Yankees: 5 unforgivable regular-season losses that sealed NYY’s 2021 fate

The 2021 New York Yankees — the preseason favorite to win the American League that only trailed the Los Angeles Dodgers in World Series odds — finished the year 92-70 and got bounced in the AL Wild Card Game against an overachieving Boston Red Sox team.

The writing was on the wall since April. Low energy. No outward motivation. Failure to deliver in big spots (whether it was hitting or pitching). Lame postgame interviews. Lack of accountability. Awful personnel and managerial decisions. The list goes on.

This team has been rotten. We’ve known it. But it was nice to forget about it during the Yankees 34-11 stretch across 45 games and then their 9-3 finish to end the season and clinch a playoff spot. They made us believe they could possibly make up for unforgivable transgressions over the better part of five months.

But how? They snuck into the postseason as a the road team against a Red Sox side that wasn’t even supposed to be there! They finished eight games back in a division they were supposed to win. They were the FIFTH-BEST team in the AL and the Blue Jays were arguably better!

Stupid us. We are dumb. The regular-season play defined this team. And it ultimately sealed their fate. Just imagine if the Yankees didn’t punt as many games as they did this year. Just imagine if they didn’t continually allow their rivals to get the last laugh at nearly every turn. Just imagine if they were able to not lose EIGHT TIMES to the worst team in baseball.

Yes, we’re yelling, because there were SO many once-in-a-lifetime losses that kept the Bombers from hosting the AL Wild Card Game. They had 70 tries to make it not come to this.

These five unforgivable regular-season losses sealed the Yankees’ 2021 fate.

5. Justin Wilson’s meltdown in Detroit

At the time, it sounded much worse, but the Yankees got swept by the Detroit Tigers back in May. It’s still really bad … just not as bad as it would’ve been from 2018-2020.

And it all started on Friday night, when the Yankees couldn’t score runs against Casey Mize and a mediocre Tigers bullpen. And of course, it came down to extra innings. Manager Aaron Boone decided to save Justin Wilson for the free baseball.

After taking a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th, Wilson needed one out to secure the win. One. He got the first two with the free runner on base. Unfortunately, he got squeezed on a would-be strike-three call to Robbie Grossman, which extended the at-bat and made it a full count. Payoff pitch. Here we go.

A 93 MPH fastball was obliterated into the left-field seats. The Tigers walked off the Yankees in extras. This was a Gerrit Cole start, by the way! Forgot to mention that!

You cannot challenge major league hitters with that kind of velocity. But Wilson did, and that brought his season ERA up to 6.08. He was never to be heard from again after the July 30 trade deadline.

3. Take Your Pick: Chad Green Meltdown or Blown Domingo German Start

The Red Sox started the season 7-0 against the Yankees, but heartbreaking losses still managed to follow. Boston would triumph three more times, and two of them all but officially demoralized the Yankees.

In a late-July series at Fenway, the Yankees were one out away from taking the opener, but Chad Green allowed Kiké Hernandez to smack a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extras. The Yankees would take the lead in the top of the 10th, but guess who came out to pitch the bottom half?

The newest member of the Baltimore Orioles: Brooks Kriske! Yup, that’s a guy the Yankees wasted a 40-man roster spot on, which let Garrett Whitlock stroll on over to Boston and become their best bullpen weapon in 2021.

Two wild pitches tied the game. A walk put Xander Bogaerts on first. Two more wild pitches moved him to third. and a sac fly front Hunter Renfroe put the nail in the coffin.

But perhaps the series finale was even worse. Domingo German, who was working to salvage a split, was tossing a no-hitter through seven innings. Awesome. The Yankees led 4-0. Six more outs and this baby was over.

German allowed a leadoff double in the bottom of the eighth and manager Aaron Boone immediately pulled him for Jonathan Loaisiga, who had arguably his worst outing of his season. Five runs later and this was 5-4. Three outs after that, the Yankees lost the game and dropped the four-game set. ONE of these wins gives the Yankees home-field in the ALWC.

2. Angels’ Improbable Comeback After Rain Delay

This is the day the season truly ended. June 30, 2021. Rest in peace to the 2021 New York Yankees. This one summed it all up.

Up 8-4 in the top of the ninth and needing just two outs to finish it off, the “vaunted” Yankees bullpen did it again. Chapman and Luetge. The worst left-handed tag team there seemingly was this past season. If this were a tables, ladders and chairs match, Edge would’ve speared Chapman 20 feet in the air and Luetge would’ve been powerbombed through three tables by Bubba Ray Dudley.

Chapman walked three of the first four batters he saw and then gave up the game-tying grand slam to Jared Walsh. It happened in an instant … and it was also after 1 a.m. ET because of multiple rain delays (why wasn’t this game just fully called off, by the way? Yankees were up four and we didn’t have to stay up past midnight to determine a winner in a late June game).

Then came Luetge, who allowed a walk, a single, another single and a double to get three more across the plate. Wahoo! 11-8, Angels lead. This was after the Bombers chased soon-to-be MVP Shohei Ohtani from this one with SEVEN first-inning runs.

Care to know what happened next? The Yankees went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

1. Astros’ 6-Run 9th to Avoid Sweep Before All-Star Break

We will never stop hating the Astros and we will never forgive the Yankees. Who do we even like at this point? All of our options are exhausted.

A couple weeks after we posited the season was over, the Yankees were three outs away from sweeping the Astros in Houston to salvage a forgettable first half and escape with a borderline respectable 47-42 record. They led 7-2 in the ninth.

Domingo German was handling multi-inning relief duty after undergoing surgery for a root canal, but his outing was upended after a dribbler saw Yuli Gurriel reach first base and then a Kyle Tucker double put runners on second and third with no outs. The bullpen was barren. The only option was a somewhat overused Chad Green.

Chapman was truly unpitchable at this point. Zack Britton was injured. Loaisiga was on the COVID IL. But hey, Green could handle Chas McCormick, Abraham Toro, Jason Castro and Martin Maldonado, right?

Double, double, single, line out, home run. Game over. Jose Altuve walked it off with a three-run shot after the first two doubles scored three runs. Forget what we said on the last slide, because this was the fastest meltdown you will ever see.

Instead of sweeping the Astros and heading into the break with the mental edge and upper hand before getting some much-needed R ‘n R, the Yankees went right back to square one and let the Astros cackle in their faces even though New York had won the series.

This team couldn’t even win correctly in 2021. We should’ve known months ago.

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