About Last Night: The Blue Jays Sent the Yankees into Hibernation 5-2.

About Last Night: The Blue Jays Sent the Yankees into Hibernation 5-2.

By Tim Kabel

October 9, 2025

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When it came down to it, the Yankees were not able to win five consecutive elimination games after all. They won three but as the old saying goes, that was “close, but no cigar”. Cam Schlittler pitched well enough to win but was let down by poor defense once again. The one shining moment for the Yankees in this series was game 3. Other than that, they were thoroughly beaten and outplayed by the Blue Jays. They had to sit back and watch Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. mocking the Yankees along with David Ortiz on the post-game show. The Blue Jays are clearly the better team. Something needs to be done about that.

Quick Stats – 

· In this series, Aaron Judge was 9-15 (.600) with 6 RBI and 3 walks.

· Remember, one of the mantras we kept hearing was that if the Yankees could only get to the postseason, Giancarlo Stanton would take over as he always does. Well, in this postseason he batted .192, with two doubles, zero home runs, and four RBI.

· Anthony Volpe was 1-15 in this series with 11 strikeouts. In the postseason, he struck out 14 of his last 18 at bats. That would basically be considered an automatic out. We can no longer say that it's because he was hurt. Because if he was hurt, he should not have been playing. Also, he was hitting at the end of the season. Just not when it counted the most: in the playoffs.

· This basically sums up the difference between the Blue Jays and the Yankees: The Blue Jays put in Myles Straw for defense, and he did improve the defense but he also had a hit and drove in a run. The Yankees inserted Amed Rosario for offense, which did not change anything, but his defense cost the Yankees a run.

· Louis Varland became the first pitcher in Major League history to lose a postseason game and start the next day’s game.

· Cam Schlittler joined Dakota Hudson (2019 for Saint Louis) as the only rookies in Major League history to make their first two postseason starts in potential elimination games.

· Fun fact: Camilo Doval has 23 full and half siblings. That's a roster.

· On October 8th,1956, Don Larson threw the only perfect game in postseason history, a 2-0 win over the Dodgers, to give the Yankees a 3-2 series lead.

Big Story – 

The Yankees tied the Blue Jays for the best record in the American League and the third best record in the Major Leagues behind the Brewers and the Phillies. However, they were a streaky team that went into a lengthy Boone-Swoon and had to rally at the end of the year against weaker opposition to make the playoffs. They came back after losing the first game of the Wild Card Series to win against the Red Sox, relying on a rookie making his fifteenth Major League start. It was obvious that the Yankees would not win the World Series this year. I, and others, have stated repeatedly that the Yankees will never win a World Series with Aaron Boone as their manager. So far that has proven to be true. There will be plenty of time to talk about the future. The point is that when you have to win five consecutive elimination games to advance into the ALCS, your prospects are not very good. Sooner or later your luck will run out. Last night, the Yankees’ luck ran out.

Player of the Game – 

Aaron Judge showed why he is the likely MVP yet again this season by going 2-4 and driving in one of the Yankees’ two runs.

Notable Performances– 

Cam Schlittler was solid but not spectacular. He allowed two earned runs in 6.1 innings. He was the Yankees’ best starting pitcher not only in this series, but in the playoffs. That gives Yankees’ fans something to look forward to.

Jasson Dominguez emerged from the witness protection program and in his only postseason at bat in the 9th inning, hit a double and scored one of the Yankees’ two runs.

Better To Forget-

That it is “all right there in front of us”, because it's not. The only thing in front of the Yankees now are television sets where they can watch the other teams in the postseason. Perhaps that was the last time we will ever hear “it's all right there in front of us”.

My Take – 

Before the postseason began, Aaron Boone said that in his eight years as the manager of the Yankees, this team was the best team he had managed. Let's dive into that a little bit, shall we?

That means that by definition, this team was better than last year's team. Last year's team made it to the World Series. They lost, in large part due to Aaron Boone’s mistakes, but they did make it to the World Series. This team, which Boone stated was better than last year's team, lost in the Division Series. They were on the verge of elimination in the Wild Card series and lost in the Division Series three games to one.

There is a problem here. Either Aaron Boone is wrong, and this is not the best team he has ever managed, or it is the best team he has ever managed but he could not win with it. Neither of those options is good.

In the first case, if this is not the best team Aaron Boone ever managed, then his assessment and player evaluation skills are deficient. He cannot evaluate talent properly and make an accurate determination as to the ability level of his team and individual players. That means he shouldn't be the manager of the team next year.

In the second scenario, if this is the best team that Aaron Boone has ever managed, he should have been able to win the World Series with this team. He did not. You can't say that that is an unfair statement because last year's team made it to the World Series and lost. If this team is better than that team, they should have won the World Series. They didn't even make it there. They didn't even make it to the American League Championship Series. So, if this really is the best team Aaron Boone ever managed and he couldn't win with them, he should not be the manager next year.

I am using Boone’s own statement to make a point. I didn't say that this was the best Yankees team in the Aaron Boone era, he did. Whichever way you evaluate that statement compared to the results of this season; Aaron Boone comes up short. It is time to say Boone Voyage.

Next Up-

Spring Training.