Yankees' Jake Bauers gets injured on spectacular catch in insanely unfair bad break

The 2023 New York Yankees *might* be able to turn it around. It'll take an infusion of offensive talent and the return of several of their top-level starting pitchers. Aaron Judge, reportedly, escaped serious injury after taking an MRI earlier in the weekend. So did reliever Jonathan Loaisiga, whose elbow scan revealed no structural damage.

Things should be trending up for the Yankees! Except for the fact that they're relentlessly dedicated to being .500, and can't seem to get out of their own way.

Remember when the Yankees made a distinct improvement between Games 2 and 3 of this series against the Rangers by promoting Jake Bauers from Triple-A, midway through a hot streak? Remember when they shoved Aaron Hicks to the bench instead of Scranton's Most Improved Player, a man with a 1.245 OPS?

Yeah, well, no. The move lasted almost one full half-inning.

Bauers tracked down a hard line drive into the corner for the third out of the top of the first inning, sliding into the wall to make the catch. He did it! Inning over! Special play!

Oh, except for the fact that he couldn't get up, smashing his body into the fence. Bauers left the game, and was replaced by Hicks in the bottom of the second inning. Oh. Great. Like getting a Nintendo for Christmas and realizing the box is filled with socks.

Yankees LF Jake Bauers injures himself diving for catch, replaced by Aaron Hicks

Remember six years ago, in 2017, when the Yankees tried to spark themselves by promoting outfielder Dustin Fowler, who slammed knee-first into some sort of drain in right field in Chicago and immediately eliminated himself from the season with an "open rupture of the patella" that required surgery? Just thinking of that for no reason.

It's remarkably unfair that the Yankees actually tried to improve their roster on Saturday, only to see someone's hard work rewarded with a first-inning injury. Almost like signing Carlos Rodón this offseason and trading for Frankie Montas, only to see both men succumb to injury immediately, too. Why try to improve? Why do anything? You always end up with Aaron Hicks in left field, anyway.