Column: Sports with Simmons

On October 19 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, New York Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman surrendered a walk-off home run to Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve in the bottom of the ninth inning to lose the game 6-4. With one swing of the bat, Altuve and the Astros eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs and catapulted themselves into the World Series.

Dejected Yankees players shuffled back to their dugout in disbelief that their promising season was over. Even though the Yankees won 103 regular season games and positioned themselves to compete for a title, right fielder Aaron Judge said in a postgame interview that the 2019 campaign “was a failure.” And because of how the season ended, the decade from 2010-19 marked the first decade since the 1910s that the Yankees failed to win the league pennant.

Many pundits and fans thought this Yankees team would steamroll the competition to win the World Series because of the number of home runs they produce. This season, the Yankees hit a combined 306 home runs, the second most all-time behind the 2019 Minnesota Twins, who hit 307. Many opposition pitchers repeatedly cave to the immense pressure of pitching to a lineup filled with nine players who each bring home run power to every at-bat.

So why did the Yankees, who have dominated American baseball for nearly a century, fail to achieve their typical standard of excellence, even with such a
promising roster?

Although some baseball minds may differ, much responsibility for the Yankees struggles lies with their offense.

The Yankees, like many teams in the MLB, have adopted the strategy of stacking their lineups with sluggers that clobber home runs at a record pace. The runs the Yankees generate with a slew of home-runs is certainly appealing. However, gambling on hitting home runs tends to leave a lineup that strikes out with great frequency, especially against top-caliber pitching. 

Some of the best pitchers in recent memory have feasted on the Yankees lineup, with Red Sox ace Chris Sale a perfect example. Since joining Boston in 2017, Sale has an average of 8.7 strikeouts per game with a 2.03 ERA in the regular season against the Yankees, according to BaseballReference.com.

Atlanta Braves star Dallas Keuchel’s numbers against New York further verify the trend. According to BaseballReference.com, in three regular season appearances against the Yankees, Keuchel averaged seven strikeouts per game, with a 2.57 ERA.

In the Yankees last three postseason exits, they failed to score more than four runs and averaged over 10 strikeouts in every game they lost in those series. By contrast, the teams the Yankees lost to averaged just over seven strikeouts per game, producing good offense while avoiding punchouts.

Sale and Keuchel’s numbers and the Yankees postseason exits show the recipe to beating New York is simple. If a starting rotation with two or three excellent pitchers can limit how many home runs they give up, the Yankees offense will stall dramatically. When this happens, four or five runs will suffice to beat the Bronx Bombers.

The Yankees current offensive strategy will not carry them to postseason glory. They need to restructure their lineup with hitters who can hit for average and complement the other dangerous sluggers in their lineups while rising to the challenge against dominant pitching. Until then, it will be a long time before the American League pennant, much less the World Series title, will call New York home.