The New York Yankees’ season ended with more silence than celebration. In front of a restless crowd at Yankee Stadium, the Toronto Blue Jays closed out the ALDS with a 5-2 win Wednesday night, sending the Yankees home and punching their own ticket to the ALCS for the first time since 2016.
Toronto used eight pitchers in a true bullpen game, and the mix kept New York guessing all night. The Yankees managed only six hits, and every rally fizzled before it could spark. What was supposed to be a deep playoff run turned into another early October goodbye.
Aaron Boone’s team started the night hoping to force a Game 5. Instead, they ran into a Blue Jays squad that played sharper, faster, and freer. The Bronx crowd grew quiet as inning after inning slipped away.
Blue Jays Take Control Early
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. set the tone right away. After George Springer doubled to open the game, Guerrero drove a single into right field to bring him home-his ninth RBI of the series.
Yankees rookie Cam Schlittler, coming off his breakout start in the Wild Card round, battled through 6 innings. He allowed two runs on eight hits without a walk, a solid performance that deserved more help from his offense.
Ryan McMahon tied the game in the third with a solo home run, but that was the last hit the Yankees recorded until the seventh inning. Toronto regained the lead in the fifth on a Springer sacrifice fly, and then broke things open in the seventh when Nathan Lukes lined a two-run single to left. Lukes, a 30-year-old career minor leaguer, turned his biggest moment into the difference-maker.
Alejandro Kirk added another run in the eighth, sneaking a double past Amed Rosario, and Myles Straw drove him in. The Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom half but couldn’t capitalize. Austin Wells flied out on the first pitch he saw, leaving three runners stranded.
A Familiar Ending for the Bronx
Aaron Judge knocked in a late run in the ninth-his sixth RBI of the series-but it came too late to matter. For the Yankees, it was another postseason where potential didn’t meet performance.
Toronto now waits for the winner between Seattle and Detroit, but for the Yankees, the offseason begins with questions. Boone’s job security, lineup consistency, and the team’s playoff approach will all come under scrutiny once again.
The Blue Jays, after nearly a decade without advancing this far, finally broke through. And they did it by being the team New York used to be: confident, balanced, and clutch when it mattered most.
Read the full article here
