Bronx Bombers Advance With Pea Shooting
The Yankees of recent playoff vintage have often been stuck waiting for the proverbial three-run homer that never came. It’s been one of several reasons why Manager Aaron Boone came into this postseason with a losing record at 14-17. These contests typically feature the game’s top pitchers, and those of lesser quality are extra careful in avoiding throwing meatballs.
The Bronx Bombers, with their prolific power that saw them lead all of MLB in home runs this season, found different ways to skin the Royals in their American League Division Series. Yes, they got a big blast from playoff beast Giancarlo Stanton in the eighth inning of the pivotal Game 3 to escape with a 3-2 victory, but they also played smaller to close out the best-of-five series in Thursday night’s Game 4 by a 3-1 margin.
The Yankees approach at the plate over the last two games at the bigger Kansas City ballpark was a throwback to their more successful predecessors from the turn of the century. Plate discipline and putting balls in play were paramount. The last time the Yankees qualified for the playoffs in 2022, they struck out 103 times in nine games while drawing 27 walks. In this series, the ratio was nearly evened out: 27 walks versus 28 Ks.
All three Yankees runs on Thursday were scored on balls hit with relatively low elevation. Juan Soto grounded one through a hole on the right side to plate Gleyber Torres in the first inning, Torres then lined an opposite field RBI single to right in the fifth, and, after Austin Wells moved Aaron Judge over to third with a ground out to the right side in the sixth, Stanton delivered again with a hard grounder up the middle through the drawn-in infield.
It was enough because the Yankees bullpen finished off starter Gerrit Cole’s seven-inning clinic with six consecutive outs. In a postseason where relievers seem to be getting lit up left and right, the Yankees were lights out, tossing 15.2 innings without allowing an earned run in the series.
Clay Holmes, whose struggles during the middle of the season had Yankees fans apoplectic every time he entered a game in a high leverage situation, threw in all four games and posted a 0.8 WHIP, and newly-minted closer Luke Weaver registered three saves.
This is the formula for advancing in the postseason. The Yankees found a way to get out of this series without any long balls from Judge (58 regular season homers) or Soto (41). I found it somewhat amusing that the announcers spent so much time dissecting Judge’s career playoff woes at the plate that they neglected to mention the five walks he drew in the four games to boost his on base percentage to a more-than-respectable .389 for the series. Soto, like Judge, was limited to one extra base hit but still managed to match Judge’s OBP thanks to three walks.
It's not like the rest of the lineup were hit machines. Only Stanton, Soto, and platoon first baseman Jon Berti batted over .250 in the series. As a team, their batting average and slugging percentage were middling when compared to other teams this postseason. But factoring in the walks, the stolen bases, and the productive outs, it’s why the Yankees have averaged more runs per game than any AL club in these playoffs.
And that’s the name of the game at this time of year.