The first two games of the ALDS couldn’t have gone much worse for the New York Yankees. In the eighth inning, Tampa Bay Rays ace Drew Rasmussen had a no-hitter in Game 1. Then playing Little League-level defense in Game 2″. It was an embarrassing display of baseball from a team that has had a lot of trouble showing up in the last few postseasons.
“Obviously, a really rough night to say the least,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Game 2. “Throughout the year we have faced difficult times. And we need to do this again. We need to get ourselves off the mat.”
Only 10 times has the team forced by a 2-0 deficit to win the best-of-five series. In the 2-2-1 Division Series format, there have been only three comebacks in 36 instances of a team falling behind 2-0 on the road. What is pain after all? Aaron Judge 2017 Yankees vs. Cleveland. judge left the ALDS roster due to injury, and the front office are the only common links between the 2017 and 2026 Yankees.
Which team has the best chance of coming off of its 2-0 Division Series opener: Rangers, Padres or Yankees?
Matt Snyder
“It starts one play, one inning at a time,” Boone said. “We can’t play like that and win. It’s clear that we go out on Wednesday night, everything is on the line. It’s clear that all hands are on deck, and we need to try one. And we have to go from there. We’re capable of doing this. This team is really good to lift itself all year.”
What do the Yankees need to do to erase this 2-0 deficit and beat the Rays in the Division Series? Here are four things that must happen for the Yankees to avoid a second straight ALDS defeat, starting with Wednesday night’s Game 3 in the Bronx.
1. Max Fried and Carlos Rodon must be great
The Yankees’ hitting streak wasn’t really there in the ALDS. Two games into the series, the Rays are hitting .209/.261/.313, and three of their six runs are unearned. New York’s starting lineup, especially Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler, has been pretty solid, but the Yankees will have to be better than that to force Game 4, never mind completing a 2-0 comeback.
The three teams lost games 1 and 2 on the road and went on to win the Division Series in a 2-2-1 format. A common theme is the beginning of the big 3 game:
Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees | 2017 ALDS vs | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
Derek Lowe, Red Sox | 2003 ALDS vs | 7 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Raymond Martinez, Red Sox | 1999 ALDS vs | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
Max Fried, who threw six shutout innings in his Wild Card Series start, will start Game 3 on Wednesday. Carlos Rodon will make a potential Game 4 move on Thursday. The second was the first New York first after Schlittler’s last two months in the standings. Fried and Rodon were especially obsessed with how the Rays struggled against lefties this year.
Here are the Tampa squad split since Aug. 3. notified trade. The numbers with that date line up better, you’ll see in the ALDS than the team’s season numbers;
Batting average | .265 | .246 |
On-base percentage | .326 | .311 |
Slugging percentage | .427 | .354 |
Series comebacks always start with Guy on the mound and on paper, Fried and Rodon match up well with the Rays. There are two high-end veteran lefties who refused to sit out Games 1 and 2 in the regular season (which the Yankees did last year). The Yankees will have the right guys on the mound in Games 3 and 4.
2. some righties in the line
The Yankees have used the same starting lineup in their last three games and that lineup has included eight batters. Rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. This was their go to peanut lineup:
- DH Ben Rice, LHB
- LF Cody Bellinger, LHB
- 1B Luis García Jr
- CF Spencer Jones, LHB
- Ss George Lombardus RHB .
- 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr., LHB
- CF Trent Grisham, LHB .
- C Austin Wells, LHB
- 3B Ryan McMahon, LHB
Pitchers sometimes refer to “streets” as their pitches, such as the inside corner for fastballs or down and for changeups. I can’t help but wonder if Tampa’s 800 left field line made it easy for their pitchers to close the lanes and stay in their lanes. There is no balance. There’s no need to change the gears and adjust your approach because almost every hitter uses it.
The Yankees are benching six players this series and all six have been right-handed hitters. The Wolves shouldn’t make any changes to the right-heavy lineup in Game 3 — Tampa starts righty Nick Martinez on Wednesday — but working on another right or two seems worthwhile at this point. In reality, the Yankees have five options to do this:
Goldschmidt has used this position sparingly in his career. He’s a platoon bat and not someone I would look to get into the lineup against a righty with the season on the line. García may be 0 for 7 in the ALDS, but he hit 30 home runs in the regular season, and he can change a game with one swing in a way Goldschmidt can’t this late in his career.
Other moving powers all fall into the “well, we do” what”“bucket. Except for maybe Caballero over McMahon, none of those moves are insightful upgrades. Ramos is a poor defender who, like Goldschmidt, is a platoon against lefties. The Fox minors have been retired twice this year and have been one of the worst hitters in baseball since his 2023 debut.
I think the price will be Caballero over McMahon and Ramos over either Grisham or Jones (I’d swap out Jones given the extreme hitting tendencies) in Game 3. These are (probably) not season-saving moves, but at least they will add balance to the offense that has worn out the last two games, and simply used more ineffective hitters.
Also worth noting: Martinez allowed a .704 OPS to righties and a .660 OPS to lefties in 2026.
3. Use the home field advantage
Tropicana Field has been the Yankees’ home of horrors for some time now. They are 2-7 in the Trop this season and 7-14 there by 2023. Like the Yankees and Yankee Stadium’s short right field corridor, the rays are being built for the Tropicana Field turf. They use that speed and pressure on defenses and spread them out like the Yankees did in Game 2.
The Yankees had an even home/road split this season. They went 46-34 with a plus-58 run differential at home and 47-34 with a plus-80 differential on the road. The Rays, meanwhile, were significantly better at home. That’s not to say they’re bad on the road. They just weren’t as dominant.
Rays at home | 55-26 | +51 |
Rays on the way | 43-38 | +35 |
In a recent ESPN poll, Yankee Stadium managers and coaches voted the most intimidating postseason ballpark of the eight Division Series teams.
The atmosphere is great and electric. The Yankees need home field advantage in Games 3 and 4 to have any chance of pushing this series to Tropicana Field for a potential Game 5.
4. Get a little lucky
With their backs against the wall, the Yankees need every break. Kindly call the pitch borderline in a big spot (and hope the ABS challenge continues your way). A bloop off the end of the bat just got off (or nasty). A good defender would have been a clear story.
It’s better to be lucky than good, but to hit the Rays three times in the right season, the Yankees need to be lucky. and good We should not be ashamed to pray to the gods for a little help.
“We had to play the first inning of Game 3. It’s important to go out and play well,” Boone said after Game 2. “We’ve been responding all year. We need to do it again. Obviously, we need to play better and it starts at one time. Don’t even get ahead of me and (try to) win three. We need to win one and make it happen tonight.