The New York Yankees ended their season in game five against the Tampa Bay Rays in game 5 of the ALDS on Friday night. Despite Gerrit Cole lasting 5.1 innings and allowing just one earned run, the Yankees simply couldn’t bail him out with their inconsistent offense.
The story for the Yankees this year has been their inability to put runs on the board consistently. One day they will post 15 on any given team and then go on a five-game streak of three runs or less. Losing two consecutive games in the middle of the series to the Rays was always going to be tough to come back from, and questionable pitching decisions in game 2 set the Yankees back significantly.
However, injuries were the main storyline for the Yankees this year, who lost Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton for the majority of the season. That is not to mention starting pitcher James Paxton also going down with a flexor strain, forcing him out of the postseason.
If Paxton would have been available, the Yankees might have had a better chance of winning game 2 and moving onto the ALCS against the Houston Astros. Of course, that wasn’t the case, and the Yankees are now looking forward to 2021 free agency and who they can pick up to bolster the rotation.
The New York Yankees had one player rise above the rest in 2020:
One player that rose to the occasion was Luke Voit, who finished the regular campaign with a .277 batting average and 22 home runs, the most in his four-year professional career. He hit home runs at nearly double the rate this season, keeping the Yankees afloat when their other sluggers were missing time due to injury. Voit, though, was also dealing with issues of his own, specifically on his foot.
“The plan is for me to go back and get it looked at,†Voit said told reporters after the game. “I think it’s just your classic case of plantar fasciitis. But, again, I don’t know. Plan on getting something done on Sunday like an MRI and see what the problem is. I really don’t know. I wasn’t trying to be secretive about it. We just didn’t know.â€
Voit has been visibly limping for weeks but decided to play through the injury because his team needed him. His toughness and grit were exactly what the Bombers needed, while other players dropped out of the starting lineup for minor issues. He was their saving grace and has cemented himself as the starting first baseman moving forward.
“I feel like I let my team down,†he said. “I feel like I had a terrible five games against those guys and they’ve got good pitching and we’ve got to do better. It’s frustrating. It sucks. Just fuel for the fire for next year.â€
He added, “I hate this feeling. It sucks. it’s the third year in a row going through it. Going to use it in every workout, every (batting practice) session, cage session I have and be ready for spring training next year.â€
The Yankees have the talent to compete and win a World Series, they just have inconsistencies in there most influential units. Their starting rotation is weak, and they don’t have enough contact hitters. We can expect two things this off-season, one, they will re-sign DJ LeMahieu for at least four years, and they will go out and sign a true No. 2 starting pitcher to pair with Gerrit Cole.