Rival exec sheds light on why Yankees failed where Guardians thrived vs. Rays

The New York Yankees were swept away in three games by the AL East rival Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS. While the Yankees' pitching staff did their part, the offense didn't show up and the defense was sloppy.

Although the Yankees didn't have superstar Aaron Judge in the postseason due to a calf strain, the offense scored 18 runs in two games when they swept the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card round. However, the ALDS was a different story, as the Rays held the Yankees to just five total runs and 12 hits in three games.

What went wrong for the Yankees' Offense in the ALDS?

FanSided spoke with a rival American League executive about what they saw from the Yankees' offense in the ALDS.

"(The) Yankees just pressed and started chasing," the executive said. "(The) game sped up on them."

The Rays are a team that thrives on getting opposing batters to chase pitches. During the regular season, the Rays were first in the AL and second in MLB with a 32.8 percent chase rate, per Baseball Savant. The Yankees only chased 29.3 percent of the time (ninth in MLB) in the regular season, but their approach went out the window in the ALDS.

In Game 1, Rays ace Drew Rasmussen drew a 37 percent chase rate across eight shutout innings of one-hit ball. The Yankees chased his changeup 69 percent of the time. Rasmussen also got 23 swinging strikes from the Yankee bats, which was a career-high and Rays postseason record.

The Yankees struck out a total of 31 times in three games against the Rays. The only hitter who had a good series was DH Ben Rice, who hit two home runs and drove in three RBI. Anthony Volpe and George Lombard Jr. had four hits and an RBI between them in Game 3.

It certainly looked like the game sped up on the Yankees during their series against the Rays -- on both sides of the diamond. The Yankees made four errors in Game 2, and could've been charged with five. They also made several misplays in that game. But as bad as the defense was, the offense was the biggest problem in the series.

What the Guardians did right

Following the Yankees' elimination, the Cleveland Guardians' offense exploded in their Game 1 victory over the Rays in the ALCS. The Guardians are not a team that chases many pitches and were ranked seventh in baseball in chase rate during the regular season.

In that first game, the Guardians racked up seven runs on 14 hits against the Rays' pitching staff. These single-game run and hit totals eclipsed what the Yankees' offense did across three games combined versus Tampa Bay. Maybe the Yankees can fix their approach next postseason by not pressing or chasing at the plate.

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