garbage-time runs it produced against the Jays' bullpen . . .

And they absolutely need Judge, more than ever, to carry them back into this series, especially with runners in scoring position.

Yes, the 2025 playoffs have seen [Judge] hit at a sturdy .444 clip (8-for-18) through five games against the Red Sox and the Blue Jays.

But those numbers also have taken on an empty-calories type of feel with no homers and only two RBIs.

Why Yankees Hitting Coach Won't 'Panic' With Power Outage Threatening Their Season
Dan Martin, Post

The Yankees enter Game 3 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays with just one homer and 21 strikeouts in the first two games. . . .

But strikeouts aren't the only aspect of the offense that's ailing the Yankees . . .

[I]t would be one thing if the Yankees were going down swinging with some home runs mixed in, but Cody Bellinger's shot late in Game 2 is the Yankees' lone homer through the first 18 innings. . . .

Of the wild-card teams still playing, only the Tigers went into Tuesday with fewer homers than the Yankees' three over five postseason games.

And they struck out 13 times in Game 1 of the wild-card series, mostly due to Boston's Garrett Crochet, and then 15 more times in Game 2 of the ALDS, with rookie Trey Yesavage doing most of the damage.

Anthony Volpe tops the team with 10 strikeouts, while Trent Grisham . . . is next with eight. And Ben Rice has whiffed seven times in just 15 at-bats.

Coupled with the fact that Aaron Judge has gotten on base, but provided very little power, and Giancarlo Stanton has mostly struggled so far this October, and the Yankees lineup is a mess.

They did most of their damage in their highest-scoring game of the playoffs against the mediocre part of the Blue Jays' bullpen when Game 2 was well out of reach.

Trent Grisham Has Gone From Clutch To Nonexistent In Major Yankees Concern
Andrew Crane, Post

The issue hasn't been isolated just to Trent Grisham.

But with the Yankees lineup mostly sputtering throughout their ALDS series and even the wild-card series, their clutch hitter from the regular season has been anything but that. 

Grisham will enter a win-or-stay-home Game 3 hitting 3-for-20 in the 2025 playoffs with eight strikeouts.

He also is hitting .165 with 36 strikeouts a .577 OPS through 24 career postseason games.

But Boone defended his center fielder Monday — calling it the "nature of the playoffs" . . .

"I trust Trent Grisham and his at-bat quality," Boone said. . . .

Boone referenced Grisham's wild-card series with the Padres against the Mets in 2022 as a glimpse of how he can perform on this stage.

Grisham hit .500 that series and ended up with three homers that postseason, but once the NLCS arrived, he didn't collect a hit — and has gone 3-for-39 (.077) with 17 strikeouts in 10 postseason games since that Phillies series began. . . .

Grisham — nicknamed "Big Sleep" by the Yankees — . . . struck out four times in Game 1 of the wild-card series and three times in Game 2 of the ALDS . . .

"He's going to not get overwhelmed by a situation," Boone said.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Is A Yankees Problem With No Apparent Answer
Andrew Crane, Post

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still doesn't know why.

He's faced questions about it before, about why his numbers at Yankee Stadium — 16 homers, 30 RBIs, a 1.002 OPS in 48 games — are so strong, and the $500 million Blue Jays superstar can't explain it outside of feeling good.

But Guerrero's tormenting of the Yankees has stretched beyond The Bronx.

He collected a .302 average with a .918 OPS across 102 regular-season games against them and added another chapter during Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS — going 6-for-10, providing a solo homer in the opener and then delivering a dagger of a grand slam Sunday. . . .

[W]ith the Yankees already crumbling Sunday, Guerrero blasted a Will Warren pitch 415 feet. There was the bat flip. There was the Rogers Centre crowd erupting around him. There was the foghorn going off and little hints of poetry and irony and cinema all colliding together in one iconic playoff moment. . . .

[T]he Yankees have been left raving about Guerrero. . . . Someone who can beat out infield hits, provide pressure on the bases and — more generally — "really cemented himself as kind of the face and leader of that organization."

Someone who — for the 2025 postseason, for the 2025 regular season, for all of his career — the Yankees haven't discovered any answers for.

October 6, 2025

Schadenfreude 368 (A Continuing Series)







Facts:

In postseason history, teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-5 series have gone on to win that series 80 of 90 times (88.9%)
In Division Series w/current 2-2-1 format, teams to win both G1+2 at home have advanced 31 of 34 times (91.2%), incl 20 sweeps

The Blue Jays scored 20 consecutive runs between Yankees runs 
They're the first team in postseason history to score 20 consecutive runs within a series

The Blue Jays' 23 runs are the most by a team in the first two games of a single postseason

Which also means . . .

The Yankees are the only team in major league history to give up 20 consecutive runs within one postseason series.

The Yankees are the only team in major league history to allow 23 runs in the first two games of a postseason series.

Vladimir Guerrero Sr. & Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are the only father/son duo in MLB history to each hit a postseason grand slam.
Senior: October 8, 2004, ALDS G3, Angels vs. Red Sox at Fenway Park
Junior: October 6, 2025, ALDS G2, Blue Jays vs. Yankees at Skydome

Trey Yesavage:
31 swings, 18 misses
That 58% whiff rate is the highest in a postseason game under pitch tracking (2008), min 25 swings

The Blue Jays have 8 home runs and 7 strikeouts so far this postseason
They're the second team in postseason history with more home runs than strikeouts in their first two games of a single postseason, joining:
2005 White Sox, 6 homers & 4 strikeouts



On the cusp of YED? . . . That's true!