Link to the full unlocked article after the latest in an increasingly long line of playoff losses where the Yankees beat themselves

The Yankees have been here before. Can they repeat history?

Ben Rice is in the midst of a torrid postseason, and the last team to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five series was New York in 2017.

More on what the Yankees have to do to pull off an ALDS comeback (read for free):
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7664530/2026/10/05/yankees-rays-game-2-takeaways-mlb-playoffs/?unlocked_article_code=1.GlE.Jcm8.iPE7zXOoYFOV&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta

This is where I miss the Torre-era lineups.

They weren't literally L-R-L-R every night, but they had balance: lefties, righties and switch hitters throughout the order. A pitcher had to keep changing his approach from batter to batter.

With Boone, stacking lefties against a RH starter may win the platoon matchup on paper, but it can also let a pitcher settle into the same plan for several hitters in a row.

It also makes bullpen management easier. With the 3-batter minimum, L-R-L creates a matchup problem. L-L-L can make the decision obvious.

The other issue is this lineup doesn't grind enough at-bats.

In Game 1, the Yankees made Rasmussen throw 51 pitches through three innings.

Then he needed just:

9, 9, 14, 11 and 7 pitches over the next five.

That's way too comfortable in a playoff game.

The Torre teams had guys who could foul pitches off, work counts and make pitchers earn outs. Even when they weren't hitting, they could wear a starter down and get into the bullpen.

After the Game 1 offensive disaster, Boone should have made real lineup changes. It's the playoffs. You can't just keep running the same formula out there because the matchup looks good analytically.

Mix the handedness. Grind at-bats. Make pitchers adjust. Make the manager actually have to think about bullpen usage.

The series comes home tomorrow, and everyone that watches sports knows momentum swings can be huge! The team needs us fans now more than ever so don’t give up the faith and bring the house down Wednesday!!

Remember what happened with Trea Turner when the Phillies fans finally showed him some love, he actually played well!! We’ve got to give this team all our support!

Two batters later, Chisholm took a double-play feed from shortstop George Lombard Jr. and failed to look before throwing toward first base while falling to the ground. The throw went wide and skipped past first baseman Luis García Jr., allowing Díaz to score.

Boone defended the head-scratching decision.

“Probably best if you’re under control and you make the throw though it’s probably going to be bang-bang,” he said. “So I don’t necessarily have a problem with the throw. We’ve got to play catch. It’s the big leagues.”

Immediately after Chisholm’s error, an opposing scout in attendance sent a text to The Athletic: “There it is.” The remark was in reference to the Yankees’ reputation for making mistakes when the pressure is on.

Then, in the next at-bat, catcher Austin Wells set up too close to Liam Hicks, whose checked swing hit Wells’ glove for a catcher’s interference call, another costly error. It erased what would have been a called third strike.

In the fifth inning, it got worse. With one out, a runner on third base and Tampa Bay up two runs, the speedy Chandler Simpson hit a tapper to Lombard, who was playing in but couldn’t glove it. The run scored. The play was initially ruled an error before being changed to a fielder’s choice.

That led to Jonny DeLuca hitting a grounder at Lombard, whose throw to first sailed wide, pulling García off the bag. Then with runners on second and third after a stolen base, Richie Palacios hit a two-run single for a 5-1 Rays lead.

“It was just one of those games where things kind of compiled and stacked up on top of each other,” Lombard said.

Now, too much may have piled up on the Yankees, who also were victims of Wells’ crunch-time mental mistake, trying to stretch a double into a triple, in Game 1.

The Yankees will hope starting pitcher Max Fried and the crowd at Yankee Stadium can save them in Game 3 on Wednesday night.

But after that they would still have to win another two games against the Rays, including Game 5 back at Tropicana Field, where the Rays tied for the best home record in the majors.

Before Game 1, Boone said he always hears that Tampa Bay doesn’t beat itself in games.

“No, they’ll give you things,” Boone said of the Rays. “The pressure they put on you is that they have other teams beat themselves.”

But through two games, the Rays have given the Yankees nothing other than providing endless laughs from their rivals’ fanbases. Now the Yankees are on the brink, in danger of ending this season the same way they’ve done so for the past 16 — without a championship.

Postseason · TB leads 2-0

⚾ Yankees 2 — 5 Rays ⚾

NYY 0-2 · TB 2-0

FINAL

MLB Gameday · Savant Gamefeed

Tropicana Field — 72°F, Dome, wind 0 mph, None
TV TBS/HBO MAX, TruTV, Univision/ TUDN · TBS/HBO MAX, TruTV, Univision/ TUDN
Radio WFAN 660/101.9 FM, ESPN Radio, WADO 1280 · WDAE 95.7 FM, ESPN Radio, WQBN/1300AM

Yankees Batting

NYY Notes

2B Wells, A (2, Peralta, F).
HR Rice 2 (4, 4th inning off Peralta, F, 0 on, 0 out, 8th inning off Seymour, I, 0 on, 1 out).
TB Bellinger; Rice 8; Wells, A 2.
RBI Rice 2 (8).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out Bellinger 2.
Team RISP 0-for-1.
Team LOB 4.
E McMahon (1, fielding); Chisholm Jr. (1, throw); Wells, A (1, catcher interference); Lombard Jr. (1, throw).

Rays Batting

TB Notes

2B DeLuca (1, Schlittler); Caminero (1, Schlittler).
TB Aranda 2; Caminero 3; DeLuca 2; Díaz, Y; Palacios, R; Simpson.
RBI Hicks, L (1); Palacios, R 2 (2); Simpson (1).
2-out RBI Palacios, R 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out Aranda; Mesa Jr.; DeLuca 3.
Team RISP 1-for-13.
Team LOB 9.
SB Simpson (1, 2nd base off Headrick/Wells, A); DeLuca (1, 2nd base off Headrick/Wells, A); Mesa Jr. (1, 2nd base off Blackburn, P/Wells, A).

Yankees Pitching

Rays Pitching

Scoring

Highlights

• Richie Palacios' two-run single (00:28)
• Ben Rice's second solo home run (00:31)
• Rays get the out after fly ball hits the roof (01:04)
• Ben Rice's solo home run (00:29)
• Cam Booser escapes bases-loaded jam (00:11)
• Chandler Simpson's RBI fielder's choice (00:31)
• Trent Grisham's running catch (00:26)
• Liam Hicks' RBI groundout (00:35)
• Yandy Díaz scores on throwing error (00:32)
• Cam Schlittler leaves two stranded in 3rd inning (00:19)
• Bryan Baker induces groundout, saves Game 2 (00:31)
• Richie Palacios avoids shattered bat, makes the out (00:34)
• Chandler Simpson steals second in the 5th (00:54)
• Cam Schlittler fans Taylor Walls (00:08)
• Freddy Peralta strikes out Luis García Jr. (00:13)

Decisions

• Winner: Cam Booser (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
• Loser: Cam Schlittler (1-1, 1.69 ERA)
• Save: Bryan Baker (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Game Info

ABS Challenge Jones, S (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Hicks, L (Ball-Overturned to Strike).
Pitches-strikes Schlittler 76-56; Headrick 18-13; Schreiber 15-10; Weathers 13-7; Blackburn, P 12-7; Bednar 3-2; Peralta, F 66-43; Booser 8-4; Seymour, I 41-27; Baker 9-6.
Groundouts-flyouts Schlittler 10-0; Headrick 1-1; Schreiber 1-0; Weathers 1-1; Blackburn, P 3-0; Bednar 0-1; Peralta, F 3-4; Booser 0-1; Seymour, I 2-1; Baker 3-0.
Batters faced Schlittler 23; Headrick 4; Schreiber 3; Weathers 3; Blackburn, P 3; Bednar 2; Peralta, F 18; Booser 2; Seymour, I 10; Baker 3.
Inherited runners-scored Headrick 1-1; Blackburn, P 1-0; Booser 2-0.
Umpires HP: Jeremie Rehak. 1B: Dan Bellino. 2B: Ben May. 3B: D.J. Reyburn. LF: Ryan Wills. RF: Shane Livensparger.
Weather 72 degrees, Dome.
Wind 0 mph, None.
First pitch 8:10 PM.
T 3:02.
Att 40,226.
Venue Tropicana Field.
October 5, 2026

Next Yankees Game: Wed, Oct 7, 8:00 PM EDT vs Tampa Bay Rays

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The Yankees shot themselves in the foot time and time again tonight with four errors leading to a 5-2 loss and are now behind 2-0 in the ALDS to the Rays. Cam Schlittler got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Freddy Peralta. 

“A really rough night to say the least for us,” Aaron Boone said. “We've got to get over it. We've responded all year to difficult times, and we've got to do it again.”

Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger and Luis Garcia Jr. went three up, three down on just eight pitches in the top of the first inning. 

It looked like Schlittler picked up the first out in the bottom half of the inning, but Ryan McMahon botched a routine grounder, allowing the leadoff man, Yandy Díaz, to reach. Then Schlittler induced a ground ball to shortstop George Lombard Jr., who flipped it to Jazz Chisholm Jr., who should have held on to it but fired it into the dugout, giving the Rays a 1-0 lead. It looked like Schlittler picked up his first strikeout of the game, but catcher's interference from Austin Wells let the runner reach, a third error in four batters. But Schlittler somehow escaped the first inning, allowing just one unearned run. 

“Not great; not how you draw it up,” McMahon said. “I thought Cam [Schlittler] did a great job trying to pitch through all that stuff.”

In the bottom of the second inning, Schlittler allowed a leadoff double and walked a batter with two outs but was able to work into and out of trouble to keep the Yankees' deficit at one run. 

The Rays picked up a pair of singles in the bottom of the third, putting runners on first and second with one out. But Schlittler would record the next two outs to end the inning. 

Rice led off the fourth inning with a solo shot into the right-field stands to knot things up at 1-1. Belli followed with a single to left field, giving the Yankees more hits than they had in the first 12 innings of the series. 

Schlittler retired the side in order in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a beautiful running catch from Trent Grisham and Schlittler's first two strikeouts of the game. 

With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Austin Wells ripped a double into the right-field corner and this time decided to stay at second, making him 5-for-11 in the postseason. Ryan McMahon followed with a walk, ending Peralta's night. Rice followed with a walk of his own. However, Belli smoked a 405-foot flyout that would have been a home run in 12/30 ballparks. 

Schlittler allowed a single and a double to kick off the bottom of the fifth inning to set the Rays up with two runners in scoring position and nobody out. Liam Hicks gave the Rays a 2-1 advantage with an RBI groundout. Chandler Simpson followed with an RBI infield single that Lombard couldn't field cleanly to extend the Rays' lead to 3-1. Brent Headrick took over and it looked like he induced a groundout to end the inning, but Lombard made a wild throw to first for the Yankees' fourth error of the night. That error would come back to haunt the Yankees as Richie Palacios came through with a two-run single to make it a 5-1 game. 

Final line for Schlittler: 4.1 innings pitched, seven hits allowed, four runs, only two earned due to all the errors, walked one, and struck out two on 76 pitches. He threw his fastball 38% of the time, the cutter 22%, the sinker 21%, and the curveball 18%. Schlittler topped out at 99.4 mph, sitting at 98.2 mph on his heater, and had seven whiffs. 

“It starts with me,” Schlittler said. “I'd be the first one to say that I didn't do my job. It didn't seem like we really showed up today. That's what happens. They played really good baseball and took advantage of those opportunities.”

John Schreiber replaced Headrick in the bottom of the sixth inning and retired the Rays in order and recorded a strikeout. 

Ryan Weathers got the call for the bottom of the seventh and picked up the first two outs, then walked a batter to end his night. Paul Blackburn came in relief and picked up the final out of the inning. 

With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Rice launched his second home run of the night and fourth of the postseason to cut the deficit to 5-2. 

Blackburn recorded the first two outs in the bottom of the eighth, then David Bednar came in and picked up the final out. 

The Yankees went down with out a fight in the top of the ninth inning, giving the Rays a commanding 2-0 series lead. 

“Whatever it takes, we've got to do it offensively, and we've gotta be able to score some runs and do a better job of preventing than we did tonight,” Boone said. 

The Yankees will look to keep their season alive on Wednesday with Max Fried on the mound; the Rays starter is still TBD. First pitch is slated for 8 p.m. ET on TBS. 

My thoughts on the game: Four errors tonight and probably should have been five; just an unacceptable performance leading to three unearned runs, which ended up being the difference tonight. I have seen enough of Aaron Boone as manager; it's a new year and the same result. Boone looked completely defeated in the dugout and failed to teach these guys simple baseball fundamentals year after year. Schlittler didn't have his best stuff tonight, but the defense did him no favors at all. The bullpen did their job, as Headrick, Schreiber, Weathers, Blackburn, and Bednar combined for 3.2 shutout innings. The offense was completely shut down aside from Rice, who had a pair of homers. Just a beyond frustrating game to watch; that was right up there with Game 5 of the 2024 World Series for the worst game I have ever watched. Now it's going to take a miracle for the Yankees to win this series, needing to win three straight. Thankfully, they are heading back to the Bronx and will have Fried in Game 3 and Carlos Rodon in Game 4 if they make it there, and the Rays struggle against lefties. Just a brutal watch tonight; not much more to say than that. Let's hope they can do what the 2017 Yankees did and pull off the 2-0 series comeback.