The New York Yankees season ended in misery once again Wednesday night as they were eliminated by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Despite saving face and narrowly avoiding a sweep with a Game 3 comeback win, the Pinstripes were unable to completely salvage the American League Division Series in the Bronx.
Aaron Judge and co. suffered a 5-2 defeat to the Blue Jays in a do-or-die Game 4 to send them packing from the MLB playoffs.
The result sees Toronto win the series 3-1 and advance to the ALCS for the first time in nine years, while New York’s season ends in yet another bitter end, just one year removed from their crushing five-game World Series defeat.
The knockout loss, which marks the 16th straight year without a 28th ring for the Yankees, sent New York fans into a meltdown.
Yankees supporters immediately flooded social media with calls for manager Aaron Boone to be fired in what has become somewhat of an annual post-defeat postseason tradition for the Bronx Bombers.
The New York Yankees were eliminated from the postseason by the Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays won the crucial Game 4 5-2 to take the series 3-1 and advance to the ALCS
‘Fire Boone,’ one blunt fan pleaded, while another called for a host of Pinstripes to be axed, adding: ‘I hope they get rid of the manager, GM, SS and that big mouth 2nd baseman.’
‘What’s the excuse going to be this year for failing again and still keeping Boone and Cashman…,’ another said.
A fourth chimed in: ‘Wow [Jasson] Dominguez bats 1.000 in the postseason. An extra base hit and run scored… nice move Boone… #moron.’
‘Get Aaron Boone the f*** out of New York,’ another piled on.
Judge hit .500 (13 for 25) with seven RBIs and four walks in seven postseason games, including .600 (9 for 15) with one homer, six RBIs and four walks against the Blue Jays.
But ultimately the six-foot-seven slugger remained without a World Series win yet again as the Yankees’ drought extended to 16 years.
Running at first base when Cody Bellinger ended the game with a strikeout, Judge walked slowly toward the Yankees dugout and turned his head to watch the Blue Jays celebrate on New York’s infield.
Jeff Hoffman (L) forces out Trent Grisham at first base during the bottom of the ninth inning
Now 33 and perhaps on the verge of his third AL MVP award, Judge has had eight unfulfilling trips to the playoffs in 10 big league seasons.
Instead of moving alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Derek Jeter in adding to a the Yankees’ championship collection, Judge remains in the same category as Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield – known for the absence of ice on their fingers during their time in the Bronx.
Judge won his first AL batting title by hitting .331 with 114 RBIs and 53 home runs – reaching 50 for the fourth time. He is on a Hall of Fame track with a .294 career average and 368 homers, and he has a .235 postseason average with 16 homers and 41 RBIs in 65 games.
A year after an AL East title and a five-game World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees had a winning record for the 33rd straight season but finished second to Toronto in the division and rallied to win their best-of-three Wild Card Series against Boston after losing the opener.
New York was outscored 34-19 by the Blue Jays and outhomered 9-4, a surprise for an offense that led the major leagues with 274 homers and scored a big league high 50.2% of its runs on long balls, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
And just like last year , defense precipitated the demise. Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. allowed Andrés Giménez’s grounder to skip off his glove for an error instead of turning it into an inning-ending double play, and Nathan Lucas hit a two-out, two-run single off Devin Williams for a 4-1 lead in the seventh.
Judge looked grim when he walked back to the dugout after striking out in his final at-bat of the year.
Meanwhile, Vladamir Guerrero Jr and co. launched into raucous on-field celebrations which continued into the visitors’ clubhouse, where they rubbed salt into the wound.
As the Blue Jays popped champagne bottles and let beer spray around the locker room, they added insult to injury by blasting Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York’ – the Yankees’ signature song.
The Yankees traditionally played the song following every home game before changing the custom this season to inly after winning results at Yankee Stadium.
More to follow.
