It's been a tough postseason for favorites, including the Yankees
Rain delay is kicking off the action at Yankee Stadium where the New York Yankees host the Cleveland Guardians in game 5 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium Monday October 17, 2022 Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Heading into Monday night’s Game 5 of the Division Series, the Yankees were forced to consider their own playoff mortality, a 99-win team at risk of ultimately being labeled a $260 million disappointment.
It’s a franchise that never truly gets to play the underdog, regardless of what the Vegas oddsmakers say. Lugging around all that hardware, the heavy metal of those 27 commissioner’s trophies, can be a stressful burden, especially for the current Yankees, 13 years removed from the last Bronx title.
And now that angst will stretch a little further after Monday’s game was postponed after a 2-hour, 33-minute rain delay, pushing the winner-take-all Game 5 showdown to 4:07 p.m. Tuesday.
The Yankees are still alive after three of this season’s 100-win teams — the Mets, Dodgers and Atlanta — already have been eliminated. The first two, not coincidentally, racked up the highest payrolls in the sport, approaching $300 million. The third ranked eighth, right around $200 million.
Money isn’t the only contributor to success, obviously. The Guardians, who won the weak AL Central and pushed the Yankees to the brink, spent a whopping $80 million on this year’s roster. Only the Orioles ($64M) and the A’s ($61M) paid less this season.
So why were the plucky Guardians able to win more games in this round than Atlanta (1-3) and the Dodgers (1-3) and advance further than the wild-card victim Mets? Not to mention set the stage for the very real possibility of knocking off the AL East champs?
The autopsies for these October casualties are a long way from being complete. It’s a process that will be going on for most of the coming winter.
Some have suggested that the new playoff format, tacked on to the end of the lockout-impaired regular season, helped contribute to the demise of those heavyweights. Given the everyday rhythm of baseball itself, the five-day layoff before the Division Series can be a momentum-killer for teams that just spent the previous six months grinding to triple-digit wins and a division crown.
But there are other factors in this diagnosis, too. As much as the sport’s data analysts rely on probability in predicting outcomes, they do bow to the human element as well (which also makes for a convenient excuse when the numbers don’t bear fruit).
Can the weight of expectations crush a 100-win juggernaut? From the first pitch of Opening Day, many already had conceded the 2022 World Series to the powerhouse Dodgers, who were never threatened in their own division and basically took September off to rest up for their preordained October romp.
Things didn’t pan out that way as the Padres, who finished 22 games behind the Dodgers, derailed their NL West rival’s title pursuit in four games.
The freewheeling Phillies, re-energized by new manager Rob Thomson, beat Atlanta in four games despite winning 14 fewer games during the regular season.
As for the Mets, they won 101 games but lost the division in the final week and then pulled a Wild Card Series no-show at Citi Field in dropping two of three to San Diego.
How did all that happen? Was it simply a matter of the best teams somehow playing their worst at the most critical point of the calendar? Cracks in the roster that didn’t become visible until October? Or was the pressure a factor, too?
The Yankees looked unbeatable during the first half of the season, then were slowed by injuries and wobbled through an August swoon that came dangerously close to loosening their grip on first place. Once they did clinch the division, however, it seemed like a gift when the Guardians knocked off the Blue Jays, an AL East rival with more personal animosity and greater pop at the plate.
Either way, the Yankees’ most fearsome opponent — at least until they get to the Astros — often tends to be their pinstriped legacy. Being measured against all the ghosts, while carrying one of baseball biggest price tags, can be a lot, even for a team that routinely performs in front of playoff-caliber crowds from April through September. The Dodgers surely can relate to those stresses, which increase exponentially in October.
“You’ve got to be able to handle those things and deal with those things, and oftentimes, it’s something that can fuel you in a good way,” manager Aaron Boone said before Monday’s postponement. “Sometimes it can get in your way a little bit. But that’s part of thriving as a major-league athlete on the biggest stage and in the most pressure-packed moments that can oftentimes be a separator.
“It’s not all just physical. There’s mental, emotional, how you deal with adversity and things like that. All important things and real things, and hopefully we handle those well.”
The Yankees were put to the test in Sunday’s elimination game at Progressive Field and answered the bell. With his ace title under renewed scrutiny, Gerrit Cole supplied the seven-inning start they desperately needed and Harrison Bader continued to make Brian Cashman proud with his third homer in four postseason games.
But now Tuesday’s Game 5 has the Yankees staring into the abyss again, the last Goliath in danger of a premature exit.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
