Balanced Yankees wild about chances
The Yankees kept doing whatever they needed to do to remain in their uphill race for the AL East title, but in the end it wasn’t enough.
On Saturday at Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Bombers pitched and slugged their way to a 2-1 win over the Blue Jays in the season’s penultimate game. But the Red Sox, up at Fenway Park, finally secured the crown with a 6-3 win over the Astros, a team they will play in the Division Series starting Thursday in Houston.
New York’s victory ended earlier than Boston’s, but as the Red Sox worked their way in and out of trouble in the final innings every television in the main area of the Yankees clubhouse was tuned in to random college football games. While the media checked mobile devices constantly, the players prepared to head home for the evening and do whatever it is that Yankees do on a free Saturday night.
They seemed totally at ease with any result that emerged from Fenway, even though in the end it meant hosting a wild-card game against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, with the winner earning a spot on the October dance floor starting Thursday.
Saturday’s starter, veteran CC Sabathia, was asked if, as he left the mound in the sixth inning, he had allowed himself to think this might be the last time as a Yankee.
He has had nine mostly solid years in the Bronx, but 2017 is likely the end.
“I didn’t think about it, because we’ve got playoffs coming up,” Sabathia said. “I feel pretty confident about where we’re at right now and we’ll try and make a good run at this thing.”
The 37-year-old Sabathia has been to the playoffs seven times, including the last time the Yankees won the World Series in 2009. He understands that this is a far different group, much younger than the last time they went having gone through a lightning-quick rebuild at the 2016 trade deadline. But C.C. is still on board with a belief that this team will go deep into October.
“The chemistry, it’s a great clubhouse,” Sabathia explained. “It’s one of the best I’ve been in, in a long time. I think we’re on the right track to be able to put a good run together. It’s still the same Yankee Way.
“The turnover has been a lot of us, but the guys that have come in with the rebuild — (Gary) Sanchez, (Aaron) Judge — those guys have carried us. It’s been a lot of fun to watch (Luis) Severino emerge as one of the best pitchers in baseball. It’s just fun to be back and be the old guy and watch these guys do their thing.”
Judge has made a late push to be seriously considered for AL MVP, charging through September with 15 homers and 32 RBIs. It was his 484foot blast to the back of the stands in left-centre that gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the fourth.
Coincidentally, that Judge moon shot landed just in front of a wall adorned with all of the Yankees’ retired numbers. His 52nd home run of the year hit just in front of the No. 7 of Mickey Mantle, the man he had just tied for eighth place on the single-season franchise list.
“I think we all look at each other in the dugout and kind of say, ‘Wow!’ ” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “You don’t see those very often. We’ve seen it twice from him this year. That’s against the wind, too. Just an amazing shot and, again, when he gets the barrel of the bat to the ball he’s extremely dangerous.”
All the Yankee talk this year has been about Judge and the other young hitters in the lineup, but as the team roared down the stretch it was pitching that led the way. Saturday was the 18th time this month the team has allowed three runs or fewer. The bullpen ERA for the season ranks third in the majors. In fact, the top five teams in MLB bullpen ERA are all bound for the playoffs.
“I just think it’s a combination of all the arms that we have,” Girardi said. “Just some unbelievable performances by certain guys this month. Yes, we have power and we score runs, but we have a good pitching staff. They’re capable of getting on a roll, and we’ve seen them pitch very well down the stretch.”
The Yankees have 103 home runs by players 25 years of age or younger, but there is also a core of Yankees veterans who lead by example. This final month has been a series of games that simulate playoff pressure — first as they battled the Twins for the No. 1 wild-card seed, and then as they chased after Boston.
“I started thinking about that the last couple of days where, in a sense, they’re elimination games for us,” Girardi said. “We were five down coming home from the road trip and our guys just continued to play well. They continue to play loose. They continue to make pitches, grind out at-bats. That was encouraging to me. It’s not like we’ve had a chance to turn it off — and I like that.”
Sunday’s game has become mustmiss TV for fans of both teams.