SAN DIEGO — When the New York Yankees needed their star-studded lineup to produce runs in an elimination playoff game, they got three hits.
When they really could have used a special play in the field to save a run, Aaron Judge hit his head on the wall.
And when the Yankees needed their superstar closer to shut down the Tampa Bay Rays, Aroldis Chapman gave up a homer to an undrafted infielder who had never gone yard in a playoff game.
New York’s season came to a crashing end in San Diego on Friday night with a 2-1 loss in Game 5 of the AL Division Series. After failing to reach the World Series for the 11th consecutive year, the Yankees head into an uncertain off-season with the certain knowledge they weren’t even the best team in the AL East this season.
“It’s awful,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The ending is cruel, it really is.”
The team’s biggest faults in Game 5 were on offence. Judge’s fourth-inning homer was the only extra-base hit in Game 5 by a lineup that crushed a major league-record 17 homers in its seven playoff games, only to lose three of the final four games in that stretch.
While Tampa Bay will face the Houston Astros on Sunday in the ALCS, the Yankees will lament the inconsistency that will define this season. The Yanks were among the most impressive teams in the sport when they were good — but frequently embarrassing when they weren’t.
The Yankees averaged 5.7 runs per game during a red-hot 16-6 start, but then the bats went ice cold amid injuries to Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu and others. The team went on a 5-15 slide — allowing the Rays to take hold of the AL East lead — then won 10 straight before closing the season by dropping six of eight games.
Judge hit his third homer of the post-season in the fourth inning of Game 5 to put the Yankees up, but New York managed just two singles and two walks over the final five innings, never getting a runner to third base against Tampa Bay’s impressive bullpen.
LeMahieu, Stanton, Luke Voit, Gio Urshela and Brett Gardner all went hitless in the Yankees’ biggest game of the season.
“In what’s been a year of peaks and valley for us on the field, I feel like we’re playing our best baseball of the year right now,” Boone said. “Against a team that really held us down tonight. We’re going to get there. I know it, and it’s going to make it all the sweeter, but a lot of hurting people in there right now.”
One inning after Judge’s shot, $324 million starter Gerrit Cole gave away the lead by allowing Austin Meadows’ homer over Judge’s head in right. The Yankees slugger couldn’t do something extraordinary to stop it — in fact, he ended up looking silly for a moment.
Judge followed Meadows’ drive to the warning track, but he failed to notice the padded overhang above the video billboard built into the wall. When the 6-foot-7 slugger leaped, he immediately hit his head on the padding and couldn’t stretch out to reach the ball, which landed behind the wall in a spot that might have been out of Judge’s reach anyway.
Judge’s mistake was a product of baseball’s decision to play the post-season on neutral fields, with the league playoff series occurring in the other league’s ballparks. Judge had never played a big league game at Petco Park before this series.
But the Yankees were still in it until Chapman lost his 10-pitch battle with Brosseau. Chapman filled a villain’s role perfectly in the matchup, given the 101-mph fastball that he threw near Brosseau’s head last month during the escalating tensions between these unfriendly rivals.
Brosseau and the Rays got the definitive last laugh, and the Yankees won’t be able to answer until next year.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
