The New York Yankees did not leave a good impression on their visit to Toronto. The first two games of the American League Division Series ended with thrashings of the Bombers, who were simply a broken toy in the hands of a ruthless offense with an impressive ability to put the ball in play.
The Canadian organization scored 23 runs and had 29 hits in the two games at Roger Centre, where they hit 14 extra-base hits, including eight home runs. The offensive line (Average/On-base percentage/Slugging/OPS) of the team was .392/.420/.797/1.217, with only seven strikeouts in 81 plate appearances.
Toronto did not believe in the solid pitching the Yankees had shown in their wild-card matchup against Boston, which ended with a 2.00 ERA and only six runs allowed in three games. Now it was a very different story, as the New York pitchers’ ERA soared to 12.94.
The attack was led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ernie Clement, Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho, the latter with a brilliant performance in Sunday’s game. The outfielder equaled Japan’s Hideki Matsui as the only players with a two-double, two-homer game in the postseason.
The Japanese, one of the Yankees’ historic members, achieved the same records in the third game of the 2004 Championship Series against Boston. In the playoffs, only five players had hit four extra-base hits in a game:
- Frank Isbell (White Sox): 1906 World Series vs. Cubs
- Bob Robertson (Pirates): 1971 Championship Series vs. Giants
- Hideki Matsui (Yankees): 2004 Championship Series vs. Red Sox
- Albert Pujols (Cardinals): 2011 Championship Series vs. Brewers
- Kike Hernandez (Red Sox): 2021 Division Series vs. Rays
This individual display by Toronto’s stars allowed them to reach double-digit scoring in both games. They won the first game 10-1 and the second 13-7. Looking back at the Yankees’ history, they had never allowed at least ten runs in two consecutive playoff games.
In doing so, the Bronx Bombers joined eight other teams who also conceded at least ten runs in two consecutive games in the same postseason:
- Pirates (1960-World Series vs. Yankees)
- Twins (1970-Championship Series vs. Orioles)
- Phillies (1993-World Series vs. Blue Jays)
- Marlins (1997-World Series vs. Indians)
- Indians (1999 – Division Series vs. Red Sox)
- Giants (2002-World Series vs. Anaheim)
- Indians (2007-Championship Series vs. Red Sox)
- Indians (2020-Wild Card Series vs. Yankees)
Of all these cases, only two recovered from the beatings and ended up winning the series: the 1960 Pirates and the 1997 Marlins, both champions in those campaigns. Can the Yankees stop the bleeding and turn things around? The diamond has the final say.
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