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The New York Yankees’ season ended in heartbreak for the 16th consecutive year on Wednesday night, as they were knocked out of the postseason in the American League Division Series.
The Toronto Blue Jays won the series in four games to advance to the American League Championship Series, wasting yet another season of Aaron Judge’s prime, who had, by far, his best postseason.
However, one perennial MVP candidate is clearly not enough to get over the hump, and three-time MVP and Yankees World Series champion Alex Rodriguez ripped his former ballclub over the team they built this season.
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“Aaron’s been very classy. We’ve all been very consistent with that. Honestly, from the entire organization, he’s the one guy I would circle that has least to be to blame. I mean, he’s got a lot of talent,” Rodriguez said. “But for me personally, one of the worst constructions of a roster I’ve ever seen. You have three left-hand catchers, you have five DHs, you have a first baseman in and out. It is just a very, very difficult hand for [manager Aaron] Boone. And honestly, they were exposed against a much better Jays team.”
The Yanks were once again built to outslug their opponents, but they were defeated via death by a thousand cuts from a Blue Jays team that had the best strikeout rate, highest batting average and top on-base percentage in the league. Meanwhile, the Yankees had the second-highest strikeout rate of any postseason team, behind only the Detroit Tigers.
Down 2-1 in the top of the seventh, the Yankees got a tailor-made double-play ball to get out of the inning, but it scooted by Jazz Chisholm Jr. Two runs later scored, effectively putting the nail in the Yankees’ coffin. They brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth with Austin Wells, but he flied out on the first pitch he saw to end the inning.
The Blue Jays finished the game with 12 total hits to the Yankees’ six, and they used eight different pitchers to get the job done.
Judge, a contender to win his third MVP in four years, was 13-for-26 (.500) in the postseason, making it the most hits he’s ever had in bonus baseball. Among players with more than 15 at-bats, the next-highest average on the team was Wells’ .227.
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
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