The NLCS (Brewers/Dodgers) Feels Like The True World Series

Los Angeles Times

Ideally, the World Series would pit the top two major league teams (or each league's leader in wins) against each other. The Brewers (103-59) and Dodgers (100-62) finished 1-2 in team wins this season – and with all due respect (and apologies) to the Rays and Guardians, the National League Championship Series feels like this year's true World Series.

In the NL, the Brewers and Dodgers were 1-2 in batting average (MIL .258, LAD .257) and 1-3 in OBP (MIL .341, LAD .338). The Dodgers finished 2nd in slugging, the Brewers, 10th.

The Brewers had the second-lowest team ERA (3.51), the Dodgers fourth (3.55). In WHIP, the Dodgers were second (1.142), Brewers were fourth (1.178). Best K/BB ratio: Dodgers, third, 3.17, Brewers, fifth, 2.98).

This is also a rematch of last year's NLCS, which the Dodgers swept in four games: 2-1, 5-1, 3-1, 5-1. In that series, the Brewers' hit totals were: 2, 3, 4, 5! I remember noticing that pattern after Game 3 and was really hoping that Milwaukee would get exactly five hits (and one run) in Game 4 -- and they did!!

The Dodgers are trying to win their third consecutive World Series title. They have won 100+ games in six of the last last nine full seasons (2017-26). In the shortened season of 2020, LA had the best winning percentage in franchise history (.717) and were playing at a 116-win pace (43-17).

The Brewers' 103 wins this year is a franchise record, dating back to 1969 (as the Seattle Pilots; the club moved before the 1970 season and became the Brewers). The 2025 Brewers had the 2nd-most wins in team history (97-65).

Starting pitchers for Game 1: Tarik Skubal vs. Jacob Misiorowski!

Skubal won the AL Cy Young Award in both 2024 (unanimous) and 2025 (26 of 30 votes) with the Tigers. The Dodgers traded for him in early August, believing in the adage that you can never have enough pitching. Skubal had a 2.79 ERA and 0.910 WHIP in 16 starts for Detroit and was 2.61, 1.048, in 10 starts for Los Angeles. His last start came on October 3, in NLDS Game 1 against Atlanta: 6-2-1-2-7, 94.

Misiorowski will win the NL Cy Young Award, presumably unanimously. He made his major league debut in June 2025, so 2026 was his first full season. He led the majors in ERA (1.80) strikeouts (252), WHIP (0.802), ERA+ (232), FIP (2.17), fewest H/9 (4.9), lowest batting average against (.157, a major league record), and most K/9 (13.0). The young fireballer He started Game 1 of the NLDS against the Padres (his first pitch was clocked at 105) and allowed two runs in four innings (4-4-2-1-6, 88). In his short career, he's pitched against the Dodgers in three games (two starts): 17 innings, 3 earned runs (1.59), 66 batters, 27 strikeouts (40.9%).

Mike Petriello, mlb.com, describes this matchup as "phenomenal" and "by any measure, an absolutely scintillating starting pitching pairing". It's nearly unprecedented.

On one side: The presumptive 2026 NL Cy Young winner. The almost certain hardest-throwing-starting-pitcher-to-ever-live. The most difficult starter to ever get a hit off of in a single season in history. That's Misiorowski, who rolls in with a 1.80 ERA, one of the exceptionally few times in the last 50 years that a qualified starter has had an ERA under 2.00.

On the other side: The back-to-back reigning AL Cy Young winner . . . The man who leads the Majors in pitching WAR over the last three seasons, and also led the NL in pitching WAR after the trade. . . .

This matchup has everything you could want, on the field and off. First, these are two of the best pitchers in baseball. . . . There's also the context in which this matchup is taking place . . .

Have we seen a postseason starting pitching matchup with this much juice before? . . .

One way to quantify pitchers is with Baseball Savant's "Enhanced Game Score," which starts with the decades-old metric of Game Score, which adds or subtracts points for traditional box score things like innings, outs, strikeouts, walks, and hits. . . . But Enhanced Game Score takes that and adds in some modernization from MLB Senior Data Architect Tom Tango, and then puts it all in the form of a rolling, 1,000-day window, with more weight given to recent events.

This all goes back to 1971, and it lets you find out not only who the best pitcher at any given time was, but when that happened. For example, the No. 1 pitcher on record by this method is Pedro Martinez, which should surprise no one. . . .

Martinez is followed by Clayton Kershaw, Vida Blue, Dwight Gooden, and Greg Maddux, with great runs from Tom Seaver and other legends not far behind. . . .

By this method, today's current top five pitchers are 1) Skubal, 2) Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 3) Sale, 4) Misiorowski, and 5) Cam Schlittler. . . .

So, using this information, we can say NLCS Game 1 features the No. 1 pitcher in baseball (Skubal) vs. the No. 4 pitcher in baseball (Misiorowski), and that sure matches the eye test of "it doesn't get a whole lot better than that, does it?"

Well: Does it? 

There's been nearly 1,500 postseason starts since 1971. Exactly 13 of them featured two top-four starters against one another, and that is essentially 1% of all games. One of them, we hadn't realized at the time, came just last week, the first of its kind in six years. That was in the NL Division Series, when Sale faced Yamamoto in an excellent pitcher’s duel. 

The full list of top-four matchups is limited, exclusive, and, we think, fantastic.

Postseason matchups between two top-four starters (since 1971)

1981 NLDS // Fernando Valenzuela (LAD) vs Nolan Ryan (HOU)
1985 NLCS // Valenzuela (LAD) vs John Tudor (STL)
1986 NLCS // Dwight Gooden (NYM) vs Mike Scott (HOU)
1986 WS // Gooden (NYM) vs Roger Clemens (BOS)
1990 ALCS // Dave Stewart (OAK) vs Clemens (BOS), twice
2014 NLDS // Clayton Kershaw (LAD) vs Adam Wainwright (STL)
2016 NLDS // Kershaw (LAD) vs Max Scherzer (WSH)
2016 NLDS // Jake Arrieta (CHC) vs Madison Bumgarner (SF)
2018 ALCS // Justin Verlander (HOU) vs Sale (BOS)
2019 WS // Gerrit Cole (HOU) vs Scherzer (WSH)
2020 ALWC // Cole (NYY) vs Shane Bieber (CLE)
2026 NLDS // Sale (ATL) vs Yamamoto (LAD) . . .

If we take the average rank of the two starting pitchers, then the Skubal vs. Misiorowski matchup is going to be the third-best of those nearly 1,500 total games. 

The best? It came in that NLCS Game 1 in 1986, a matchup between Gooden (first) and Scott (second), the only time we've had a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup. . . . Next best would be Game 4 of the 1990 ALCS, when Clemens (first) faced Stewart (third) . .  .

If it feels like it doesn't get much better than this, that's because it hasn't. It doesn't. It almost really can't. 

At mlb.com, 34 writers submitted their predictions for the NLCS:

Dodgers 17
Brewers 17

A Breakdown

Brewers in 7 games: 14 votes
Brewers in 6 games:  3 votes

Dodgers in 7 games:  4 votes
Dodgers in 6 games:  8 votes
Dodgers in 5 games:  5 votes

Brian Murphy, mlb.com:

Why the Dodgers will win

They are the two-time defending World Series champions with an unmatched level of talent and experience. Their starting rotation is full of bona fide aces, including a pair of two-time Cy Young Award winners (Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell) and last season's World Series MVP (Yoshinobu Yamamoto). Their bullpen is deep, and their star closer seems to be rediscovering his elite form.

Their lineup boasts three MVP winners and seven multi-time All-Stars -- and that's not even including the utility player [Kike Hernandez] whose postseason resume has him in the company of Hall of Fame sluggers. Plus, they looked every bit like a juggernaut as they . . . limited Atlanta to two total runs over the final two [NLDS] games.

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows for Los Angeles. Shohei Ohtani . . .is playing through multiple injuries and has a .520 OPS over his past 23 games (postseason included). Catcher Will Smith went 1-for-16 with seven strikeouts during the NLDS. But the fact that the Dodgers handled Atlanta with relative ease without contributions from those two cornerstone players proves how formidable they remain.

Why the Brewers will win

There are plenty of reasons why this year's trip to the NLCS is different for the Brewers. The biggest one will fire the first pitch of this series come Sunday night. At this time last year, Jacob Misiorowski was a rookie who had 73 big league innings under his belt and had inconsistent results entering the playoffs. . . . Misiorowski is perhaps the best pitcher in the sport right now and the heavy favorite to take home the NL Cy Young. . . . 

However, Milwaukee's rotation is more than just one powerful arm. Logan Henderson owns a 2.33 ERA through his first 23 Major League starts, and Robert Gasser has a 1.73 ERA over his past seven outings (36.1 innings, postseason included). Behind them lies a trio of dominant relievers [Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby] who can shorten any game. [They pitched 12.2 innings vs. the Padres and allowed one unearned run.]

At the plate, this version of the Brewers looks more dangerous than the group that scored a total of four runs in the 2025 NLCS. Jake Bauers had a 140 OPS+ during the regular season. Brice Turang is as good as they come at second base. Christian Yelich and William Contreras swung hot bats in the NLDS versus San Diego. And burgeoning superstar Jackson Chourio has established himself as Milwaukee's Mr. October.

Schadenfreude 375 (A Continuing Series)

(Twitter)

Rays    - 001 102 000 - 4  7  1
Yankees - 001 101 000 - 3  7  0

Yankees' season ends in bitter disappointment again as Rays sweep ALDS
Greg Joyce, Post

For the 17th straight year, the Yankees will not be World Series champions, this time falling woefully short . . . as they were swept out of the ALDS in three games by the Rays in a 4-3 loss on Wednesday night . . .

After their offense let them down in Game 1 and their defense joined in to fail them in Game 2, the Yankees' bats were held in check once again in Game 3 . . . resulting in an all-too-familiar feeling in The Bronx. . . .

And so, a year after they bailed out of the ALDS in four games against the AL East champion Blue Jays, the Yankees played their way into another early exit . . .

[T]he Yankees never led against the Rays. They mustered all of five runs across the three games . . .

Trent Grisham, with the tying run on second, chased a pitch well out of the zone to end it. . . .

[Max] Fried . . . was not his sharpest. Twice after the Yankees had tied the game, he gave up home runs to give the Rays the lead back.

The first came on Ryan Vilade's solo shot in the fourth inning, inches past the outstretched glove of a leaping Jones at the short porch, to put the Rays up 2-1.

Then in the sixth, Fried hung a sweeper and by the time Mesa put a swing on it, the left-hander had dropped to his knee because he knew what was coming. Mesa's two-run shot sailed high and far into the right-field seats, giving the Rays a 4-2 lead.

   

Yankees swept by Rays in ALDS after fan interference overturns Anthony Volpe homer in Game 3 loss
Peter Sblendorio, Daily News

With the Yankees on the brink of elimination, Anthony Volpe appeared to hit a game-tying two-run home run in the sixth inning . . .

But in a season-altering gut punch, an umpire review found that Volpe's clutch, two-out blast against reliever Griffin Jax had some help.

Replays determined a fan's outstretched hands aided the ball over the left-field wall. The initial call of a home run was overturned, resulting in an RBI ground-rule double for Volpe and leaving the Yankees trailing still, 4-3.

That proved to be the final score as the Rays completed a three-game sweep and extended the Yankees' World Series drought to 17 years.

"It's a broken clubhouse," manager Aaron Boone said. . . . "It's the worst."

Tampa Bay tagged Yankees co-ace Max Fried for four runs — all with two outs — over his 5.2 innings. . . .

But the lasting image Wednesday was Volpe's 357-foot screamer caroming off of the fan's hands — and Spencer Jones striking out moments later to strand Volpe at second base. . . .

Fried wasn't at his best Wednesday, permitting an RBI single to Jonathan Aranda in the third inning, a solo homer to No. 9 hitter Ryan Vilade in the fourth, and Mesa's go-ahead blast in the sixth. . . .

With two outs in the eighth, pinch-hitter Giancarlo Stanton struck out against Kevin Kelly with the tying run at first base. And in the ninth, Trent Grisham went down swinging against Rays closer Bryan Baker for the final out, stranding a runner at second.

The Yankees totaled just three runs and 12 hits in the ALDS, batting a collective .130 — their lowest average in a multi-game postseason series ever.

"This is my fourth season. It's four too many times having this taste in my mouth," Volpe said. . . .

This is the third year in a row that an opponent celebrated a playoff series victory at Yankee Stadium, following the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series and the Toronto Blue Jays in last year's ALDS.

The 17-year championship drought is tied for the Yankees' longest since they won their first World Series title in 1923.

   

 
(Twitter)

Fan interference at center of Yankees Game 3 . . .
James O'Connell, Daily News

The fans certainly made their presence felt on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

Just not in the way they had hoped.

Fan interference was at the center of the Yankees' season-ending 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of the ALDS. . . .

After a few attempts of identifying the correct spectator, NYPD officers escorted him out of the stadium. The fan was greeted with some unfriendly chants on his way out of the ballpark. . . .

The Yankees have had a bit of a run with fans interfering on the field. During Game 4 of the 2024 World Series, two fans essentially tried to rip a ball out of the glove of Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts in foul territory — those two were indefinitely banned from all MLB stadiums.

(Twitter)


(Twitter)

Yankees fan booted out of stadium after home run interference controversy
Christian Arnold, Post

[A] Yankee fan . . . was escorted out of Yankee Stadium after he stuck his arm out over the ledge of the wall in left field to catch a ball hit by Anthony Volpe in the bottom of the sixth in ALDS Game 3. . . .

Video showed the Yankee fan, who was wearing a dark blue bomber jacket, being walked out of the outfield stands by a uniformed member of the NYPD and what appeared to be several members of Yankee Stadium security. 

He was also leaving with another fan, who was wearing a pinstriped Yankees jacket and cap. 

In another clip that circulated online after the controversial moment, security staff was seen approaching the fan in his seat almost immediately after the umpire ruled the fan interference call . . .

Yankee fans around them did not appear to have too much of a reaction toward the spectator as he exited with stadium staff.

The Rays got out of the inning with a 4-3 lead, the same score as the final. . . .

(Twitter; Rays fans in front; MFYfans in back)

Fan interference serves as a bitter reminder just how far away Yankees are from magic of dynasty years
Mike Vaccaro, Post

The Yankees lost the game 4-3. The Rays swept them in this ALDS. They were booed off the field in their own stadium. Nuclear winter awaits on the other side of the World Series, and who knows what the sport will look like whenever the labor wonks return it to us. . . .

"The ending is terrible," Aaron Boone said, his voice quiet, his mood chastened, his season over . . . "It's the worst. . . . The worst frickin' feeling in the world."

[T]he Yankees haven't been champions for a long time. It is now 17 seasons in a row without a title, so Hal Steinbrenner now has a drought to match the 17 empty seasons his old man oversaw between 1979 and 1995. Only the Yankees of 1903-22 — when they were mostly the JV team in town to John McGraw's Giants and were known as "Highlanders" for half of it — have known a longer championship Sahara. . . .

[W]hen the Rays recorded the 27th out Wednesday night, and began their celebration on the field before retreating to the visiting clubhouse where the champagne was waiting on ice, it continued what has become one of the more troubling — borderline inexplicable — patterns imaginable.

The Yankees watched the Rays dance on Bronx turf Wednesday. The Blue Jays did the same thing last year, the Dodgers in 2024, the Astros in 2022. The Red Sox, of all teams, have done it twice, after the catastrophic collapse in 2004 and again in 2018 . . . This has become as baleful an annual tradition as tax day.

sad bench

Trent Grisham can't provide leadoff spark for Yankees with uncertainty looming
Dan Martin, Post

Trent Grisham hit leadoff with the idea of getting more base runners on in front of Ben Rice. 

Instead, Yankees season ended with Grisham striking out for the third time of the night — with Rice in the on-deck circle — in a 4-3 loss to the Rays in Game 3 of the ALDS. 

With the Yankees fighting for survival, Grisham got the call to hit leadoff — despite being the worst leadoff hitter in the game this season. . . . [A]mong the 16 players with at least 350 plate appearances at the top of the lineup in the majors, Grisham had the lowest batting average (.199) and OPS (.680). . . .

He popped out in the first, struck out looking in the third, lined out to left in the fifth and whiffed looking again in the seventh, this time getting booed by the Stadium crowd. 

And in the bottom of the ninth, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. representing the tying run at second and two outs, Grisham was no match for lefty closer Bryan Baker.

Max Fried falters for Yankees and leaves Carlos Rondon a non-factor in ALDS
Dan Martin, Post

Just like the rest of the Yankees in this series, Max Fried wasn't good enough. . . .

[The lefty] allowed runs in three of his last four innings in Wednesday's season-ending 4-3 loss to the Rays . . .

The Yankees said prior to the game that there wasn't really a debate about whether to go with Fried or fellow southpaw Carlos Rodón [perhaps the rotation's best pitcher down the stretch outside of Cam Schlittler] . . .

[T]he Yankees head into the offseason with Rodón not having been a factor in the postseason. 

The real issue the Yankees had against their AL East rivals, whom they couldn't catch in the division and proved to be no match for in the playoffs, was their lineup. 

Fried, just like Gerrit Cole and Schlittler. . . was forced to be nearly perfect. 

And he wasn't.   . .

It was not the ace-like outing the Yankees were looking for . . . 

Fried has now had very mixed results in four playoff starts with the Yankees . . . struggling badly in the ALDS in Toronto last season before allowing four runs in less than six innings Wednesday.

This Yankees ending was sad and predictable — don't expect anything to change
Joel Sherman, Post

Welcome back, Red Zone Yankees.

You are Groundhog Day reliable.

Flip the calendar to October and here you are — and there you go. Annual. Dependable. Disposable.

I dubbed you the Red Zone Yankees last year after you . . . lost to the AL East champ Blue Jays in the division series. Just another year of journeying close enough to see the championship end zone — but unable to get in. . . .

[It's] another case of déjà Boone — running into a superior team at this time of year and crumbling before them. We have seen this movie. Too often.

This year the Yankees did not even bother to win a division series game — heck, they never had a lead in 27 innings in getting swept three games to none. . . . [T]he Yankees had to watch yet another team celebrate in front of them and their fans in The Bronx. . . .

[Yankee Stadium] is [now] a place for various foes to spill champagne. . . .

[T]he team that lived by the long ball was eliminated by it. Ryan Vilade . . . went opposite field just over the fence for a solo homer in the fourth inning, a 340-foot lob that just eluded the leap of 6-foot-7 Spencer Jones and that Statcast had as a homer in just one of 30 parks — this one.

Trying to maintain a 2-2 tie in the sixth, Fried gave up a no-doubt, two-run blast to Victor Mesa Jr. . . .

This is a 17th straight year now without a championship. A Boone team has made the playoffs eight times and been eliminated by an opponent with a better regular-season record all eight. This will lead to another rite of fall — calls for Boone's job and that of GM Brian Cashman.

No one should expect changes. . . . The reality is that they keep fielding teams short of the ingredient to get all the way through these playoffs. They are never playing their best at this time of year. Never playing loose, smart and well.

The Rays went into first place for good on June 27. The Yankees were put into position to play catch-up and were just not good enough. Not good enough for 162 games. And not for three days in October.

They lost Game 1 because they did not hit enough and Austin Wells made a baserunning gaffe. They lost Game 2 because they did not hit enough and played defense like they were wearing gloves on the wrong hand. They lost Game 3 because they did not hit enough and were let down by the strength of the team, a starter, Fried.

Yes, they were missing Aaron Judge. Yes, Giancarlo Stanton was limited to two pinch-hit at-bats and struck out in both . . .

There are always excuses. That is familiar too. This is what happens . . . Something happens to them when they get tantalizingly close to baseball heaven. When the calendar flips to October. When the best is needed.

But there was no best. They scored five runs in three games — or one more run than they had errors in Game 2. They could not get the big hit, make the big pitch, record the routine out when it was necessary.

So another year goes by in which they fall short again. Not good enough.

(Twitter)

(Twitter)

Once again, the Yankees’ season ends with a division rival partying at their place
Gary Phillips, Daily News

As their division rivals popped bottles inside Yankee Stadium’s visiting clubhouse, the home side filled with frustration and sorrow.

"It’s just heartbreaking," Jazz Chisholm Jr. said.

"We didn’t do our jobs, didn’t finish the goal," Aaron Judge chimed in.

"They do a little of everything," Max Fried added. "They put the ball in play, they get a bunch of hits, they run the bases well, play good defense, and they pitched. So they played a pretty complete series, and they beat us."

All of those comments were delivered a year ago, when the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees in a four-game ALDS, celebrated at midfield, and boogied in the Bronx. And yet, they are just as fitting now. . . .

The only major differences? It was the Rays who raged this time, and they were able pull off a three-game sweep.

"I don't like that," said Judge, who didn't play this postseason due to a calf strain. "I don't like other teams celebrating in our place."

Tampa already knew how to host a boozy bash at Yankee Stadium, as they also commemorated a division crown there a few weeks ago. . . .

The Yankees and their aging superstars — namely Judge, Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton — will watch what is left of the playoffs from home while getting another early start on the offseason. . . . [A] looming work stoppage hovers over the sport . . . A potential lockout could cut into another season for Judge, who is 34 and also missed 99 days with a fractured rib this year, and Cole, who is 36 and made 22 starts following Tommy John surgery. . . .

While Cashman’s deal is up after the season, it would be shocking to see anyone else in the general manager’s chair. And even after another sloppy postseason, Boone could remain as manager. He has survived disappointments like this throughout his ringless tenure . . .

For now, the Yankees can only lament another premature end. They can only reflect on why, time and time again, a roster that does enough from March through September falls short in October, or why their years-long reputation for poor play under bright lights persists.

If those issues do not get corrected, there will be more wallowing over early exits, and more Yankee Stadium parties that the home team isn’t invited to.

Anthony Volpe’s tying home run in Game 3 overturned after Yankees fan interference

Chris Kirschner, New York Times

Anthony Volpe sent Yankee Stadium into a frenzy for a few moments after what seemed like a two-run home run to tie the score . . . 

Volpe rounded the bases as fans threw drinks onto the field in celebration. But MLB’s video replay center determined a fan interfered with the batted ball by sticking his hands over the wall, hauling it into the stands above the outstretched glove of Rays left fielder Víctor Mesa Jr.

The home run was overturned and ruled an RBI double, which meant that instead of a 4-4 score, New York trailed, 4-3. . . . Rays reliever Griffin Jax then struck out Spencer Jones . . . to end the inning. The 4-3 score held and the Rays took Game 3 to eliminate the Yankees and advance to the American League Championship Series. . . .

Stadium security quickly reached the fan and whisked him out of the section, taking him up the steps and out through an exit on River Avenue.

Even after the fan was taken away, other fans in the section chanted expletives in the direction of the people he was seated near.

After the play, and as Volpe rounded the bases, fans threw trash onto the field in the direction of Mesa. Beer cans, cups and assorted debris were hurled from the stands and into left field. The fan who interfered with the play held the ball up high, raising it in his right hand in triumph while another fan wrapped him in a hug.

Junior Caminero brutally trolls with broom and 'da Yankees lose' chant after ALDS sweep
Christian Arnold, Post

Junior Caminero had no problem rubbing salt in the Yankees' wound after the Rays swept the Bronx Bombers out of the playoffs. 

The Rays third baseman taunted Yankees fans after Bryan Baker struck out Trent Grisham for the game's final out and secured the ALDS sweep at Yankee Stadium. 

The TNT broadcast captured Caminero mimicking a sweeping broom while looking into the stands before going over to join his teammates in celebration. . . .

MLB posted a video on social media of Caminero doing an impression of David Ortiz by saying his signature "da Yankees lose!"

Caminero did it while he was on the field, shouting the phrase and putting his hand against his head to mimic sleep. 

He shouted it again while speaking with Spanish-speaking media inside the Rays clubhouse and another time when TNT's Lauren Shehadi interviewed him. 

"The best! The best! Sweep!" Caminero shouted when Shehadi asked him about celebrating a series victory at Yankee Stadium. "Da Yankees lose!"

(Twitter)


(Twitter)

Aaron Judge was 'hating every single moment' of watching Yankees' ALDS loss from bench
Dan Martin, Post

Aaron Judge has been here too many times before: watching another team celebrate in front of him at Yankee Stadium. 

"Just hating every single moment of it,'' Judge said of his thoughts when he was sitting in the dugout after the Rays beat the Yankees 4-3 to complete a three-game sweep of the ALDS. . . .

Judge was forced to miss such a sizable chunk of the regular season due to a fractured rib that cost him over three months and then the strained calf that prevented him from playing in the postseason. . . .

Asked how close he was to being activated for the ALDS after missing the wild-card series . . . He said he was "feeling great" . . .

Judge was asked what the team needs to do to get better and avoid being in this situation again, as they have every year of his career. 

"We're the Yankees,'' Judge said. . . . "They give us a winning team every year."

Some Back Pages I Missed

They went home!

Yankee Elimination Day – 2026

YED!

2026 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
YED 2026 - OCTOBER 7

Bottoms up, motherfuckers!

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

Schadenfreude 374 (A Continuing Series)

Honestly, simply skimming the headlines is enough to provide a heady jolt of ye olde schadenfreude:

Yankees' Disastrous Defense Pushes Season To Brink With ALDS Game 2 Loss

Yankees Doomed By Errors In Game 2 Loss To Rays

The Yankees Humiliated Themselves In Game 2. Now They're On The Brink Of Elimination

The Yankees Ace Needed Help This Time — And His Teammates Utterly Failed Him

Yankees Do Just About Everything Wrong In Calamitous First Inning

Aaron Boone's Toughest Decision Immediately Backfired In Game 2 Debacle

Yankees Better Remember How To Play Baseball After This Clown Show — Or Else

Thankfully, we have so much more than tantalizing headlines . . . First, however, here are two pre-Game 2 headlines to set it all up:

Yankees Ace Is Built For Surprising Environment Team Faces In Game 2

Momentum In A Best-Of-Five Series Can Flip Quickly — And Yankees Have Just The Thing To Do It

Sure they do. . . . P.S.: Here's some advice for any gamblers out there. Do not -- I said, DO NOT -- rely on the Post for any tips when it comes to wagering even a nickle.

Expect Bellinger, Yanks To Even ALDS On Monday vs. Rays

Yankees - 000 100 010 - 2  4  4
Rays    - 100 040 00x - 5  8  0

Yankees' disastrous defense pushes season to brink with ALDS Game 2 loss to Rays
Greg Joyce, Post

Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, you now have company.

The stakes were not quite as high on Monday, but the Yankees turned in an even bigger defensive abomination to put themselves in a 2-0 hole in the ALDS.

Three errors in the bottom of the first inning . . . [and] another error in the fifth helped provide the dagger, sinking the Yankees in a 5-2 loss to the Rays in Game 2 of the ALDS . . .

The Yankees flew home licking their wounds with their season on life support . . .

In a recurring theme of too many postseasons past, the Yankees melted from the Rays' ability to put the ball in play and wreak havoc . . . resulting in four errors – one shy of their franchise record for a single postseason game. . . .

[A]fter [the Yankees] left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth [unable to break a 1-1 tie], they lost the game in the bottom of the frame.

Jonathan Aranda, who homered for the only run in Game 1, led off with a sinking liner to right field that Spencer Jones did not get a good jump on as it fell for a single. [Sung to the tune of "O'Neill plays it on a hop"]

After Junior Caminero's double put runners on second and third, Liam Hicks . . . hit a weak tapper to Chisholm, who looked at home before taking the out at first as the Rays went up 2-1. The infield was in again when the speedy Chandler Simpson hit a chopper to shortstop, where George Lombard Jr. could not get his backhand on it, allowing another run to score.

That led Aaron Boone to pull Schlittler, who looked stunned, for Brent Headrick, who got the second out on a strikeout. Then he generated a ground ball to shortstop that Lombard fielded and fired slightly off-target to first, where Luis García Jr. dropped it, putting runners on the corners. Brooklyn's Richie Palacios came up next and delivered the big swing, a two-run single to center field that put the Rays ahead 5-1. . . .

The Yankees played a bottom of the first that was just about disastrous as possible, except by some miracle, . . . it only resulted in a 1-0 deficit.

It began with Yandy Diaz's leadoff chopper to third base that Ryan McMahon – who Boone considered replacing in the lineup for a better threat of offense but said he wanted to "prioritize the defense" – whiffed on for the first error.

After Aranda's single through the right side, Caminero hit a grounder up the middle that Lombard ranged to and flipped to second base for the out. But Chisholm tried an off-balance, ill-advised throw to first for the double play, which instead bounced past the bag, allowing Diaz to score for the 1-0 lead.

The comedy of errors continued when Schlittler appeared to strike out Liam Hicks for the first out, except Hicks' bat hit Austin Wells' glove for a catcher's inference.

Simpson then hit a grounder to second base where Chisholm fielded it and threw high to second base, pulling Lombard off the bag. The rookie was able to get his foot back in time to get the force out, but Chisholm's throw wiped away any chance of a double play.

 Yankee fans behind the dugout are glum and a Rays player is extremely happy watching Schlittler jog after one of the many errant baseballs in the bottom of the first.

Yankees do just about everything wrong in calamitous first inning in ALDS Game 2
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

The final count from one nightmare of a bottom of the first inning for the Yankees: three errors, four misplays and somehow . . . just one run.

Against a team that famously puts the ball in play often on a home turf that famously can be difficult to adjust to, the Yankees looked as if they had never played on this stage of the ALDS or at this locale of Tropicana Field. . . .

[T]he Yankees did just about everything wrong to start Monday's Game 2.

On Schlittler's second pitch, Yandy Díaz chopped the ball to third baseman Ryan McMahon, who appeared to misjudge the turf bounce as the ball ticked off his glove for an error. . . .

Junior Caminero sent a bouncer up the middle. George Lombard Jr. ranged over and backhand-flipped to Jazz Chisholm Jr. to record the only potential out on the play — but Chisholm wildly spun and threw to first, far off-line of Luis García Jr., enabling Díaz to score and Caminero to reach second base.

The comedy of errors was only going to grow funnier for Rays fans.

Schlittler appeared to strike out Liam Hicks, but what looked like strike three instead became a catcher's interference . . .

 

I hope Mrs. Knoblauch brought a glove this time . . .

Yankees doomed by errors in Game 2 loss to Rays, trail 0-2 in best-of-five ALDS
Peter Sblendorio, Daily News

The Yankees made error after error, miscue after miscue in Game 2 of the ALDS.

And now, there's no more margin for error.

A mistake-filled 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Monday night left the Yankees in an 0-2 hole and on the brink of elimination . . .

The Yankees committed four errors — including three in the first inning — and failed to make several other defensive plays on a nightmarish night that just kept snowballing. . . .

In 17 road starts this regular season, Schlittler pitched to a 1.16 ERA — the fifth-best road ERA in MLB history. . . . But the Yankees defense did the flame-throwing ace no favors.

Third baseman Ryan McMahon booted a chopper off the bat of Yandy Díaz, the Rays' very first hitter.

Two batters later, Junior Caminero grounded into a force out, but second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. made an off-balance throw wide of first base as he attempted to turn a double play, allowing Díaz to score.

Catcher's interference by Austin Wells erased a called third strike and further extended the inning, as did another off-line throw by Chisholm . . .

That marked the first time in Yankees playoff history that they committed three errors in a single inning. . . .

It was a similarly frustrating start for the Yankees' offense . . . Rays starter Freddy Peralta . . . retired the first nine Yankee batters. . . . 

[The MFY left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth.] It all unraveled for the Yankees from there.

After back-to-back hits against Schlittler to begin the fifth, the Rays took a 2-1 lead when an aggressive Jonathan Aranda scored from third base on a slow groundout . . . with the infield in.

Caminero then scored on a slow roller off the bat of Simpson that rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. failed to field. That play was deemed an error before the official scorer changed the ruling. After Brent Headrick replaced Schlittler . . . Lombard committed an actual error — this time on a wide throw . . . 

The only playoff game with more Yankee errors was Game 2 of the 1976 ALCS, when they committed five.

"I'm not disappointed in our defense," Schlittler said. "I'm not disappointed in the offense."

Boone: "The offseason golf course is thataway? Thanks, I wanna make a reservation for Thursday morning."

Aaron Boone's toughest decision immediately backfired in Yankees' Game 2 debacle
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

Manager Aaron Boone kept the lineup intact from Game 1 — most notably keeping a struggling Ryan McMahon at third base — in part because he wanted "to prioritize the defense," he said a couple of hours before Monday's first pitch.

It took two pitches from Cam Schlittler for that decision to backfire.

McMahon made the first error, a drip that became a flood, in an embarrassing 5-2 loss in Game 2 to the Rays in which the Yankees defense was charged with four errors and probably should have been charged with more.

The problems started on the second pitch Rays leadoff hitter Yandy Díaz saw, chopping a grounder toward McMahon. The normally sure-handed veteran, perhaps misjudging the springs on the Tropicana Field turf or an infield dirt that played fast, missed on his backhand attempt. The ball skittered past him, McMahon raising his palms wondering what had just happened. Two more errors followed in an inning in which the Rays scored an unearned run.

McMahon did not make a second mistake in the field, but he also did not atone at the plate. . . . In four postseason games, McMahon is 1-for-7 — the lone hit an infield single — with two walks . . .

"'Hitler' is an essential part of my last name . . . and my fuckin teammates can't catch the goddamn ball. FML."

Cam Schlittler needed help this time — and the Yankees utterly failed him
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

"I feel like if I need to get [a strikeout]," [Cam Schlittler] said Saturday, "I'm going to be able to do that."

Schlittler's prediction was off the mark because Tampa Bay's bats were constantly on the mark.

The Yankees ace of aces . . . was not able to play hero . . .

In the game's biggest moments, Schlittler needed the help of his defense, which let him down repeatedly. . . .

It started immediately, with the aggressive Rays swinging early in counts and making consistent, often loud contact in the first inning. Errors by Ryan McMahon (on a chopper) and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (an ill-advised throw to first after recording an out at second) scored one run, but Schlittler did well to limit the damage.

The game changed, though, in a four-run fifth inning during which the flame-throwing righty needed to throw pitches by Rays bats and could not.

A single by Jonathan Aranda (played conservatively by Spencer Jones, who might have had a chance at a diving catch) and a smashed double from Junior Caminero put runners on second and third without an out in a game that was then tied, 1-1. Schlittler needed one of those strikeouts. Unlike the Rays, he whiffed.

Liam Hicks managed to make contact — the softest imaginable, a tapper that traveled 5 feet in the air — but the slow roller to Chisholm was good enough to score the go-ahead run. . . . 

Next it was Chandler Simpson who fell behind 1-2 but kept fighting. . . . [He] chopped a swinging bunt 4 feet in the air toward George Lombard Jr. The rookie shortstop had a play at the plate and knew it, his eyes toward Austin Wells instead of the ball as he booted it on a backhand attempt to let in another run.

On a night Schlittler needed help . . . [he] received none . . .

Ben Rice wonders when would be the right time to ask for a trade to a team that doesn't burst into flames like a dumpster-shaped Tesla in October.

Yankees better remember how to play baseball after this clown show — or else
Joel Sherman, Post

Cam Schlittler has to be "win day" for the Yankees in these playoffs. That felt nonnegotiable . . .

Still, his teammates had to help him a little. 

Yet, they could not even muster a little . . . All you need to know is that in a four-batter span to begin the bottom of the first inning, the Yankees committed three errors . . . So they had as many errors in about five minutes as they had hits in this game until . . . one out in the eighth inning. 

Basically the Rays forced the Yankees to play baseball — and the Yankees were just awful at it. 

And because of that their season is on life support. They need a three-game winning streak against a rival who has outplayed them all season and now in the postseason. Or else it will assure a 17th straight title-less season. Or else yet another Aaron Boone team will have been ousted in the playoffs by a team that had a better record in the regular season. The competition rises and the Yankee hitting and defense sink; it has become a rite of fall. 

They lost embarrassingly, 5-2, Monday night to the Rays. They have two runs in 18 innings in this division series, compared to one unpardonable baserunning gaffe by Austin Wells in the opener Saturday in which they were nearly no-hit and lost 1-0. They then committed four errors in Game 2. 

Those four errors do not fully encapsulate how incompetent the Yankees were defensively. Because no team struck out fewer times this season than the Rays (18.8 percent) and what they did against Schlittler was attack strikes early in the count, put it in play and let the Yankees fielding clown show do the rest. . . .

[After five innings, Tampa led] 5-1 — and the way the Yankees are hitting against Tampa Bay, that was insurmountable. The Yankees have gone 1-2-3 in 12 of 18 innings. They have five hits and two runs in two games — and yet their baserunning and defense might be worse. 

The Yankees have now lost their last six road playoff games. . . .

It feels like déjà unacceptable. 

They play at home Wednesday trying to extend their season . . . Their fans will hope that somewhere between Games 2 and 3 they recall how to hit, field and run the bases smartly. You know, play baseball well.

Anyone wanna see my balance-the-baseball-on-the-side-of-my-glove trick?

The Yankees humiliated themselves in Game 2. Now they're on the brink of elimination
Gary Phillips, Daily News

As Aaron Boone awaited the start of the ALDS in the visiting manager's office at Tropicana Field on Saturday, he answered what turned out to be a prescient question.

Does it bother Boone, he was asked, that opposing teams' scouting reports say its key to put the ball in play when the Yankees are in the field. The insinuation made by such scouting reports . . . is that the Yankees don't have a sound defense. . . . [T]hat's been their rep for years under Boone, and it even became public that the Dodgers made the same evaluations after the Yankees lost the 2024 World Series to L.A. in sloppy fashion.

[The Yankees] ranked 24th in errors, 17th in Outs Above Average and 13th in Defensive Runs Saved this season . . .

"[A]t times we've been very good and people don't acknowledge it," Boone insisted. . . . "We're trying to prepare as best we can . . . If you're implying with that question we're a bad defense, no, we're not." . . .

While the manager can debate just how strong his defense was on the whole this season, there is no arguing that it was catastrophic . . . . embarrassing . . . . pathetic — take your pick — in Game 2 of the ALDS on Monday. With three errors in the first frame, four totaled on the night, and several other balls misplayed, the futile Bombers suffered a humiliating 5-2 loss to the much tidier Rays.

Now both teams are headed to Yankee Stadium with the pinstripers on the brink of elimination . . . They have no one but themselves to blame.

"Tonight was just not good enough for us . . .," Boone said . . .

The Yankees' comedy of errors in this series began on Saturday when, in a desperate attempt to jumpstart a dormant offense, Austin Wells was thrown out inexplicably trying to stretch a double into a triple. On Monday . . . Ryan McMahon committed a fielding error on the second pitch of the game.

Earlier in the day, Boone said that he had given some thought to Anthony Volpe starting in place of the light-hitting third baseman . . . "I want to prioritize the defense," Boone said, but his defense didn't prioritize taking care of the ball.

McMahon wasn't the only Yankee to falter in the first, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. helped a run score when he made an off-line throw from second base to first base on a double play attempt. With his back turned to first and Jonathan Aranda sliding at him, Chisholm's heave was off-balance and ill-advised. And yet, he didn't think he should have held onto the ball.

"Honestly, I'd probably still throw it in the play that was trying to be made," Chisholm said. . . .

Wells was then called for catcher interference upon review, and Chisholm nearly threw another ball away before the inning ended.

[D]isaster struck their defense again in the fifth inning, which began with an Aranda single to right. The ball bounced in front of Spencer Jones after he got a jump that was -13.4 feet below average, per Statcast. Boone claimed the 109.4-mph "bullet" wasn't catchable . . . Jones disagreed. He said he should have caught it, but he admitted to hesitating on a "tough read." . . .

Now the Yankees — devoid of fundamentals, riddled with mistakes, and short on offense — find themselves in an unenviable 2-0 hole as they head back to Yankee Stadium, where the Rays have already celebrated a division crown in the past month. The Yanks need to win three straight to keep their season alive . . .

Yankees head home from unlikeliest house of horrors clinging to hope for return
Mike Vaccaro, Post

This has never been what you would call a standard house of horrors. Nobody has ever thought to give it a nickname. . . .

It's just "The Trop," short for Tropicana Field, and let's be very honest: It's not even anywhere close to the best atmosphere in a building that has been named for orange juice. That would be Daikin Park, formerly Minute Maid Park, in Houston.

The Trop?

The Trop could mostly pass for study hall for most of its existence. . . .

But the Yankees are going to be grateful to get the hell out of Dodge, to get the hell out of St. Petersburg. This has been a road trip from hell, and it has shoved them right to the brink of a season that promised so much and is on the verge of delivering precious little.

The Rays beat the Yankees 5-2 on Monday night, but they only got around to that once the Yankees were done beating the Yankees on Monday night. They couldn't catch the ball, couldn't hit the ball . . .

It was like that fifth inning of the fifth game of the World Series a few years ago, only spread around the whole game. And the suddenly very audible Rays fans took great delight in silencing the Yankee invaders — the ones in the stands as well as the ones on the field — and enjoying every one of the four — four!! — errors the team in the road grays committed.

The Yankees' slapstick contrasts sharply with the Rays' tight, smart, efficient brand of ball. . . .

The Yankees used to feel at home down in Tampa-St. Pete . . . Tampa used to be an easy, breezy stop along the way, with so many Yankees fans inside the arid walls of the Trop that it felt and sounded like a smaller, uglier version of Yankee Stadium. . . .

But this year they lost five of the seven games they played in St. Pete during the regular season, and they're now 0-2 here in the postseason, and maybe the most dire of all the thoughts the Yankees face in their present predicament is this: They will now pay any price and bear any burden to get another game here. . . .

[B]ack in The Bronx . . . [i]t'll be a desperate house facing desperate times . . .

They couldn't do it last year. . . . The Bronx couldn't save them last year.

It has to save them this time.

Heroes, zeros from sloppy Yankees Game 2 loss to Rays: Brooklyn's Richie Palacios opened it up for Tampa Bay
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

Heroes, zeros and the inside pitch from the Yankees' 5-2 loss to the Rays in Game 2 of the ALDS . . .

Hero

Old-school baseball. Baseball's best team at putting the ball in play struck out just four times total in a game started by Cam Schlittler, putting constant pressure on a Yankees defense that wilted.

Zero

The entire Yankees defense. Misplays, four of which were scored as errors, from (in order) Ryan McMahon, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells, Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr., Lombard again and Luis García Jr. led to three unearned runs and one of the ugliest playoff performances you will see. . . .

Key Stat

4: Errors by the Yankees — and they probably should have been charged with five — including three in the first inning

Before Game 2:

Clock is ticking for Yankees to change the harsh reality of their playoff reputation
Joel Sherman, Post

The Yankees have a few days this week to demonstrate that when the playoff going gets tough, they don't just get going toward their offseason golf game.

Until proven otherwise, they are the Boone Bullies. They are capable of outdoing inferiors and the AL Central in the postseason, but wilt when their equal or better shows up. . . .

[A]s Game 1 of the division series again reiterated, at this time of year, when the level of competition goes up, the Aaron Boone Yankees have yet to rise concurrently.

Saturday night, they were nearly no-hit by Drew Rasmussen, totaled just one hit and lost 1-0 to the team that outdid them all season — the AL East champion Rays.

This is not a funeral. The Yankees have their most postseason bulletproof player of the Boone Era, Cam Schlittler, starting Monday night's Game 2. . . .

Still, the math is not favorable for the Yankees. They have to win three of four now to advance, with the knowledge that the Yankee killer Rasmussen (1.60 ERA in 12 games/11 starts against the Yankees) will get one more start if necessary. Plus, the Rays were just better than the Yankees over 162 games. . . .

To this point, a Boone Yankee team has completed 15 playoff series since he became manager in 2018. They are 7-0 against foes they had a better overall record than during the year. They are 1-7 against those with the same or worse records. The one series win was against Cleveland during the 60-game 2020 COVID season.

And really the meek AL Central should hardly count. They are like the mildly good wrestler who gets beaten to elevate a challenger for a championship shot. The Boone Yankees are 5-0 against the AL Central in the postseason. . . .

[In Game 1] the Yankees did not give their fans many reasons to cheer. Even their lone hit, an Austin Wells eighth-inning double, devolved into the kind of boneheaded play that has defined the Boone Yankees' extinction this time of year when Wells unforgivably tried and failed to stretch it into a triple.

The Rays and Yankees have had the two best records in the AL every day since April 23 except for one. Tampa Bay went into first place for good June 27. The Yankees have been trying to play catch-up since. Even reset at 0-0 on Oct. 3, the Rays have gone up on the Yankees again. . . .

[U]ntil proven otherwise, this is the time of year in which the Boone Yankees see their superiors and begin offseason plans.