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

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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