The New York Yankees are staring down a massive crisis. They sit down 2-0 in the ALDS and need three straight wins to stay alive. This is the hardest task in baseball. Only ten teams in history have ever pulled off this specific comeback. The Yankees must become number eleven or go home. Their season hangs on a single thread. On Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, they must defeat Nick Martinez and the Rays. The odds are stacked against them, but the job is clear.
The Cost of Sloppy Play
The problem is not just the pitching. It is the mess on the field. The team committed four errors in Game 2, with three of them happening in the first inning alone. That performance was a disaster. It was one error shy of the franchise playoff record for mistakes in a single game. The offense also struck out 17 times while reaching base safely just three other times. CBS Sports expert Dayn Perry states that the Rays lead all of baseball in contact rate and strikeout avoidance. That skill set exploits the lacking Yankee defense perfectly. Perry notes that while the fielding team is not as bad as Game 2, they are certainly not good. That gap is what will cost them the series.
A Lone Bright Spot
There is one player who has kept hope alive. Ben Rice hit a pair of solo shots in Game 2. He already had two home runs in Game 1 of the Wild Card Round. In Yankees history, Rice stands alone as the first player to hit multiple homers in two separate postseason games. His five homers are the second-most in team history for a player’s first 10 postseason games. He trails only Bernie Williams, who hit six. Rice is the shortest odds to hit a home run tonight. But one man cannot fix the whole lineup. The rest of the team has been held to just two total runs in the first two games. They need more than just one hero to survive.
Can Max Fried Save Them?
For Game 3, Manager Aaron Boone indicated he is considering adjustments to the lineup. The team needs to score early to ease the pressure. Max Fried is charged with saving the season on the mound. He faces a Rays offense that won 98 games in the regular season. Per CBS Sports, the Rays have been sensational with their pitching and their offense is there. If they can score against Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler, there is no reason they cannot do it against Fried. The experts at CBS Sports are split on the outcome. Some think the Yankees can win Games 3 and 4. Others say a full comeback is impossible. One expert noted that the Rays will have to face Drew Rasmussen again if the series goes long. He is a certified Yankees Killer. The race to six runs: neither team has scored that many in the first two games. The Yankees must fix the little things or their season ends Wednesday night.
