Yankees staring down the barrel of elimination after horrific Carlos Rodón effort

New York Yankees fans have been hesitant to blame the team's pitching staff in the postseason because, more often than not, the offense has been the culprit year after year. The unit would lead the league in everything during the regular season and then disappear in the playoffs.

That much has been true again in 2025, but Max Fried and Carlos Rodón didn't even give them a chance against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS. Fried gave up five runs in three innings on his own (before Will Warren charged another two to his name) in that Game 2 blowout.

With their backs against the wall facing elimination in Game 3, the Yankees turned to Rodón, who was arguably the team's most consistent pitcher all year. He wasn't great against the Red Sox in the Wild Card round, but he got the job done. Some fans were understandably worried because he's proven to be shaky in big moments.

Those feelings were validated (and then some) on Tuesday night when the left-hander was shelled by Toronto. After inexplicably walking Davis Schneider (a .234 hitter) in the first inning, Rodón then served up an 84 MPH changeup right over the heart of the plate to the Blue Jays' most dangerous hitter.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. did it again. He belted that pitch for this third homer of the ALDS to give his team a 2-0 lead, silencing Yankee Stadium in the process.

Yankees staring down the barrel of elimination after horrific Carlos Rodón effort

By the time the third inning rolled around, Rodón was nearing 50 pitches for his outing. And that's when the Blue Jays delivered the knockout punch. They hung four more runs on him and led 6-1 by the time Rodón was taken out. He threw 67 pitches in just 2 1/3 innings. He allowed six earned runs on six hits and two walks. It doesn't get worse than that.

It just adds to Rodón's complicated tenure in the Bronx. He's shown flashes of greatness, only to follow it up with struggles like you've never seen before. How he was unable to locate his pitches on regular rest in what was the Yankees' possible final game of the season, we'll never know. How he gave up the back-breaking two-run single to Anthony Santander, who has 11 at-bats since May 29th, we'll never know.

There's a reason the Yankees were reportedly upset with Scott Boras after agreeing to that $162 million contract. Was it their fault? Absolutely. But they did not foresee the value plummeting this drastically while also keeping them from signing other big names, such as Blake Snell.

If this is curtains on the Yankees' season (it probably is), Rodón missed a golden opportunity to put all of the frustration from his first two seasons with New York behind him. It's going to be a long, long offseason for just about everybody.