Yankees crowd before do-or-die Game 5 vs Guardians sure looks empty

Hey, you’ve got to give the geniuses at MLB credit: they sure know exactly how to convince Guardians fans the ALDS is rigged for the Yankees while simultaneously alienating Yankee fans! Don’t know how they do it, but you simply have to salute.

During Monday night’s waterlogged mess before Game 5, Guardians fans got itchy, believing Aaron Boone wanted to delay the game to get his bullpen/Nestor Cortes some more rest for the game that would decide their season. That was, of course, not true; MLB decides these things, not the often-feckless manager of the Yankees. But hey, who’s going to tell aggrieved fans not to fuel their own grievance?

Smash cut to Tuesday, and Boone “got what he wanted”: Cortes on the mound on three days’ rest in front of a stadium that you could generously describe as “half-empty”.

4:07 isn’t 1:07, and this situation could’ve been even worse. But, as it turns out, most fans who spent four hours in the Bronx last night watching the Rangers win on the big screen and wondering how they were getting home probably couldn’t make it back for first pitch the next day.

Dunno! Honestly, maybe starting at 9:30 PM for the paying “customers” Monday night would’ve been preferable to this!

Yankees fans didn’t show up to Game 5 vs Guardians. Neither did Guardians fans. There’s nobody there.

One hell of a way for somebody’s season to end.

Maybe it was better inside? Maybe all the people really had made their way in early to full-throated boo Myles Straw in the biggest game of the year?

Welp!

Now, you might look at this and say the intimidation factor is less than zero, but what if there’s one really loud guy with an excellent take on Aaron Civale? Once Civale hears him crystal clear through the empty crowd, it’s over for him.

If MLB and the Yankees wouldn’t provide refunds for the countless fans who made Monday night a priority and couldn’t swing Tuesday afternoon, then it’s very fitting that the home team won’t be able to reap the benefits of their supposed advantage.

It’s very disappointing for the millions of fans nationwide who live and die by this stuff from April to October to see someone’s quest for a title end in the kind of environment only an empty warehouse could provide. Just have to hope things fill in by 5:00, and also have to hope it’s not your team.

Yankees: Joel Sherman’s anti-Aaron Boone rant is amazing

Joel Sherman went on MLB Network on Tuesday afternoon to flame the robotic elements of Aaron Boone's ridiculous Yankees performance Monday.