Last night was the Yankees‘ fourth-consecutive loss, this time to an Angels’ team that is objectively atrocious at the sport.
They were coming off of a sweep at the hands of the Orioles, just as the Yankees were swept by a Red Sox team that they had outplayed for most of the season.
When it rains it pours for the Yankees, and as we saw last season, the team is beginning to slip and make unacceptable mistakes in games.
In three-straight innings they had a runner on second with no one out, and in three-straight innings they failed to score the runner.
This is a trend that goes beyond just luck or variance, and seems to be rooted in some poor decisions that stem from a lack of situational abilities that separate an otherwise talented roster from clawing out tough wins.
A Frustrating Issue With the Yankees’ Late-Game At-Bats
One of the biggest head-scratchers from last night was watching a Yankees’ team know they needed just one run to win the game, and yet both of their hitters who came up (Jazz Chisholm & DJ LeMahieu) made just two total bunt attempts.
Chisholm came up in the ninth after a Giancarlo Stanton double which should have put the team in position to score and win the game, but he struck out on three pitches.
A speedy infielder with remarkable athletic abilities, the fact that the Yankees did not even have him attempt a bunt is beyond reproach in my opinion; you need just one run to win the game, you have to identify that moving the runner over is a must.
In theory a deep flyball or well-placed groundout would do the job, but those require a hitter to put the ball in play on a swing, which isn’t as likely as putting a ball in play on a swing.
The goal of a contender is to win games; to not have a team capable of executing a bunt when it would significantly improve their odds of winning close games such as this one is a real gripe that fans and analysts can point out.
I loathe the bunt; I loathe the idea of giving away an out for free especially when you have an offense that has performed extremely well this season, but this is not a situation where an out is worth more to the defense than the runner advancing from second to third.
We can all put our hands over our ears as modern baseball fans and pretend that these little things don’t matter, but these are the things that can cost you 2-3 games a season, the difference between winning a division or not.
A seasoned veteran like DJ LeMahieu was expected to bunt in the 10th, and to his credit he made two attempts to get one down but fouled it away and then saw a pitch out of zone.
Here’s the thing; I need him to be squared around to bunt immediately. He doesn’t bunt on 1-1 because he hesitates, flinching when the pitcher changes up their timing and resulting in LeMahieu fouling off a pitch to make it 1-2.
Luck is arguably why the Yankees were in that situation in the first place; a million hard-hit balls have found the gloves of opposing defenders, with the team having an expected SLG% that is 200 points higher than their actual SLG% over the last four games.
That being said, when luck isn’t going your way and the game is close, the Yankees need to still have other ways to win a baseball game, and in yesterday’s contest we saw once again that their extra-inning strategy is both inconsistent and ineffective.
READ MORE: Yankees’ latest experiment? Converting failed infield prospect into outfielder
On Friday night, Anthony Volpe took off from second to try and steal third with no one out in the top of the 10th, a play where he is wagering an out to advance 90 feet despite being the road team, where playing for multiple runs is the plan.
This inexplicable urge to scratch one across and risk everything to ensure one run scores was stunning to me, but Aaron Boone defended the play.
I’m not mad at the manager for defending his player, and I’m not that mad at the steal attempt anymore seeing that a stumble on the bases cost him that base.
With Jazz Chisholm at the plate and Jasson Dominguez at second base, who has been a better baserunner than Volpe this year, they for some reason do not try the same play despite knowing that if he scores, the game is over.
I’m not saying you have to steal there, but why challenge Carlos Narvaez when that one run doesn’t serve as a win condition, risking getting thrown out in the process if just a few days later you won’t challenge a worse catcher?
These inconsistencies and seemingly stubborn refusals to have their approach adapt to the situation remind me a lot of the Boston Celtics this past season.
For my NBA enthusiasts, you may remember how the Celtics continued to hoist three-pointers while up 20 points, a strategy that is not even rooted in math and data.
It was lazy, a move that overlooked the Knicks’ ability to create momentum from these misses and eventually edge out a victory that started one of the biggest upsets in recent playoff memory.
The Yankees seem to play the same way; there’s a refusal to make a seemingly obvious approach change to ensure that the game is won from this team that rears it’s ugly head in these sorts of games.
People overstate how often a team should alter it’s approach; they should stick to what’s been working (even when it doesn’t for a little) over the course of a game, but once there’s a win condition you have to play for it.
Jazz Chisholm shouldn’t be swinging away knowing he’s a high-strikeout hitter when the value of a bunt and sacrifice fly is the same as a home run in that inning.
The players deserve blame for not executing, but I’ll turn to the coaches and ask why these players aren’t aware of or prepared for those specific moments.
Is this a bad team? No. Are they playing bad baseball? Yes. Things need to change quickly, or the Rays will surpass them in the AL East standings and we’ll have a whole new outlook on what has mostly been a strong season.