Perspectives: Game 2 ALDS

By Paul Semendinger

October 6, 2026

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The following are my perspectives from Game 2 of the ALDS, Yankees vs Rays.

(I was going to save this for tomorrow's 2:00 p.m. article, but I am running it now. It is still tomorrow's 2:00 article, but it is just coming way early.)

• Whatever happens going forward, George Lombard, Jr. saved the Yankees' season in the first inning. He made two great defensive plays, one robbing a hit, and one saving Jazz Chisholm of an error, that allowed the Yankees to escape the first inning only down 1-0.

• Tropicana Field is a joke. "Did it hit the inner ring or the super-inner ring?" Come on. That fly ball reminded me of playing Wiffle Ball in high school gym class. This is supposed to be the Major Leagues.

• On that fly ball to the roof, the Rays played it so very well with numerous players in position to catch the ball once it came down. Seeing great fundamentals is not something Yankees fans are used to seeing.

• Jazz Chisholm demonstrated, clearly, how his lack of focus hurts the Yankees. They cannot bring him back in 2027.

• Cam Schlittler showed his mettle in that first (and then the second) inning. We have seen great pitchers (Gerrit Cole, for one) break under pressure like that and/or when their team plays sloppily behind them. Schlittler did not. He showed who he is as a baseball player and as a competitor.

• The Yankees might still win the World Series. But the sloppy play, the lack of focus, even when they do win, makes the team unwatchable far too often. They are not a fun team to root for.

  
  

• If not for the uniform, no Yankees fan would see the type of play the Yankees have delivered since 2018 and say, "I want to root for and watch this team." That's just a fact. And it is the reason that Aaron Boone has to go.

• Ben Rice is special Imagine a team led by Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler, among others, with a manager that had them playing good quality, crisp, fundamental baseball... Now that would be a fun team! That team would be easy to root for. I wish the people who ran the Yankees understood that.

  
  

• I thought Bellinger hit it out... Alas! UGGGG!!!!!

• Why is it that the Yankees seem to fail, always, on the contact play, but other teams always seem to make it work against the Yankees?

• Imagine that, with the infield playing in, Jazz Chisholm was playing back on the dirt. His play is, far too often, simply unacceptable. But the Yankees accept it. And that's a problem.

• Teams should have to challenge umpire's calls immediately and not have time to check with the video team.

• During one at bat, in a big spot in the game, the home plate umpire made Richie Palacios of the Rays make sure that his back foot was in the batter's box. That never happens. Ever. I am 100% correct when I say that if that happened to a Yankees batter, many would be saying, "See! The umps are biased against the Yankees. There is the proof!"

• Brent Headrick has a tired arm because he was overused during the season. Part of that is on Brian Cashman's poor job at the trade deadline by not enhancing the bullpen. Part of it is on Aaron Boone's managerial approach. We've seen this often in the postseason - dead-armed pitchers giving up big hits in big spots. This is the Yankees' way as well.

• Once the Yankees went down 5-1, 12 of their last 13 batters, ever single one except for Ben Rice (who homered) was retired. They simply gave up. Sure, the Rays' pitchers were terrific. But we also didn't see quality at bats from the Yankees. At all.

  
  

• When facing quality, disciplined, fundamentally sound teams, the Yankees are no match. This is also a truism. The Yankees design their teams to be a little better than pretty good so they make the playoffs. The Yankees are not designed to win postseasons. Rather, they hope that the randomness of the short series in each playoff round will allow them to get lucky and advance. It's a bad strategy that has been proven bad year-after-year-after-year.

• If the Yankees fire Aaron Boone, but bring in a different manager with his same approach, they'll simply be running in place. It is time for major changes in philosophy and approach. That will only happen with the owner making a strong statement in that direction. This would also have to include Brian Cashman buying in to that new philosophy or also being replaced.

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