Yankees’ Double-A team crushing Cleveland ace felt so backwards

On the one hand, the Yankees‘ minor leaguers seem to have some serious offensive mojo going, and have raked at every level from April through September.

On the other hand: Aughhhhhh, the MLB team is insufferable.

Let the kids play. Let the kids play against an MVP-level MLB ace. Apparently, nothing matters — and, as we’ve seen repeatedly throughout 2021, replacing the entire Yankees roster with all-new folks only improves their chances.

Another fun example of just how joyous baseball can be came on Sunday afternoon — no, not in the Bronx, but in Akron, Ohio, where there was a more impressive pitcher on the mound than the one Cleveland actually sent to face the Yankees.

New York drew Eli Morgan, a soft-tosser with an ERA licking the 6.00s, who promptly allowed just a single run in six innings.

The Somerset Patriots, a literal Double-A offense? Well, they got Shane Bieber during a rehab assignment with their postseason fate on the line … and drilled two home runs off him in 3.1 innings.

How did the Yankees’ minor-leaguers wreck Shane Bieber?

Over the past three seasons, Bieber has been among the elite of the elite starters in the game. No caveats necessary. He’s been atop the mountain with Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, striking out 259 men in 214.1 innings pitched in 2019 before owning the shortened season with 122 Ks in 77.1 innings, alongside a league-leading 1.63 ERA.

Sure, the big-league Yankees hit him around in Game 1 of the Wild Card series last year, too. But that was when the big-league Yankees used to hit. So that’s different.

The dingers came off the bats of Oswaldo Cabrera (right away, in the top of the first) and Dermis Garcia, his 31st shot of the year. The video tells the full story; it was an unquestionable rocket.

https://twitter.com/SOMPatriots/status/1439668576470847489?s=20

Meanwhile, your Bronx Bombers fell behind 5-0 early as an injured Gerrit Cole attempted to gut through another key start with a balky hamstring, then “fought back” to the tune of a Gio Urshela home run, followed by nothing else. Cole ended up checking the scoreboard, swearing, then getting booed off the mound by a bunch of hooligans. This team understands the assignment.

Of course … how did this minor-league game end, you might ask? It’s 2021. You can probably fill in the gaps yourself, but happy to do it for you.

The bullpen was handed a 4-0 lead with a playoff berth on the line. Poetically, they squandered it in the seventh and eighth, and Somerset’s season is over.

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