Game Recap: 2026 ALDS, Game 2 – L– NYY: 2, TB: 5
This year was supposed to be different. The 2026 Yankees were supposed to be a good defensive club.
But in a game eerily reminiscent of Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, the Yankees committed four errors, including three in the first inning, behind Cam Schlittler, their ace. Their three first-inning errors were the most in a single postseason inning in franchise history.
Schlittler put it best: “It didn’t seem like we showed up today.”
But how is that possible in any postseason game, let alone the second game of a best-of-five series after barely avoiding a no-hitter in Game 1? The Yankees have put themselves in the worst situation imaginable, returning to Yankee Stadium facing elimination in the ALDS for the second straight season.
It gets worse, though, because of the errors. The Yankees, who repeatedly cited the need to defend cleanly as they prepared for this series, were charged with four errors, but they made at least five. In fact, they made at least nine defensive miscues, including four in a five-run fifth inning that put the game out of reach.
The Rays won the game 5-2, and Ben Rice was the Yankees’ only source of offense. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and two home runs, but nobody was on base for either blast. Rice became the first Yankees player ever to post two multi-homer games in a single postseason, but as the designated hitter, he couldn’t help the defense.
But wait– it gets worse. Remember how the Yankees outscored the Red Sox 18-2 in two games last week? Well, in their two ALDS games, only Rice, Cody Bellinger, and Austin Wells have hit safely. The team has a .086 batting average in the ALDS, which, according to Katie Sharp, is the lowest in American League history by any team in a two-game postseason span.
Remember, in nine seasons with Aaron Boone as manager, the Yankees have never beaten a higher-seeded team in a traditional postseason series. Also, teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-five MLB series are 83-10 all-time, and if the Yankees win Game 3, they’ll face the mighty Drew Rasmussen again in Game 4.
Suffice it to say, the Yankees’ season is all but over, and they don’t deserve to win this series. Wells’s Game 1 baserunning blunder was one thing; four errors are a whole other ballgame – pun 100% intended. Yankees fans need something to laugh about right now. They have more errors than runs in this series.
There aren’t any excuses for this performance. Manager Aaron Boone can’t even play the Aaron Judge card because while he isn’t in the lineup to help raise that .086 team batting average, he can’t make up for Ryan McMahon’s fielding error, Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s throwing error, George Lombard Jr.’s throwing error, or Austin Wells’ catcher interference.
In the Wild Card Series, the 2026 Yankees seemed ready for the moment. Their offense featured small ball, speedy baserunning, and home runs. Finally, it seemed like the Yankees had expanded their options at the plate. Heck, Trent Grisham bunted!
Plus, they played crisp defense. They even did that in Game 1 against Tampa Bay, which they lost 1-0 on a solo home run. Gerrit Cole held things down and allowed less hard contact than Schlittler, but the Yankees’ defense still showed up.
But when the pressure rose yesterday, the Yankees faded. These were always the same Yankees that collapsed in the World Series two years ago. Some of the players might be different, but the results are the same. Actually, the results might be worse this time because the Yankees only made three errors in 2024.
With four errors last night, all of the Yankees’ Wild Card Series achievements disappeared. Everything they earned vanished. Now, it is only a matter of time before the Yankees watch their season disappear. This time, they cannot tip their cap to their opponent; they can only blame themselves.
The players knew Game 2 was a must-win. They felt the pressure and faltered instead of rising to the occasion. The tone was set from the first play, when McMahon, who was only in the game for his defense, bobbled Yandy Díaz’s ground ball. As Díaz reached on the error, the Yankees realized Schlittler wasn’t at his sharpest and panicked.
“Obviously, it starts with me,” Schlittler said. “I’ll be the first one to say that I didn’t do my job, but it didn’t seem like we really showed up today. So, that’s what happens. [The Rays] played really good baseball and took advantage of those opportunities.”
In Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, Schlittler immediately set the tone by throwing four fastballs over 100 mph to Roman Anthony. This time, Schlittler’s velocity was down a few ticks against a Rays team that rarely strikes out. These factors, combined with the loud environment in the Trop that affected Schlittler’s pitch com, threw the Yankees off balance.
Suddenly, everybody started to overthink. After Díaz reached, Jonathan Aranda singled, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. helped Junior Caminero score. With a chance to turn two, Chisholm caught the first out from Lombard, but while rushing for the second, he threw the ball past Luis García Jr. at first base.
“Honestly, I’d probably still throw it,” said Chisholm, refusing to admit his mistake. “The play was trying to be made. I just feel like I could have probably tried. To make an even better throw. Where I’d throw it, I’d try to throw it a little closer to the base.”
With the Rays up 1-0, one out, and a runner at second, Schlittler thought he had Liam Hicks down looking. But the strikeout was overturned for catcher interference as Wells, who has backstopped roughly 90% of games this season, stuck his glove out too far.
Fans often forget this, but Wells made the same mistake in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. After surrendering the lead by allowing five unearned runs in the fifth, the Yankees pulled back ahead. But in the eighth inning, Wells’s interference helped the Dodgers gain the lead.
Yesterday, Wells’s penalty extended the inning and Schlittler’s pitch count. The next batter, Chandler Simpson, bounced a ball to second base, and Chisholm threw high to shortstop. Fortunately, Chisholm did not make an error as Lombard grabbed the ball and lunged to second for the force out. Miraculously, the Yankees held the Rays to one run.
“Just spun up on me,” McMahon said of his error that started the nightmare. “It had a little more topspin than I was anticipating. Not our best start. I thought [Schlittler] did a great job keeping us in the ballgame, giving up only one [run]. But it wasn’t great.”
In the top of the second inning, Spencer Jones skied a pitch to center field, but Victor Mesa Jr. caught it off the B Ring. If a ball hits the B Ring at the Trop, it is in play as long as it stays fair. Jones was not pleased, but as weird as the rule is, it is still part of the game.
In the fourth inning, the Yankees finally got on the board as Ben Rice tied the game with a solo home run off Freddy Peralta. The Yankees tried to take the lead in the fifth inning as Wells doubled and McMahon walked before Cam Booser replaced Peralta. He walked Rice, loading the bases for Bellinger.
The left fielder swung at the first pitch, and he was lucky it landed foul. Two pitches later, he sent a rocket to the center field warning track, and his body language suggested he thought it was gone. But instead of a grand slam, DeLuca caught the 405-foot fly ball.
Oh, what might have been in 12 of 30 ballparks! The fly ball would not have left Yankee Stadium, but if Game 2 had been played in any of those 12 ballparks, the disaster that subsequently ensued could have been avoided.
Leading off the bottom of the fifth, Aranda singled to right field, but Spencer Jones could have caught his line drive. Next, Caminero doubled, putting two runners in scoring position for Hicks. The Yankees were nervous knowing they had just wasted their one big moment, and the Rays were due for another.
Hicks dribbled a ball to Chisholm, who was positioned on the edge of the infield grass instead of playing in like his teammates. As he fielded, he couldn’t decide where to throw. Instead of reacting too quickly as he did in the first inning, he second-guessed himself. Careful to avoid another mistake, he settled for the out at first base.
But Chisholm’s indecisiveness handed the Rays the lead. On the next play, Lombard added to it by booting Chandler Simpson’s ground ball. Lombard was positioned to throw home, but he couldn’t pick up the ball. Tampa Bay led 3-1.
Two batters later, with two outs, Lombard threw a ball wide across the diamond as Jonny DeLuca sprinted toward first base. García gloved it but could not hold on, so the inning continued. DeLuca then stole second base, putting two runners in scoring position for Richie Palacios.
Palacios fouled off four pitches before Brent Headrick left a fastball down the middle. Palacios didn’t miss, slamming the ball to center field for a two-run single and a 5-1 lead. The Rays got too many extra outs and took advantage. It’s amazing they didn’t score more.
After that, the Yankees’ bats went down quietly into the night. Ben Rice, who homered again in the eighth, was the only batter to reach base in the last four innings. The Yankees embarrassed themselves in every way, and now they’ll have to dig themselves out of a massive hole to win this series.
Game 3 of the ALDS is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 PM (TBS, TRUTV, MAX). LHP Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA, 104 K) will start against RHP Nick Martinez (15-6, 3.10 ERA, 109 K).
