Canadian Blue Jays Crush America’s Team’s Playoff Dreams. Can the Yankees Still Defy the Odds with Their <0.1% Playoff Chance?

The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays have finally unlocked their horns. The Canadian team has emerged victorious over the Bronx, and it’s a bitter defeat. With two games in the Blue Jays’ favor, how will the Yankees end the three-game series? September ends in nine days, and every team that can is desperately trying to make it to October. But can both New York and Toronto make it?

For most of 2023, the answer was easy – only The Blue Jays could do it. The Yankees were stumbling with injury after injury thrown at them, struggling to pick themselves up. While a late-season rally has shocked the Bronx, will it be enough?

For the First Time After 2016, the Yankees May Actually Miss the Playoffs

Postseason is a dream every team wants to fulfill because it means a chance at the biggest title in baseball. The Yankees’ fanbase expected an end to the 13-year World Series drought this year. But the club can barely end the season in fourth place instead of fifth in the AL East. Although every appearance ALDS and ALCS appearance since 2017 has ended in a loss, at least the Yankees made it to the playoffs.

Having given up the last two games to the Blue Jays, it’s a very real possibility that 2023 for the Bronx Bombers will end with the regular season.

A Very Sweet Victory for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And the Blue Jays

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the New York Yankees have a complicated past. Vlad the Impaler has never given details, but he’s not fond of the Pinstripers. “I like to play in New York. I like to kill the Yankees. I would never sign with the Yankees, not even dead,” Guerrero once told a radio host.

READ MORE – Blue Jays Hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Expresses His Disdain for the Yankees, Stating He “Would Never Sign With the Yankees, Not Even Dead”

So even though he missed Wednesday’s game at Yankee Stadium due to right knee discomfort, he was happily watching his team destroy the opposition 6-1. Ah, sweet victory, especially for such a crucial game as this series is.

Alek Manoah’s Evil Grin, Though Distanced From the League

Following in his star teammate’s footsteps, Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah decided to troll the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole last season. The ace had been in conversations involving the usage of sticky stuff, which Manoah apparently took personally. Calling Cole the ‘the worst cheater in history’ with a cheeky grin on his face, the 25-year-old earned himself a reputation.

Unfortunately, while 2022 was an excellent year for the Blue Jays pitcher, 2023 has seen him sent back to Triple-A. Which makes many wonder what the point of calling out Cole was. Done so publicly, the least Manoah could do was back up his words with a good performance.

Can the Yankees Still Qualify? How?

Different statisticians will tell fans different stories. But the thing about the Yankees’ numbers is that they look bad. No matter who calculates them, only a miracle can save them now. On Tuesday, Fangraphs predicted the numbers at 0.3% but Thursday has turned it to a stark 0.0%. While it’s not impossible to defy what numerical probabilities predict, can the Bronx team really do it?

READ MORE – New York Yankees 2023: An Embarrassing Clown Show of Epic Proportions

The Yankees’ rivals are happily running a rampage at their ballpark and motivation is at an all-time low. They are nine games away from season-end and need to win almost all of them to make it to third in the AL Wild Card Race. Should the club just cut its losses and pull back its major star players?

Is It Time for the Yankees to Pull Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole From the Season?

Yankees captain Aaron Judge and ace Gerrit Cole have been revelations to watch this year. Despite missing two months due to a severe toe injury, All-Rise came back to rescue his teammates from the depths of baseball hell. The ace, meanwhile, has been putting up a strong Cy Young-worthy performance in 2023. At 31 and 33, both players are in their primes but not witnessing any team success. Should the Yankees just pull the plug on both the way their season is going?

Cole has already proven his worth and Judge could rest his toe because he’s clearly playing through the pain. Giving the younger guys a chance could work in their favor if the Baby Bombers era is anything to gauge the experiment by.

Reducing further chance of injury could be seen as a possible reason for shutting down each of these players but Judge, at least, wants to play. Per NJ.com’s Max Goodman, manager Aaron Boone has no plans of removing the captain. Cole hasn’t indicated that he wants to leave the Pinstripes to their fate either. Maybe everyone is hoping against hope for a miracle to save them.

Who Will Take Responsibility for Destroying Yankees’ Great Legacy? Brian Cashman or Hal Steinbrenner?

If either of them have it their way, Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner will probably find someone else to blame. Not to say they’re averse to taking responsibility, because both have admitted their wrong decision-making in the past. But the GM refuses to improve the new roster, instead relying on the farm system. Which was, unfortunately, ranked at 21 out of 30 in August 2023.

While most MLB teams try to add power to the gaps that have been holding them back, Cashman has done next to nothing to address them. Steinbrenner, for his part, refuses to part ways with his beloved general manager. The man has held the job since 1998 but his tactics aren’t working anymore. It’s time for some drastic moves.

Realistically, Do the Yankees Still Have a Chance, or Is the Writing on the Wall?

This is such a crucial stage that things can go either way. The rubber game of the Yankees vs. Blue Jays series is the most important. It will not only set the tone for the last week of the season but also determine what the Bronx can do for itself. So realistically speaking, it’s a true toss-up. The players have the potential and the motivation at this juncture but will everything come together in harmony or collide like un-tuned keys? Only time will tell.

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