The Yankees gave the Rays a home to play in this season, but apparently the $15 million the Rays paid in return was as far as they were willing to go in helping the Yankees.
Eight straight wins to end the regular season were still not enough to complete the Yankees’ comeback in the AL East, with the Blue Jays outlasting them via a tiebreaker courtesy of winning the season series 8-5.
The race came down to Game 162 on Sunday, and while the Yankees beat the Orioles 3-2 on the back of two home runs from Ben Rice, the Blue Jays finished off a sweep of the Rays, who proved to be no help.
And so the Yankees’ postseason will begin on Tuesday in The Bronx against the Red Sox in the wild-card series, while the Blue Jays enjoy a bye into the ALDS.
Because as it turns out, Alejandro Kirk can still be a Yankees killer, even when he is not facing the Yankees, as the Blue Jays catcher powered their 13-4 win with two home runs and six RBIs.
The Yankees, meanwhile, finished strong thanks to Rice, who homered in the first and then again in the bottom of the eighth to break a 2-2 tie.
Ending the regular season with an identical 94-68 record to the Blue Jays, the Yankees left themselves open to the “what if” game.
How many games did they squander, especially during their summer swoon, when salvaging just one of them would have made them division winners?
Except there is little time for that now, with the playoffs suddenly beginning on Tuesday and the Yankees facing another division nemesis that gave them problems during the season.
The Red Sox won the season series 9-4, though the Yankees took two of three against them in their last meeting earlier this month.
While the Yankees fell short of the division title, Aaron Judge did wrap up the batting title, going 1-for-4 to finish the year hitting .331 with 53 home runs in what could be a third AL MVP campaign.
Shortly after the Rays took a 1-0 lead over the Blue Jays in Toronto, a fired-up Rice put the Yankees ahead 1-0 when he took Kyle Bradish deep for his 25th home run of the year in the bottom of the first inning.
The air began to leak out of the Yankees’ division hopes soon after, though, when the Blue Jays tied their game in the bottom of the first and then went ahead 5-1 on a grand slam from Kirk.
Then by the top of the fourth inning in The Bronx, Luis Gil gave up back-to-back home runs to Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson, putting the Orioles up 2-1.
But shortly after the Rays pulled within 5-4 of the Blue Jays, the Yankees answered in the bottom of the fourth before wasting a prime chance to take the lead.
Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton led off the frame with back-to-back-to-back singles, tying the game at two and threatening for more. But Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe and Ryan McMahon struck out in succession to kill the rally.
The Yankees had the makings of another rally in the bottom of the fifth when José Caballero led off with a walk and stole second for his 49th swipe of the year before Trent Grisham walked.
But Caballero, whose goal has been to steal 50 bases, was then picked off of second base by lefty reliever Keegan Akin for the first out, with Rice at the plate. Rice ended up lining out before Judge flied out as the threat fizzled.
By the time Rice homered off Rico Garcia in the bottom of the eighth, the Blue Jays were blowing open the game, allowing the champagne to be wheeled back into storage at Yankee Stadium.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
