A Comedy of Errors: The Yankees are Beating Themselves

Listen, I've seen a lot of baseball, and what we're witnessing in the Bronx right now isn't just a slump—it's a full-blown calamity. The New York Yankees are currently staring down a 2-0 series deficit in the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays, and while the box score says they lost Game 2 by a score of 5-2, it doesn't tell the whole story. The real story is that the Yankees are actively gifting this series to Tampa.

**OPINION:** This isn't about the pitching or a lack of firepower. It's a systemic failure in the field. As CBS Sports first reported, the Rays, who entered the postseason with the American League's best record and a Wild Card Series bye, are playing a specific kind of game: they are putting the ball in play and letting New York implode. According to CBS Sports, the Rays had the lowest strikeout rate in the AL during the regular season, and they are using that contact-heavy approach to expose a Yankee defense that looked flat-out terrible on Monday.

It started as a nightmare from the first pitch. In the first inning alone, the Yankees' infield committed four misplays against the first five batters. Per CBS Sports, Ryan McMahon missed a ground ball and Jazz Chisholm Jr. botched a double play effort. Austin Wells suffered catcher interference, and Chisholm later knocked George Lombard Jr. off the base during an attempted 4-6-3 double play.

That's the kind of stuff that kills you in October. The bleeding didn't stop there, either. In the fifth inning, the Yankees allowed four runs to cross the plate. It began with Spencer Jones taking a leadoff single that Statcast noted was 13.4 feet below average. Then, Lombard struggled with a ground ball while a runner occupied third, and the ball bounced in and out of first baseman Luis Gárcia Jr.'s glove. While the play was officially charged as an error on Lombard for an off-line throw, the result was the same: the inning extended, allowing Richie Palacios to drive in two runs with a single.

By the time the dust settled, the Yankees were charged with four errors—attributed to Chisholm, Lombard, McMahon, and Wells—along with three other misplays that weren't officially scored as errors. To put the dysfunction in perspective, CBS Sports points out that through two games of the ALDS, the Yankees have nearly as many errors (four) as they have hits (five).

It's a tragedy because Ben Rice is actually playing out of his mind. Rice, an All-Star who slugged 41 home runs this year, went 2 for 3 with two homers and a walk on Monday. He's currently 7 for 15 with four homers across four postseason games. With Aaron Judge out due to injury, Rice is the only one stepping up, but he can't carry the team while the defense is handing out freebies.

Since 1995, teams that win Game 1 of the Division Series have gone on to win the series 73% of the time. The Rays are now in the driver's seat, one win away from their first ALCS appearance since 2020, and they aren't even having to sweat it. They're just waiting for the Yankees to beat themselves.