The Yankees needed to sweep all 4 of these games with the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium II, just to have a chance at the American League Eastern Division title going into the regular-season-ending series at home to the Baltimore Orioles. If the Rays won even 1 of the 4, it was over.
It didn't look good.
Yesterday, because of an earlier rainout, there were 2 games. The opener went well. Ben Rice led off the bottom of the 4th inning with a double, and Cody Bellinger hit a home run. That was all that Carlos Rodón needed, as he pitched 8 innings, and was brilliant: No runs, 3 hits, no walks, 8 strikeouts. David Bednar pitched a perfect 9th. Yankees 2, Rays 0, in front of 41,421 in the big ballyard in The Bronx.
So there was still a chance.
The nightcap ended that chance. A crowd of 38,656 saw Max Fried give up a run in the 3rd. It was still only 1-0 Rays after 6, but Aaron Boone made the opposite of his usual mistake: He left the starter in too long, and Fried allowed single, single, flyout, RBI single to start the 7th. Reliever John Schreiber allowed 2 more runs, and the game was effectively over, even before Ryan Yarbrough and Michael Fulmer allowed 2 more runs in the 8th.
The Yankees scored a run in the 7th, and 1 in the 9th -- how doesn't really matter -- but it was far from enough. Rays 6, Yankees 2. The Rays clinched the AL East title, on our field. It is their 5th AL East title, as they previously won it in 2008, 2010, 2020 and 2021.
To put that in perspective: This is the Rays' 29th season, and they have 5 Division titles, plus 2 Pennants. In contrast, the Mets are in their 65th season -- yes, the organization is now eligible for Social Security and Medicare -- and they only have 6 Division titles, having won the National League East in 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 2006 and 2015. Of course, they have 5 Pennants to the Rays' 2, and 2 World Series wins to the Rays' none. The Yankees have won 21 Division titles, and that doesn't count their 1st-place finishes in the single-division American League of 1903 to 1968, or being in 1st place at the time of the Strike of '94.
So the Division title is out. And we found out yesterday that Aaron Judge, due to his calf strain, is not expected back for the length of the AL Wild Card Series.
That series will be a best-2-out-of-3, and will be played on September 29 and 30, and, if necessary, October 1, all at Yankee Stadium, because the Yankees have the 4th seed. They will play the 5th seed, which is yet to be determined, but currently stands to be... the Boston Red Sox. The Chicago White Sox currently hold the 6th seed, but they're 3 games behind the Red Sox, so it's probably going to be The Scum coming in for 2, maybe 3 games.
And we won't have Judge, or Giancarlo Stanton. We will, however, have Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole, but we have to give them runs.
Title 28 still seems a long way off.
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