Path of East resistance
Yankees should back off mighty Blue Jays to ensure playoff spot
SOMEONE once advised folks to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, and can you think of better counsel for the Yankees at the moment?
Sure, mathematically, the club with the largest payroll in the AL East still possesses a chance to prevail in this division. Realistically, though? The Yankees should just make sure they hold onto a postseason spot.
By suffering a ghastly, 11inning, 95 loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday, in the first game of a Yankee Stadium doubleheader, the Yankees recorded their fourth straight defeat and fell threeandahalf games behind Toronto in the division. It’s difficult to envision the Yankees, plagued by lateseason injuries and appearing more tired than the jokes in Season 12 of “TwoandaHalfMen,” outplaying the surging Blue Jays, who won their 31st game in 40 tries, for the duration of this schedule.
This one had to be especially dispiriting for the Yankees, who needed to rebound from Friday’s ugly 115 loss in which rookie Luis Severino turned human at the worst time. The ugliest of resolutions occurred in the 11th, when Bryan Mitchell (two walks, one hit batter) and Chasen Shreve (three walks, one hit batter) teamed to allow four runs as the Jays exhibited nearminimal effort.
That the Yankees actually played well for a while just intensified the pain. They jumped out to a 41 lead after Alex Rodriguez stroked a tworun homer off Toronto starter Marco Estrada in the fourth inning, and their starting pitcher, Michael Pineda, dominated the first three innings and survived the fourth to allow just one run.
Yet it’s just so challenging to keep down this offensive behemoth, and in the fifth, Pineda cracked, allowing a oneout, solo homer to Ben Revere and a twoout, gametying blast to the ultradangerous Edwin Encarnacion.
To the Yankees’ credit, when Dellin Betances gave up an eighthinning, solo homer to Jose Bautista, the rightfielder’s second of the game, the home team responded by knotting the contest at 55 in the bottom of the eighth on Brian McCann’s RBI single. However, when the Yankees failed to capitalize more that inning, loading the bases with one out and seeing Chase Headley pop out harmlessly to second baseman Cliff Pennington, and Pennington subsequently rob Greg Bird of a base hit for a groundout, you had a bad feeling about this as a Yankees fan.
Indeed, the Yankees’ offense pretty much went to sleep after that — it didn’t help when Joe Girardi pinchran for Rodriguez (in the eighth) and McCann (in the 10th) and neither runner scored — and once Andrew Miller completed two perfect innings of work in the 10th, you knew Girardi would have to turn to his less trusted relievers.
With their Game 1 loss, the Yankees saw their AL wildcard lead over Texas — that would be the homefield edge in the wildcard game Oct. 6 — drop to three games, with the Rangers playing at home against Oakland on Saturday night. Their lead over Minnesota, the thirdplace team in the race for two wildcard slots, decreased to four games, as the Twins visited the White Sox Saturday night.
Neither Texas nor Minnesota will be mistaken for a dominant club. It could be that the Yankees stumble their way through the month and still wind up with a postseason invitation, although they’ll be sitting at the kids’ table while the Blue Jays and Royals loom as the favorites.
Nevertheless, given how poorly the Yankees’ fortunes have turned lately, and how well they turned for the bulk of this season, the worstcase scenario can’t be laughed off.
This means the Yankees shouldn’t fire every bullet in an effort to topple the Blue Jays. They instead should look at the bigger picture, even rest guys in games against Toronto if that’s what makes the most sense.
Finishing second behind the Blue Jays would be disappointing. Finishing out of the playoffs altogether, given how well the Yankees played for so long this season, would be devastating. In this instance, aiming low will produce the most desired result for the alwaysambitious Yankees.