Just When You Thought The Yankees Humiliation Tour Was Over, You Have The Brewers And Guardians Making a Mockery Of The Way They Play Against Good Teams In October

It's bad enough that the Yankees just wrapped up another season without a World Series championship. 17 consecutive seasons, no title. It's tied for the longest Yankees drought in franchise history, ignoring how long it took them to win their first one. That's beyond pathetic. We are in the dark ages of Yankees baseball. 

To make matters worse, the Yankees are currently at home while they watch teams like the Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers play the game at a higher level than them, beating teams that have recently smoked the Yankees in the postseason. 

Let's start with the Brewers. We're two years removed from the Dodgers embarrassing the Yankees in the World Series. It was so bad that players on the team later bragged on podcasts how easy it was to beat the Yankees. The secret sauce? Put the ball in play and make them play baseball. 

Just look at what this Brewers lineup has done to Skubal and Yamamoto through the first two games of the NLCS. Both starters were physically exhausted when they exited the game. Skubal labored through five innings and Yamamoto lasted only eight outs. If there's a recipe to taking out the Dodgers it's that right there. 

The Milwaukee lineup won't scare you on paper, but once you're tasked to deal with them it's another story. 1-9 these guys will work counts, move runners, and put pressure on you. If they need a clutch hit they'll eventually get it. It's a relentless attack. 

In the first inning last night against Yamamoto, the first four hitters each had at least a 5 pitch at bat. Right away you're just putting your weight on the starting pitcher and making him work. That's winning baseball. That's how you neutralize the Dodgers monster pitching staff. By the time the 3rd inning rolled around, Yamamoto was up to 75 pitches and completely spent. This at bat from Jake Bauers in the 3rd inning was a work of art. 

At bats like that won them the game and are why the Brewers are in such a great position to win the World Series. Yamamoto had nothing left when he delivered his final pitch of the night to Yelich, a fat hanging curveball that was rocketed back up the middle for two runs. Winning baseball. 

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The best Yankees teams had this shit wired into their DNA. Nowadays? Way too often you'll see them come out ultra aggressive and try to attack early, thinking that's the best course of action. When it works that's great for sure, but in the playoffs you're constantly facing great starting pitching and way less likely to catch an elite arm off guard. That's how Freddy Peralta got through the first three innings in Game 2 of the ALDS in just 36 pitches. A nibbling pitcher who loves to walk guys and chase strikeouts was given a virtual free pass through the first time through the order. It's infuriating how often this happens with them. 

Look at the Dodgers facing the Miz in Game 1. How many pitches did they spoil to keep at bats going and increase pitch count? 40? Obviously Miz is great and it's so hard to stack hits and runs against him, but what you can do to combat him is is take away his bullets. The Dodgers chased him after just 13 outs and 94 pitches. Of course the Brewers pen is a weapon in itself, but taking out the Miz that early and getting more looks at those relievers is a win that could serve you best later in the series. The Yankees just don't do this. It's all about slug and ambushing. When that doesn't work there is no plan B. You just lose, and boy do they lose a lot in the postseason. 

As if THAT wasn't enough to humiliate you last night if you're a Yankees fan, you had the Guardians rack up 14 hits on the Rays pitching last night, a game in which Rasmussen started. How many total hits did the Yankees have in their three sweep at the hands of Tampa? 12! The Guardians struck out twice last night. Put enough traffic on the bases and you're bound to hit gold somewhere. It didn't look pretty until the 7th, but the pressure they put on Tampa eventually led to the levee breaking. 

There's an art to working counts and putting the ball in play that has escaped the New York Yankees. Their current strategy is great for the regular season. They fall out of bed and into 90+ wins plus a  postseason berth, but that's where the momentum ends. They don't know how to manufacture runs if it's not coming from the long ball. Hitting home runs is great, but you need to be able to score in different ways. You can slug your way to a bunch of regular season wins and beat up on the bottom feeders, but when the season turns to Fall you need to be versatile. They have one speed and that's it. 

For fuck's sake, look at the IQ level on Jose Ramirez last night. The Yankees don't have this in their arsenal. That sort of stuff stems from the manager. The Boone led Yankees would NEVER have a moment like this. 

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You wanna talk about the Yankees IQ? They can't even figure out how to get Jazz to cover first on a simple bunt play. 

No like, he actually doesn't know what to do. 

No. idea. 

Jazz is an incredibly talented player. He can hit for power, steal bases, and makes great ranging plays at second base. But a winning player is another conversation. To me he's just another one of those regular season guys who you cannot rely on in October. There's not enough consistency with the little shit like those plays above for him to be a World Series player. That and he outright said he can't play in the cold. Not ideal when it's not 85 degrees in New York in October. 

None of this is to dismiss analytics by the way. All of these teams rely heavily on the numbers, with an army of engineers and data analysts who are great at staying ahead of the curve and how to exploit the game where they can. Look at how many guys the Brewers employ in this department. 

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The Yankees value analytics, but there's a disconnect somewhere. Whatever trend is in, they're always somehow behind the ball without fail. The type of shit the Brewers are doing where they're reinventing the wheel and leading trends? The Yankees are never doing this shit. 

There's zero adapting whatsoever. If they do change they're late to the game when the best of the best have already moved onto the next smart strategy. 

It's possible the players don't buy in enough. Maybe the wrong things are being valued? Could be that our nerds just fucking suck at this. I don't have that information or evidence at my disposal, but the proof is in the pudding. The best in the game are lapping them every season and until there is a major philosophical change throughout the organization you will get the same results year after year. Listen to Jeter here, he's calling out the Yankees without calling them out. 

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It's more of an arrogance issue than anything. They believe their method is right and will eventually prove them correct. The humiliation tour continues. 

P.S. I have so much anger towards the Red Sox. They suck so much they convinced me this team turned a corner and were starting to do the right things. Nope, there's just levels to this thing.