Turn Out The Lights, The Party’s Over. Rays 4, Yankees 3.

About The Playoffs: Turn Out The Lights; The Party’s Over. Rays 4, Yankees 3                

By Tim Kabel

October 8, 2026

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When I was younger, I used to watch a lot of boxing. I was able to see Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Larry Holmes fight. Sometimes, the fights were really big. Ali-Frazier fights were aways huge events. All three of them were great fights. The Rumble in the Jungle was amazing. Even in Foreman's second career when he fought Evander Holyfield or came back to beat Michael Moorer to win the championship, those were exciting and great fights. But those fights didn't happen all the time. Muhammad Ali didn't fight Joe Frazier or George Foreman every time. Sometimes he fought Chuck Wepner, Brian London, or Karl Mildenberger. Those fighters were simply opponents. They had no real chance of beating Ali. But he had to fight somebody. They were the filler in between the big fights. It didn't matter who they were. They were just opponents...

Well, the Yankees have now officially become opponents when they are in the playoffs unless they are playing a team that they completely outclass such as the Red Sox this season.

In the past two seasons, the Yankees beat the Red Sox. They then lost in the Divisional series. Last year it was to Toronto. This year it was to Tampa Bay. The Yankees are no longer Muhammad Ali. They are now Jerry Quarry.      

I know a lot of people might say that the Yankees were robbed by having Anthony Volpe’s two-run home run overturned on fan interference. They really weren't. The replays clearly showed that the ball would not have been out of the stadium, but it also would not have been caught. The overturned call to make it a double was the correct one.

There really isn't too much to say about the game. The Yankees lost the game. They hit enough to make it interesting, but not enough to win. Max Fried pitched just well enough to lose. It was a disappointing game in a disappointing series in a disappointing season. The Yankees were swept in the series. Their season is over. 

The Yankees were swept in a best of five postseason series for the first time since 1980 against the Kansas City Royals. 

This was the 17th straight season that the Yankees will go without winning a World Series. That equals their longest drought since winning their first championship in 1923. The other gap between titles was between 1978 and 1996.

The Yankees batted .130 in this series, and they were outscored 10-5.

The Yankees never led at any point during the series against the Rays.

The Yankees have not advanced past a higher seeded team in the postseason since 2020.

The Yankees scored three runs last night and had seven hits.

Anthony Volpe and George Lombard had two hits each and the other three came from Spencer Jones, Luis Garcia, and Ben Rice. Four of those five players came up through the Yankees system. That is one thing to be encouraged about. There isn't much else.

I will write about this in greater detail in the future. After all, there's nothing else to write about. There aren't any games to recap anymore. Interestingly, I wrote the recap for the first game of the year and now I'm writing the recap of the last game of the year. I wish I could say that when I wrote that first one, I was optimistic that the Yankees would win the World Series. I was hopeful but I wasn't optimistic.

This is the ninth straight season under Aaron Boone, (Yes, that means every year under Aaron Boone), that the Yankees will not win the World Series. You can come up with a bunch of excuses to explain why they didn't this season, but you could do that every season. The excuses change but the ineptitude continues. With Aaron Boone as the manager, the Yankees will never win the World Series.                  

A Few Thoughts:

·       Ben Rice had a strong series against the Rays, getting three hits, including two home runs in ten at bats.

·       Giancarlo Stanton had two at bats in the postseason, both of which were against the Rays. He struck out both times. He had not played in a game since April 24th. Many of us including me, felt it was a dreadful decision to have him on the roster. It was.

·       There will be more time to write about this in the future, but I expect that last night was the last time we will ever see Jazz Chisholm, Paul Goldschmidt, Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario, Trent Grisham, and Giancarlo Stanton in Yankees uniforms.

·       If the Yankees ever expect to win the World Series, last night has to be the last game Aaron Boone managed for the Yankees. Otherwise, a year from now I will be writing another article about how the Yankees lost and were humiliated in Yankee Stadium by watching another team celebrate a victory in the Divisional Playoff Round. If eight was enough for Dick Van Patten, then nine is more than enough for Aaron Boone.