A familiar theme, one common in recent postseason flameouts for the Yankees, is percolating again in their current ALDS with the Royals: offensive failure.
After another regular season highlighted by their hitters rampaging through the American League, the Yanks find themselves even with Kansas City after two games in part because they have struggled to get key hits.
The Royals beat them, 4-2, Monday night at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees had seven hits, were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.
In fairness to them, they clobbered some balls that would have made the game much more interesting had they not been near a defender – more on that in a moment.
Still, they remain confident in this best-of-five series, perhaps best expressed by Jazz Chisholm Jr., who hit a solo homer in the ninth inning to at least put a little heat in the game.
“Still feels the same, that we’re going to win it,” Chisholm said. “I don’t feel like anybody feels any different. We’re going to go out there and do our thing. We still don’t feel like any team is better than us.
“We had a lot of missed opportunities, so they just got lucky.”
Or the Royals were just really good at flummoxing Yankee hitters, especially in big spots. Even in their victory in Game 1, when the Yanks scored six times, they failed with runners in scoring position most of the time, going 2-for-13. In the series, they are 3-for-19 (.158) with RISP and have left 19 runners on.
In Game 2, the Yankees did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position after the third inning.
Overall, the Yankees are batting .246 in the series and have scored eight runs in two games, despite getting 16 hits and 13 walks.
Aaron Judge, under intense scrutiny this postseason as a star who has had past playoff duds, is 1-for-7 with two walks. His only hit is the infield single he got in the eighth inning of Game 2. Giancarlo Stanton is 1-for-8. Anthony Volpe is 1-for-6. Juan Soto was 3-for-5 in Game 1 but 0-for-3 in Game 2.
Small sample sizes all, but this is all the October data we have right now, so it’s hard not to think of punchless postseasons past.
That’s serious pinstriped nightmare fuel, too. Remember the 2022 ALCS? The Yankees were overwhelmed by the Houston Astros, batting just .162 in the series and scoring nine runs while getting swept in four games.
Maybe it’s too soon for flashbacks down dark alleys like that, especially since Judge and Chisholm were right when noting how the Yanks had hard-hit balls that went for outs. Here’s one example:
With a runner on first and one out in the eighth inning and the Yankees down by three, Stanton hit a ground-ball rocket toward short that was measured at 109.6 mph off the bat by Statcast. The expected batting average on the ball was a robust .590.
It might’ve been the start of something good. But Bobby Witt Jr., the Royals’ best player, dove to snare it and started a pretty double play. Threat gone, inning over.
There were other near-moments, too – Judge hit a fly to right in the third that, at first glance (98.1 mph off the bat), looked more dangerous than it ultimately was, a simple 322-foot fly out.
Did Judge think it had a chance to go out?
“No, I just sliced it a little bit,” he said. “[Royals starter Cole Ragans] was attacking down and in…So try to beat him to that spot and I just kind of cut it a little bit. You know, we get that one to get in the seats, man, it’s a different ballgame.”
Asked how he’s feeling overall, Judge quipped, “If I’m not hitting 1.000, I’m not feeling good.”
When Aaron Boone was asked about Judge potentially missing a couple of poundable pitches Monday, the manager replied, “I mean, baseball. It’s hitting. Got a base hit and a walk in a game. I get it, but hitting is hard. You’re not going to hold him down long.”
Perhaps Judge and the rest of the lineup will break out against the Royals in Game 3 on Wednesday in Kansas City. These Yankees are built, after all, to win with offense – they were one of only three teams to average more than five runs per game during the season.
But they need to get it done and now, particularly since they aren’t getting much from their starting pitchers – Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón have combined for a 7.27 ERA in the first two games.
The offense will try to solve its missed opportunities issues Wednesday. Seth Lugo, one of the best pitchers in the AL this season, is in the way.
“I feel like this team is the best to do that,” Chisholm said. “You know, one day we get our butts kicked and the next day we’re kicking butt. Like, we turn around everything. We never look at anything as a downer.”
“All the boys are pumped up, excited,” Judge added. “They were definitely disappointed after this loss, but I think it definitely fired the guys up.”
