Panic Time For Yankees? 3 Takeaways From ALDS Game 2 As Rays Go Up 2-0

The Yankees strutted into Tropicana Field talking about their Cy Young-favorite starter and a postseason-ready lineup. They whimpered out of it staring at a 2-0 ALDS hole.

After Tampa Bay ace Drew Rasmussen blanked the Yankees in Game 1, Freddy Peralta and the Rays finished the job in Game 2 with a controlling 5-2 win over New York in Monday’s Game 2. 

Now the Yankees, who have never truly threatened at any point this series, must win three straight to survive and advance to the ALCS. The Rays are just one win away from advancing to the ALCS for the first time since 2020, when they lost to the Dodgers in the Fall Classic.

Here are my takeaways:

Perhaps the Yankees weren’t ready for the new Rays, because New York was playing like these were the old Rays. They’re no longer just the scrappy, analytically-forward Rays of old who could be overpowered in a short series. 

Now, Tampa Bay has legitimate big bats, including Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda and Yandy Diaz, to complement their always-excellent pitching depth and clean defense. Both Aranda and Caminero were key to the Rays’ game-opening four-run fifth inning on Monday. Now, the Yankees can no longer afford to make completely avoidable mistakes and be given a runway to overcome them.

The Rays, as they have been all year, represent the better team. They showed it through their tighter fundamentals. They showed it through their elite situational baserunning. They showed it with their ability to pounce on multiple moments of weakness from the Yankees.

New York committed a total of five errors in Monday’s Game 2. Tampa Bay committed none. The book is out. A team as well-rounded as the Rays has already beat the Yankees on paper. The moment that New York hurts its own chances, the game is over.

We can look at an example as recent as the final week of the regular season, when the Rays went to Yankee Stadium for a four-game series in the Bronx. Tampa Bay led 1-0 in the seventh inning with a great-fielding pitcher in Max Fried on the mound. Rays shortstop Taylor Walls pushed a bunt between the mound and first base, no Yankees fielder covered second base, and a run scored from third. Tampa Bay has created a run on that play multiple times this season, manager Kevin Cash said after that game. 

It’s always impossible to defend. 

In doing so, the Rays create a wider margin for error before they even take the field for first pitch. Then, throw in their sold-out crowds at Tropicana Field so far in the ALDS, and the Yankees were clearly rattled on Monday. The loud support is there. The talent is there, tenfold. The Rays, finally, seem ready for their moment. After leading the American League in wins all year, all that’s left is the pennant. 

The Yankees committed not one, not two, but three (!) errors in the first inning of Game 2. We’ve seen this clown show too many times to count. The question is, how many times do Yankees officials need to see it before making fundamental changes? 

All three Yankees errors arrived within the first four batters of Schlittler’s start. The Yankees ace, who is the favorite to win this year’s American League Cy Young award, deserved better. Schlittler himself is battling workload boundaries after blowing past his career-innings high (73) in the first week of June. That he was able to limit the Rays to just one run in the first despite the mistakes of his fielders was nothing short of a miracle.

First it was a fielding error by third baseman Ryan McMahon, which allowed Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz to reach first base with no outs. Aaron Boone considered replacing McMahon at third with infielder Anthony Volpe for Game 2, but the Yankees manager “wanted to prioritize defense.” McMahon recorded a career-worst -3 Defensive Runs Saved in 875 innings at third base this year for the Yankees. 

McMahon’s -3 DRS was ranked 87th out of 130 third basemen who completed at least 800 innings at the hot corner this year. That doesn’t mean Volpe would have been the better option, considering he played just one nine-inning game at third base this season, and that’s it across his major-league career. But choosing to go with McMahon because he’s the better defensive option doesn’t hold much water at this point in the year. 

In addition to McMahon, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. committed a throwing error, which allowed the Rays to get their first run on the board, and Rays backstop Liam Hicks reached base on catcher interference by Austin Wells. Yankees fans must have gotten flashbacks to Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, when New York lost a championship to the Dodgers by making similar fundamental mistakes and stepping on its own foot.

If not for Yankees shortstop George Lombard Jr. stretching his arm to catch another errant throw from Chisholm, the Yankees would have committed four errors in the first inning of Game 2 on Monday. Instead, they settled for three. 

After out-scoring the Red Sox 18-2 in their Wild-Card series sweep last week, Yankees bats went cold against the Rays’ dominant pitching in the first two games of the ALDS. New York was understandably silent against Rays ace Drew Rasmussen in Saturday’s Game 1. Rasmussen dominated the Yankees all year, and they had to expect more of the same in the series opener.

But the Yankees had their chance to capitalize with a shaky Freddy Peralta on the mound in the fifth inning of Monday’s Game 2, and they failed to come through. Peralta was sweating after giving up a double to Austin Wells on two outs in the fifth. (It’s noteworthy that Wells smartly stopped at second base after trying and failing to leg out a triple on a similar ball he put in play in Game 1.) Peralta was clearly shaken up, as he walked McMahon, the Yankees No. 9 hitter, on six pitches in the next at-bat.

The Rays pulled Peralta after that, with Tampa Bay’s trade-deadline acquisition completing just 4 ⅔ innings on 66 pitches. They went to their bullpen for Yankees designated hitter Ben Rice, who drew a walk against left-hander Cam Booser. Then, with the bases loaded, and the Yankees tied with the Rays 1-1, Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger flew out to center for the final out of the fifth inning. New York’s offensive threat, hard to come by against an elite Rays pitching staff, never materialized again.

Besides Rice, who homered twice and went 2-for-3 with a walk in Game 2, the rest of the Yankees offense was completely befuddled by the four Tampa Bay arms who stepped on the mound on Monday. After losing Game 1 at Tropicana Field, ALDS Game 2 with an unreliable Peralta and an ace in Schlittler on the mound was a must-win for the Yankees. It’s difficult for even the most optimistic of Yankees fans to believe they can turn the best-of-five series around after being down 2-0 – with their best player in Aaron Judge nursing a calf strain on the bench, absent from the active roster.

Yankees left-hander Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA, 104 strikeouts) will take the hill for Game 3 on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium — as long as he’s available. Fried’s girlfriend is due to give birth sometime this week, which could put his availability into question for the ALDS. If Fried is unable to make his outing, the Yankees will start southpaw Carlos Rodon in his place. As of Monday night, the Rays had not announced a starter for Game 3.