The good news for the New York Yankees is that things can’t get much worse in the ALDS. The bad news is that if things don’t get better by Tuesday, their season will be over.
The Toronto Blue Jays beat up on the Yankees Sunday, 13-7, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
Very little went well for the Bronx Bombers. The team couldn’t muster a single hit against Toronto starter Trey Yesavage, who struck out 11 batters and only gave up a single walk in 5.1 innings.
While the Yankees were whiffing, Toronto’s offense blasted five home runs, highlighted by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s grand slam:
The Yankees have now given up 23 runs in the past two games to the Blue Jays, the most runs ever allowed by the organization in a two-game playoff span.
So as you might imagine, MLB fans and pundits were quick to roast the team for both Sunday’s rough performance and the team’s rough start to the ALDS in general:
The first 6.5 innings of this series were competitive. When the Blue Jays strode to the plate in the bottom of the seventh in Game 1, they held just a 2-1 lead. But they scored four runs in that frame and four in the eighth to secure a 10-1 win on Saturday.
The hit parade continued on Sunday, and if the Blue Jays continue to produce offense like this in New York the Yankees don’t have much of a change. If there is a positive to take from this game, it’s that the Yankees finally generated some offense later in the game, putting seven runs on Toronto’s bullpen in the sixth and seventh innings while loading the bases in the top of the ninth.
They showed some life after offering very little for the first 14 innings of this series. It’s something to build on for Tuesday’s Game 3. At this point, Yankees fans will take any glimmer of hope they can get.