Latest Blue Jays World Series success comes with a Yankees nugget we'd rather forget

Welcome to Week 2 of New York Yankees fans trying to pretend that the pain of one of their rivals outweighs the joys of another during a nightmarish World Series. Blue Jays choke away a lead and lose an agonizing 18-inning game? It comes with a reminder of Nestor Cortes Jr. vs. Freddie Freeman. Megalith Dodgers watch their offense shrink in the spotlight and fumble momentum away? The Yankees' current cockiest division rival is profiting! It's a hellscape. It's a minor victory? It's a wash. It's a disaster.

And somehow, there's always a nugget that makes Yankees fans feel even worse/realize how plainly they squandered an opportunity of a lifetime last October. The only playoff run with Juan Soto. The only Dodgers playoff run where Shohei Ohtani didn't pitch. Just bring in Tim Hill in Game 1, cover first in Game 5, and see what happens!

As if it couldn't be clearer that the Yankees had a shot at LA last October before giving things away, we just received another reminder that they benefited from more than a few once-in-a-lifetime, "Team of Destiny" flashes during their '24 run.

Most go-ahead homers for any team in a single postseason? Why, the 2025 Blue Jays just surpassed the 2024 Yankees, of course! We were tied for the record before Alejandro Kirk's smash.

Most RBI from the No. 9 spot in any postseason? Andrés Giménez still has a ways to go before surpassing the all-time leader in Bucky Dent, who knocked in 11 runs during the Yankees' 1978 run (and that doesn't even count the iconic homer in the tiebreaker at Fenway).

But, on Tuesday in Game 4, he just tied ... Alex Verdugo, 2024 Yankees, who drove in eight runs. That's third place all time.

Andrés Giménez's success with Blue Jays comes with absurd Alex Verdugo reminder for Yankees fans

Just ... stop ... telling me these things. I don't want to see them! I don't want to remember that Verdugo was actually pretty good last postseason. I prefer to think about how the Yankees started two regulars in the World Series who are no longer in MLB and never stood a chance. That's my narrative!

You know what? You know what? I'm right. The stat is a fluke. Verdugo had OPS marks of .481 and .594 prior to the World Series, and hit a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth and a 4-0 deficit in Game 3 against the Dodgers to skew things. There we go. There we go. It's accidentally impressive. Nothing to see here. We couldn't hang with 'em. End of story.

Just let me have this.