Yankees: The reasons why they failed to advance to the World Series

Given how well the Yankees played during the regular season, many analysts predicted that the team would reach the World Series this year. While the Yanks easily defeated the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card game, the club faltered badly in its matchup with the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS.

The Yankees certainly had a terrific year. Multiple players stepped up and contributed significantly to the club’s success during the 2018 season.

For instance, young players like Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar, Luke Voit, Chad Green, Jonathan Holder, and Luis Severino continued to mature and develop. They performed well and helped make the Yanks a force to be reckoned with in 2018.

Veterans including Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman, J.A. Happ, David Robertson, and Masahiro Tanaka provided a rock-solid foundation for the youthful core of up and coming players. (Gregorius will be missed for a substantial part of next year as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.)

While Sonny Gray, Gary Sanchez, and Greg Bird were big disappointments and held the Yanks back at times, Brett Gardner and C.C. Sabathia proved to be valuable veterans, especially in terms of their leadership in the clubhouse.

As a team, New York went an impressive 100-62 (a .617 winning percentage, third highest in the majors) for its best record since it won the World Series in 2009. Only the Boston Red Sox were more successful at home (57-24) than the Yanks (53-28). The club set an MLB all-time record with 267 home runs. The Yanks led the American League in walks during the regular season as well.

Sevy was a top Cy Young candidate in the American League during the first half of the season, and Miggy should receive the league’s Rookie of the Year Award.

Considering how well the Yanks played this year, it is very likely that they would have had a better win-loss record than the Red Sox if a few key players had not missed significant playing time due to injuries.

So what happened in the ALDS?

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Following the agonizing 4-3 loss in Game 4 of the division series, sports writers, commentators, and fans were quick to express why the Yanks failed to move on to the next round of the postseason. Many varied explanations have been presented, yet there seem to be a few common ones that have been voiced.

For example, many would say that the Yankees starting pitching was not good enough to win the division series. They faltered early and placed undue pressure on the team’s excellent relievers to keep the team in the game. All the starters combined for an eye-popping 10.38 ERA in the ALDS. Only Tanaka pitched more than three innings, and he threw effectively in Game 2.

Clearly, the starting pitching was atrocious and contributed to the team’s losses. The Yanks will need to address this problem during the offseason if they are to have continued success in the regular season and reach the World Series in 2019. Although nearly everyone agrees with this overall assessment, this is not the primary reason why New York lost to Boston in the postseason.

Many have correctly observed that Yankees hitters did a very poor job getting hits with men on base. Stanton, for example, is cited by pundits as someone who was unable to obtain clutch hits in key spots. In particular, his at-bat against a very wild Craig Kimbrel in Game 4 personified the Yanks inability to advance men on base and score.

Stanton should have recognized that Kimbrel was uncharacteristically very wild and that he should have been far more selective in his at-bat. Instead, he swung at breaking balls in the dirt and struck out on four pitches. In my mind, the failure of the Yankees batters to deliver in key situations is one reason why the club lost the ALDS, but it is not the main reason.

These are the most common explanations as to why the Yanks lost the division series to the Red Sox. However, there is one reason that is the most convincing one because it basically underlies all the other problems the Yanks experienced in the division series (and during the regular season as well). Read the next article to find out what I believe is the most persuasive explanation for the team’s dismal performance in the division series.