The Yankees Incompetence In Extra Innings Is Beyond Comprehension

Abdoul Sow. Getty Images.

To the joy of the rest of the world, the Yankees continue to free fall. Since the Saturday home game against the Red Sox a few weeks ago, they've simply forgotten how to play baseball. 

It's the annual June Boone Swoon where the team collapses out of seemingly nowhere and loses countless games in miserable fashion. It's every single year and the common denominator is Aaron Boone at the helm. Unfortunately he'll remain Yankees manager long after I've died, so asking for him to be fired is futile. 

Last night's defeat, clinching a series loss in Cincy, was something we've gotten far too comfortable with —an extra innings loss as the road team. They're basically automatic at this point. Dating back to 2020 they are a league worst 12-27 in that position. Twelve wins honestly feels high.

They don't move runners over. They don't bunt. Hell, they even get picked off at 2nd half the time not paying attention. When they're up in the top of the 10th, two outs occur faster than you'll ever believe. It's a goddamn magic trick. That runner on 2nd doesn't even move off the bag most of the time. Last night they scored a run in the 11th inning after a miracle wild pitch. That's what it takes to plate a guy in that spot. Every other team bunts or successfully moves the runner over with ease. Their guys all know what to do. For the Yankees it's like pulling teeth, and that's just for one run. Boone just sits there and stares, not even contemplating a chance in strategy. You want to say a manager impacts his sport the least of any of the four major sports? Sure, but extra innings is where you can make your money. If it were based on performance, Boone would make nothing. 

Advertisement

Realistically if you don't score two in the top of an extra inning with these rules you're not feeling great. One run for these idiots feels like a chore. A miracle if you will. That's why the moment a game goes into extras for them I almost accept defeat. They should instantly be a +250 dog if the game goes beyond 9 innings. 

The Rays are now just one game back of the AL East lead. The Jays aren't far behind them either. With a tough July coming up and this team in a full blown rut, you could be looking at a 3rd place team in no time. Boston could get there too, although it would have helped their cause if they didn't trade away their franchise player for a bag of balls. They have their own issues if you've watched their games against the Angels this week, but at the same time if they start to click again they could hop New York. Unfortunately for Boston, they don't play the Yankees again until late August so they'll have to find someone else to beat in the mean time. 

This Yankees team isn't as bad as they look right now, but they're also not as good as they showed the first two months. They're somewhere in the middle with a bullpen that needs help, a lineup that needs another bat in the middle of the order, and a rotation that needs another arm. At the beginning of the year I thought they would have to pitch their ass off to win games with a lineup that would be lucky to scrap together four runs a night. We're starting to see that come to fruition and it's scary. It's still June so I'm not going to totally panic, but they gotta figure their shit out soon.