The rival Yankees and Rays entered the season as the two favorites in the AL East, and they did indeed finish atop the division. The Rays handily outdid the Yankees, though, finishing with a 40-20 record to New York’s 33-27 mark. The Rays got there in part because they dominated the Yankees in the regular season with eight victories in the teams’ 10 contests. However, the clubs have been much more evenly matched in their ALDS showdown. At 2-2, they’ll meet for the decisive Game 5 of the series on Friday.
To this point, the offensive excellence of designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton – who already has four home runs in the series – has led the Yankees. In all likelihood, though, New York will need a sterling performance from ace Gerrit Cole, a 30-year-old who’s starting on short rest for the first time in his career, in order to advance. The club signed Cole for this type of game when it landed the ex-Pirate and Astro on a record contract worth $324MM over nine years last offseason. Cole has since gone 2-0 in the playoffs, including a Game 1 victory against the Rays, and allowed five earned runs on 12 hits with a 21:2 K:BB ratio over 13 innings.
With a payroll that falls well short of the Yankees’, the Rays have used a mix of creativity and shrewdly acquired talent to earn a place among the game’s elite teams. They revolutionized the opener strategy a couple years ago, and they won’t be afraid to turn to it yet again Friday. Righty Tyler Glasnow, Cole’s former Pirates teammate, will take the ball in Game 5 at the start; however, Glasnow’s only on two days’ rest, and manager Kevin Cash said on Friday that the Rays will utilize 2018 AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell early if there’s a need for it, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Snell could further strengthen a bullpen that was one of the majors’ best during the regular season.
So far in the series, the Yankees have outscored Glasnow, Snell & Co. by a 23-19 count. But none of that matters heading into a do-or-die Game 5. Which team do you expect to finish with more runs Friday and advance to face the Astros in the ALCS?
(Poll link for app users)
Unsure how the Rays can beat Cole. Would be a major upset.
Same way they scored a few off him in his first start? And when they beat him during the regular season
With Ji-man Choi
Dude I know he’s got almost no power, but Ji-Man Choi seems to pick his spots when he does hit one out or get a crucial double. One of the few non-power hitters I fear in the batter’s box when the chips are down.
¨almost no power¨?? Take a look at his stats. That simply is not true.
He’s on short rest and looked average in his last start. This could go either way and no one would be surprised.
Any pitcher is beatable. Just look at Verlander’s Tiger days in the postseason.
That staff had verlander, price ,scherzer ,sanchez ,porcello…how did s.f. swept them??? 4 guys with cy youngs. 3 with no hitters, now all 5 with rings …imagine if detroit kept all 5 of them..
Imagine if Detroit fired that bum Jim Leyland.
BTW if you want to look at Verlander on the Tigers look at what he did to the Yankees in 2006.
Tom… That was the 2014 Tigers… they didn’t make it past the Orioles. The bullpen collapsed. Nathan, Soria, Coke and Chamberlain had major issues. And Brad Ausmus.
3 of them had records of 15-12 with e r.a.’s close to each other
Good job Rays by winning tonight. Let’s go Rays for that championship.
“Start spreading the news, they’re going away…”.
They just did although Cole didn’t get the loss. Again the Yankees get close but can’t get back to the WS. Before Rocky7 wets his panties, the Sox, my team had a horrendous two months. I’d rather however have trophies for winning even with the lousy other seasons. There won’t be a pennant flying next year in Yankee Stadium for getting close. Go Rays! Now send Houston and then the Dodgers home. Having said all this in good fun, the playoffs have been a nice alternative but no team and individual awards should be awarded in my view. Yes it’s been different but playing less than 40% of the season with phony rule changes is not baseball and years from now to say X won or person Y was awarded a gold glove isn’t fair to past and future winners. Again, just my take.
Don’t wear panties as you might…too bad for the Yankees tonite….sorry to disagree with you, but the Dodgers will b probably take it all.
I’m not saying the Rays will win Rocky, I’m just rooting for them with my Sox having stopped playing when Spring training was originally stopped I. March and no I wear boxers as my wife throughout my tidy whities years ago (not everyone my age can look good in those school type briefs … LOL).
Threw out. Can’t blame that on autocorrect. My bad.
Cashman might be looking for another job after losing to a team with 1/3 the Yankees payroll.
Cashman is a genius just the players he put in place, like crazy man Chapman, don’t perform. Ottavino is only cared about himself, Happ is only cared bout his money and Paxton got hurt. Tanaka is a great pitcher in his day, but time is passing. Cole was great did his job.
Agreed Pasha…when you don’t hit, and half your bullpen isn’t dependable (Ottavino, Holder,) to take on innings from your starters, bad things happen.
Cole showed he’s worth the money…pitched like an Ace.
Cash an also put all his eggs in the Sanchez basket. They could have had Realmuto for Sanchez and Andujar. Look at those two now.
Cashman is far from a genius. Anybody could take a team to the playoffs with that payroll. He clearly cannot build a team (specifically a lineup) that can do anything in them. He’s what’s wrong with baseball nowadays, just looking for the three outcome hitters.
I don’t agree JD. Yanks again have had more injuries than most teams. The planned starters for this year when the front office was planning at different points included Severino, Germain and Paxton. Cashman is far from alone in looking at analytics. I hate the game today but how many years in a row have they been in the playoffs? He gets them there despite the injuries. Why not blame the players who just can’t get it done when it matters in October? He’d put together a good roster without the payroll. D.J was the highest paid infielder at $12m. He found the corners, made a good trade to get a CF years back and the move that we all have laughed at almost got the team basically by himself. Stanton was amazing.
And yet, during the regular season they did it twice. And then again last night.
Not really a major upset then is it? Pinstripes are not REALLY worth runs.
depends on how long the Rays go with Glas. i woudnt trust him if they want 5-7 out of him, but i dont think Cole’s going to completely blow TB away, so if the Rays do their regular BP-heavy strategy they are in good shape.
Don’t lag but either one is fine with me to BEAT the Asstros.
I’d pick Houston over NY and TB over Hou
Feel like this should be the ALCS
Want tampa but put yankees. Just think offense is to much for rays.
Yeah that 1 run really proved to be cumbersome.
Bet it all on Tampa.
Yanks because Manfred said so. He wants Yanks/Astros
WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
Another “hot take” guy who will either disappear or change names.
You’ve done it a few times yourself. Pot meet kettle.
@Cey Hey and I’m Happy!!!! Atleast I didn’t claim Marcus Stroman was really concerned about his family’s health with coronavirus when everyone knew that was BS except you
Has Cole once in his career pitched on three days rest? I doubt it. That doesn’t mean he wont be great, but I pick the Jays.
If this was Cole on four days rest, I’d pick the Yankees.
bold move picking the Jays here…
If it’s correct and there’s money on it, we all might know a new millionaire.
In assets, I’m already a millionaire, it doesn’t mean what it use to.
Nice flex, bro. (But true, us millionaires are a dime a dozen).
Probably Yankees
Yankees better win for WS now for Whitey like Lakers are doing for Kobe.
Whitey played a 100 years ago. Kobe about 4. Big difference. You think any of the current Yankees have any idea who Whitey is?
Are you serious with that comment, you actually believe the current Yankees do not know who Whitey Ford is.
the difference is Kobe’s life was tragically cut short, while Ford lived a fairly long life. obviously death sucks either way, but i dont think both cases are really comperable.
Whitey wasn’t a rapist.
I’m very serious. Most of the current players know or care about the history of the game that has made them millionaires
You just answered why The Lakers are dedicating the Champoinship to Kobe.
Because he was a rapist?
Most Americans don’t know history. Period. It’s why our “great” country keeps making the same mistakes.
ouch but true.
Exactly!
he speaks the truth
Likely the Yankees, MLB needs them to go deep along with the Dodgers, ratings have been in the tank.
no, they need whoever is tye better team to go on. better play produces better ratings, not what the team is. do most non-Yankees fans really want them to move on simply because they are the Yankees. also the league doesnt need ratings, the Turner deal proved that.
Yankees for WS champs.
whoops
Of course Chapman will give up a big homerun. Guy throws way too hard.
Brousseau HAD to be wearing a buzzer to hit a homer off the great Chapman!!
Theeeeeeeeee Yankees loooooooooose!!
Brousseau isn’t a midget and he didn’t pull a high outside slider to left field and over the entire freaking stadium. You are a flat earther if you think that Altuve HR was legit. Brousseau’s hit appeared 100% legit.
Tin foil hat is on too tight.
Beisbolista shows once again that they have literally zero knowledge of baseball. You’re such a garbage troll it’s not even funny anymore.
Not only was it legit, it was a game winner too
Goodbye Spankees
yeah, rays beat the evil empire!
Too bad sooooo sad for the Rankies lol
Rankies
I predict the Rays advance.
Yeah right after they win
They advanced to the ALCS, but the Astros hitters are hard to stop.
Rays pitch better than the Astros hit
The Astros pitch better than the Rays hit
are they still cheating?
Pitching and D win. Rays in 5
Good luck with that prediction, you’ll need it.
But the Astros defense is the best in MLB.
Astros are scum, led by Buzz Altuve.
Dusty Baker will find a way to screw it up. Like I said elsewhere, the Astros beat the two most losing postseason teams.
Vizionaire –
Are you still using the same old tired joke?
“Dusty Baker will find a way to screw it up. Like I said elsewhere, the Astros beat the two most losing postseason teams.”
Wait… Astros didn’t beat the Yankees.
sounds like jealousy to me
Bang, bang, bang
Hopefully this will give the Yankees a reason to fire Boone (not give him an extension). Also, It’s time to get rid of Happ, let Tanaka go, and finally retire Gartner.
How’s it Boone’s fault? If Stanton and Judge weren’t made of glass and Sanchez one of the worst catchers in baseball…
The fire-the-manager crowd never fails to cluelessly stumble in.
steroids, it does a body in.
After you hit 600 home runs and make several hundred of million ….. then …..it does a body in
@jbc Did you miss game 2? Rewatch and tell me Boone isn’t responsible for the series loss. Shouldn’t have even gone to a game 5
Boone was never a great manager to begin with. Girardi was better.
Yankees were stupid for letting Girardi go! He got way more out of his players!
Why did they get rid of Girardi?
BROSSEAUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!
They don’t even need to play this game… Judge, Stanton, Frazier (Mashing), Voit, DJ, Sanchez, Rookie of the Year Runner Up Andujar…. Cole, Chapman, Britton O… UNBEATABLE!!!!! Yankees sweep.
28 BABY!!!!!
28 will come, just not this year. They were too inconsistent this year and never really fired for a long enough length of time.
Seems like every year. Window is closing.
How’d that work out for ya?
This aged like milk
Lol
2020 had some decency finally. Imagine a Yankees vs Dodgers world series
You mean something to watch that would have some history behind it? Now that the Yankees are out( my team) I want an LA versus Houston rematch.
11 years and counting. So long evil empire. How many times has Chapman
given it up in big spot?
The empire never goes away. They always have the resources to compete. The team hasn’t been under .500 since what, 1993?
Gotta find some core guys that aren’t made of glass to get over the hump tho
A homegrown core. That’s the difference between the great ’90s teams and this bunch.
I thank God every day Stanton picked the Spankees over my Cardinals. That is one of the worst contracts ever
Lol
Alright.
One last comment, @jbc1972.
Did you actually watch any of this series? Lord. Stanton was unbelievable. All post season actually.
Awww…looks like your starless little birdies were knocked out right away! Doesn’t seem like they’ll be all that relevant next year either.
Unlike the Yankees.
You guys should try getting – ya know – *good* players sometime.
It’s fun!
😉
Are you an adult?
So you’re gonna brag cus Stanton managed to play a weeks worth of games without going on the DL? Come on even as a Yankees fan you gotta admit with all the DL time he has every year and will continue to have since he’s as fragile as fine china… that contract is the worst in the game
You know which teams always have the worst contracts in baseball? The teams with owners that actually spend money on their team. If you’re a Rays fan, thanks for grooming the talent that your owner wouldn’t dare resign for teams like the Yankees, which have owners that care about the quality of the team enough to actually, you know, pay them. And please save the small market stuff. The 8th richest owner in the league is the owner of the A’s. Small market or large market, the owners are all billionaires that can afford to resign their players. forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2020/06/10/mlbs-1…
If you’re not a Rays fan, why are you bothering to comment? You like to come to blog posts to rail on fans of a team when their team just lost in the playoffs? Good on you man.
Also Stanton just had an historic postseason so… great timing. Go troll somewhere else dude.
Historic postseason capped off by a round at BethPage Black today.
Where’s the groomed talent playing tomorrow? Westchester maybe.
Meanwhile the NO QUALITY RAYS will be playing in San Diego. What’s that course called? Oh yeah, the ALCS
Do I like to come to blog posts to rail on fans of a team when their team just lost?
No. Unless of course it is the Yankees and their “fans” most of whom can’t name 5 players on the team.
Lol this dude so bent out of shape
I keep saying- he’s a case where throwing too hard doesn’t actually work.
I’m just glad the guy who said the Cole signing guaranteed the Yankees the next five titles is officially wrong!
Cole goes downhill from here too. Not a great investment, way overpay.
Thank you Rays. Made it an enjoyable night.
Yankees officially the most overrated team ever. Stsnton and Judge made of glass. No SP besides Cole and Tanaka. Sanchez possibly the worst catcher in baseball. Love seeing the Rays beat them and continue the streak of no rings for the Spankees
Hat tip to the Ray’s,man.
They owned us all year. And, did so when it mattered most.
Everyone is welcome to fan their own way. But, me? I’m not blaming the umps. That’s such a weak sauce it’s water, man.
To be 100 on it the Yanks got more favorable calls than Tampa Bay did this evening.
I hope the Ray’s win the Series. Again – fan your own way – but as someone who has been building jobs this entire time I see nothing “fake” about this season or it’s subsequent champion. Anyone who has been out in the world competing & staying productive has my utmost respect.
Ah, well.
Looks like the wood ducks are starting to head south. Guess that’s my plan for the morning.
Good hunting, fellas.
🙂
Congratulations to the Rays. They prefer playing without fans since they do anyway during a normal year.
Thirsty for those likes dude. Yanks got more favorable calls than TB? What game were you watching? Brousseau should have been called out 5 pitches before his homer and the Stanton AB to set the tone in the 9th was a joke. Yanks got screwed the whole series and there’s proof – usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/10/07/mlb-playo…. Thanks for your take though Mr. Diplomatic, hope you get those likes.
Nothing is better than a whining yankees fan. Always warms my heart.
Thank you for diligently monitoring the comments section for Yankee fans expressing dissatisfaction. You’re the real MVP.
As I posted you’re welcome to fan however you want. Wanna whine about the umps, well full speed ahead, bro.
Did you actually watch the game? Cole got several pretty questionable call during his outing.
I get it. We lost. That sucks. But blaming the umpires is unseemly.
Uh?
Likes & diplomacy?
That’s awesome!
Have you ever read any of my posts, bro?
I’m not woke, pro PEDs, oftentimes side with ownership, & am a Yankee fan.
That’s pretty much the Golden Sombrero of popular baseball takes lol.
Ducky, As a baseball fan and human being, I thank you for those comments. You have a refreshing perspective on life and what the great game of baseball means to us. While it’s disappointing when our team doesn’t win it all (which is almost every year of our lives), that doesn’t take away from the glory of the chase. For me, it will hurt if the Dodgers fall short again. But like these last three years, I will be over it by midday the next day and looking forward to the 2021 season. That’s what baseball teaches us. To stay resilient. Win or lose today’s game, there is always another one tomorrow. Don’t make excuses. Don’t go looking for scapegoats by blaming a manager, umpire, or struggling player. We are all in this together, both as fans and citizens of the world. And we all fail much more than we’ll ever admit. But if we get to where we need to get, then those failures are ultimately rewarding.
As for the 2020 season, everyone associated with MLB deserves a “thank you” for pulling off this off. Three months of baseball is better than no baseball at all.. An amazing learning experience for all of us.Let’s move on and try to keep all things in the proper context. Enjoy your trip south, the hunt as well as any successes.
You’ve left a quarter of the comments on this post and you’re not even a fan of either team?
I love baseball. It’s the only sport I still follow and I try to keep up on all the teams. When my team gets knocked, I watch the playoffs to the bitter end.
This is probably one of the most respectful posts I’ve seen on here.
The Astros thank the Rays for beating the Yankees for them.
The Astros have a tough task ahead of them.
Guessing is harder than knowing.
The Astros also thank the Twins and Athletics for conveniently rolling over in the postseason every year.
the yankees are just like janis Joplin, kurt cobain ,jimi hendrix, DEAD AT 27…
underrated comment here.
Gotta laugh at Yankees fans who consistently bring up the number of titles like they had something to do with it. Whatever makes a person feel successful, I guess.
living in queens ny i will be looking forward to see the Yankees parade down the “CANYON OF ZEROES “
Chapman got what he deserved. He threw 101 at mikes head and then he took him deep to eliminate the Yankees season. Talk about ultimate karma. Chapman is piece of trash who likes to beat up on women. Just ultimately a bad person all the way to his core. He is a Damn good pitcher and his stuff is electric but I have no respect for someone who acts that way. It was a great game though!
He is only good because he throws fast… that has backfired more times than not.
You have a point there buddy
Hahahaha, Stankees lost.
Stankees, rankies, stinkies!!!! The nastiest fans in baseball, and callcenter reps tell me it is not limited to baseball.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer team……. Great job Tampa Rays….Goodnight New York…
Voight wrote that check and his ass couldn’t cash it.
Didn’t he guarantee a win?
Jon has boatloads of dead presidents and his ass can surely cash in.
Jon Voight bit you?
I’d rather have angelina jolie voight bite me on the ass instead of jon
Fangtastic retort sir. Well splayed out.
Yes sir…the old cad tried to play “midnight cowboy” on me buttocks.
Tremendous job by Tampa Bay. The Yankees looked truly scary in their first three playoff games against top pitchers, but the Rays cut them down. If you’re a fan of great baseball, how can you not be impressed? Scouting, drafting, player development, fundamentals. A lofty payroll is not needed to be successful in MLB. And every team can afford to employ a similar philosophy, regardless of market size. It’ll be interesting to see who gets the vacant GM jobs this winter. Considering some of the owners involved, you can see a couple of these teams messing it up.
I am glad the rays won. but now, mlb can claim it’s has parity. that is the biggest joke and baseballs eventual downfall.
NYY: 1 Highest Payroll in MLB
TBR: 28 Third Lowest
I agree. Time to get rid of the luxury tax
Imagine Team A being forced to pay Team B to beat them?
I don’t think his original comment had anything to do with the luxury tax.
Game 5 really can’t be blamed on anyone. Cole did great, the pen did great. 2 to 1 games happen. Both teams did great.
Blame lays in game 2 and game 3… that’s where the series was lost.
So many things factor into a won or lost series. This is my favorite baseball song. It explains the intricacies of winning and losing perfectly, be it in life or on the ballfield.
youtube.com/watch?v=kBkdN3tVBvE
Game 2 should be the end of Boone’s job. How any Yankee manager can allow Happ to beat them in the playoffs after all the experience with him… It’s amazing to me.
Nah. Boone has done a fine job. I deal all the time with Dodgers fans who think Roberts should be fired. It’s nonsense. These guys have done fabulous jobs. Fans also need to stop pretending they know the personnel better than the manager, It was a great game. One team wins, the other team loses. If you’re not over it by 2 p.m. Saturday then you need to reassess your values.
Either that or give the Rays credit for out-playing the Yankees.
what i shame. i wanted to see Altuve homer off Chapman again to annoy Yankees fans.
Good Job Tampa
If the Braves don’t win it all, the Rays are my second choice.
Rays have never won a World Series. I hope they win like the Nationals did last year.
Never won a WS:
Milwaukee
San Diego
Texas
Tampa
Colorado
Seattle (never even been in a WS)
Very exciting to see these franchises in the WS.
If there was a hard salary cap in baseball the yankees wouldnt be able to buy their way into contention every year just to blow it…
Right let’s crap on the Yankees because the Steinbrenners spend their money on the team unlike other owners who keep their money for themselves. Amazing how baseball fans hate on teams with owners that emphasize spending money on, you know, baseball, while they praise teams owned by people that spend their money on … not baseball.
Let’s not forget team owners are all billionaires. forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2020/06/10/mlbs-1…
Also you could use a baseball history lesson if you actually think historically Yankees “blow it” every year.
You have a great point
Ah the Magical 27 rings comment. Of course you guys never seem to remember a majority of those “rings’ came 100 years ago when there were half the number of teams. BUT, what does a Yankee fan have these days if it isn’t arrogance.
I hope the Yankees, favored to win yet another world series in 2020, were able to get some good tee times this weekend.
Yankeefan24, want a history lesson? Yankees have failed to make a world series appearance in 11 seasons!
I only referred to the yankees, typical lame comeback talking about everyone else instead of the subject matter. Since 2000 they have spent the most and bought nothing. I’d argue they’ve spent the most combined since the beginning but you find that stat. I’d expect to win every year if i spent the most but you do you
MLB will never have a hard cap because MLB does not want a level playing field.
It wants the Yankees born on third every year.
The 10 biggest market teams have more fans than the bottom 20. And, on average, those fans have more money.
So, when MLB puts their finger on the scale, the league benefits, their media partners benefit and the majority of their fans are A OK with it.
The small market teams are something between sparring partners and window dressing. The ONLY legit small market team to win in the past 30 years was KC in 2015.
I hope the Rays make it two, but…I would not bet on it. The league doesn’t want it.
Manfred might personally hand Altuve the trash can.
KC the only legit small market team to win in 30 years?
What about the Cardinals in 06 and 11. The Diamondbacks in 01 and the Marlins in 97 and 03
Miami and Phoenix are top ten media markets.
St. Louis itself is not, but the Cards have one of the largest footprints in MLB because there are no teams in the mid-southeast. They are a high revenue team.
Salary caps help owners and hurt players.
NFL, NBA and NHL players all get a significantly higher % of their sports revenues than baseball players, because they must pay a fixed portion to them whereas the MLB owners are free to squeeze the players as much as they can.
As my all time favorite Yankee, Yogi Berra, said “It’s Deja Vu all over again”.
Wait for it. But but but the season was too short, the postseason schedule was too tight, the elastic in our jockstraps unraveled.
The 2020 List of Yankee Fan Excuses for losing again.
I’m gonna to a limb here and guess the rays will advance. I know, I know… bravesfan, you’re crazy to think the rays will take down the almighty Yankees. All I can say is, I might know something and have this guy feeling it will happen… lol
Wow. Now, let me preface this with, while I don’t like the Yankees (as a long suffering Twins fan, what else can I feel?), I do respect them, and their methodologies. That said, WTF were they thinking on that pitch choice? It was obvious Brosseau had gotten his timing down on the heaters, and unless he missed his location (don’t think so, though) it just seemed like the riskiest pitch he could choose to throw. Low and inside fastball with a guy that has the timing down? C’mon.
Voted ‘Rays’ this morning. I was right!
Yankees over Indians – Correct
Tampa over Yankees – Correct
Dodgers over Rays – ??
P.S It’s official I can now edit 2020
Yankee will NOT win a World Series as long as Brett Gardner is on this team. – Louiebeans 2010.
2010 No WS win
2011 No WS win
2012 No WS win
2013 No WS win
2014 No WS win
2015 No WS win
2016 No WS win
2017 No WS win
2018 No WS win
2019 No WS win
2020 No WS Win
Brett Gardner has patrolled LF and CF in stadium since 2009. His WS stats that year zero over zeros.
See you with the same ol in 2021 a 10 million contract for a year and a average of .216 and will find himself in the number 3 holes about 20 times.
he was on the 2009 team….if he wasnt then you have a great comparative to don mattingly
He didn’t reach base though, hence the zero batting line.
bottom line.. yankees lost end of story….or in the words of the horrendous john sterling..” BALLGAME OVER, PLAYOFF SERIES OVER, THE YANKEES LOSE, THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YANKEEEEEEEEEES LOSE!,SUSAN GET ME A TYLENOL”
I only referred to the yankees, typical lame comeback talking about everyone else instead of the subject matter. Since 2000 they have spent the most and bought nothing. I’d argue they’ve spent the most combined since the beginning but you find that stat. I’d expect to win every year if i spent the most but you do you
they really need to redo this roster in the off season
Sign Gardner for 10 million and call it a off season right?