2025 American League Division Series 1

2025 American League Division Series

Toronto Blue Jays 94 - 68 in the AL	3 - 1 Series Summary	New York Yankees 94 - 68 in the AL

Overview[edit]

The Division Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees was unprecedented, as the two teams had never before met in the postseason, but that did not mean they were unfamiliar with one another. The two teams had played in the same division in the American League since the Blue Jays joined the league as an expansion team in 1977, and this year they had been locked in an epic battle for first place for most of September. They finished tied, but not after both teams won their last four regular season games, and the Blue Jays only won the number 1 seed because of their better head-to-head record, forcing the Yankees to face the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series while the Blue Jays were resting.

One thing that added fuel to the fire was long-time Blue Jays announcer and former manager Buck Martinez calling the Yankees "not a good team" during a broadcast in September. That irked Yankees fans, but it was based on facts that were hard to dispute: they were a poor defensive team, they did not run the bases well, their bullpen was shaky, and they had trouble scoring runs when not hitting homers. All of that was true, but they also had excellent starting pitching and were better than anyone else at hitting homers. For their part, the Blue Jays also had their weaknesses, albeit different ones: unreliable starting pitching, a closer in Jeff Hoffman who was a human roller-coaster ride, and a big hole in their batting order since the loss of Bo Bichette to a late-season injury - they had almost blown a five-game lead in the division race because they stopped scoring runs after Bichette went down. There was only one way to find out who was right: play the games.

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Yankees: Aaron Boone | Blue Jays: John Schneider

Yankees

Blue Jays

Umpires[edit]

Chris Segal, Adam Hamari, Jordan Baker, Tony Randazzo, Dan Bellino (crew chief) and Roberto Ortíz

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	New York Yankees 1 Toronto Blue Jays 10	October 4	Luis Gil (0-1) Kevin Gausman (1-0)	4:08 pm
2	New York Yankees 7 Toronto Blue Jays 13	October 5	Max Fried (0-1) Trey Yesavage (1-0)	4:08 pm
3	Toronto Blue Jays 6 New York Yankees 9	October 7	Shane Bieber (0-0) Carlos Rodón (0-0)	8:08 pm
4	Toronto Blue Jays 5 New York Yankees 2	October 8	Louie Varland (0-1) Cam Schlittler (0-1)	7:08 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ Roger Centre[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	6	0
Blue Jays	1	1	0	0	0	0	4	4	x	10	14	0
WP: Kevin Gausman (1-0); LP: Luis Gil (0-1)
Home Runs: TOR - Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1), Alejandro Kirk 2 (2)

Attendance: 44,655

The Blue Jays ended up with a decisive win in Game 1, although the game was only 2-1 in the middle of the 7th, before the Blue Jays started padding on the extra runs. Because they had had to play an extra round, the Yankees had to use their fourth starter in Luis Gil, while the Blue Jays could start Kevin Gausman, although he had not had a dominant season. The Rogers Centre was packed, however, and the roof was open thanks to some unseasonably balmy weather in southern Ontario. Many of these fans were likely nervous, given the Jays had lost four straight postseason series and seven consecutive postseason games, but they got an early jolt when Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hadn't done much of anything in three previous postseason appearances, hit a home run, and Toronto never trailed after that.

It was clear from the 1st inning that Gausman had his good stuff today. He retired Trent Grisham, the Yankees' first batter, on his very first pitch, although the Jays got a bit of a break because the ball nubbed his toe before bouncing straight to Guerrero at first base, and should have been called a foul ball, but home plate umpire Chris Segal missed it. In any case, Aaron Judge followed with a single, but Gausman got ahead of the next two batters, and Cody Bellinger flied out to center while Ben Rice struck out. Then, after two outs, Guerrero took Gil deep to left field for a 1-0 lead. It was a similar story in the 2nd: Jazz Chisholm got a hit with one out, but Ryan McMahon lined a ball towards right field, only to see Guerrero make a great diving catch, and then double up Chisholm for a spectacular double play. The first batter in the bottom of the inning was Alejandro Kirk, who had hit three homers in the last two regular season games for Toronto, and he confirmed he was still red hot as he crushed Gil's first pitch almost 400 feet to left field. In the 3rd, Gausman needed only four pitches to retire the Yankees in order. When Guerrero singled with two outs in the bottom of the 3rd, Aaron Boone made a fateful decision, replacing Gil with lefty Tim Hill to face Addison Barger. Barger managed an infield single, but after that, Hill and fellow reliever Camilo Doval retired ten straight batters, stopping the Jays momentarily in their tracks.

After five strong innings, Gausman got in trouble in the 6th when he gave up a lead-off double to Anthony Volpe and a single to Austin Wells. That brought up the top of the order and Grisham drew a walk to load the bases, bringing up Judge. Gausman dug deep into his bag of tricks to strike him out swinging in a key moment of the game. A walk to Bellinger forced in a run. reducing the lead to 2-1, but Gausman got Rice to pop up to third for a second out. John Schneider decided to call on his bullpen at this point, and Louie Varland had another key moment when he struck out Giancarlo Stanton to end the inning. In the 7th, Varland and Seranthony Dominguez retired the Yankees, stranding pinch-runner José Caballero on first base. It was still 2-1 at this point, and the Yankees had had the best scoring opportunities of late, but the Blue Jays would change that completely in their next two turns at bat.

In the bottom of the 7th, Daulton Varsho drew a lead-off walk against Luke Weaver, then Anthony Santander, who had contributed next to nothing all season due to a shoulder injury, hit a single, moving Varsho to third. Andres Gimenez followed with a single through a drawn-in infield to add an insurance run. Fernando Cruz replaced Weaver, and he made a nice play on a sacrifice attempt by Ernie Clement, throwing out the lead runner at third base, but it was only a short reprieve. George Springer worked a walk and Nathan Lukes followed with the biggest hit of his career, a double to the right field corner that scored two more runs. The Jays now had a comfortable lead, and it got even better when Guerrero hit a fly ball to deep right for a sacrifice fly, increasing the lead to 6-1. In the 8th, Kirk led off the inning with his second homer of the game, this one off Paul Blackburn and the Jays went back to their style of grinding small ball, adding three more runs thanks to two doubles and three singles before defensive replacement Isiah Kiner-Falefa thankfully ended the inning by lining out to Chisholm at second base. Closer Jeff Hoffman came out for the 9th, just because he needed the work, and he had his good fastball, as Caballero could have attested, since he was plunked on the left shoulder by a 98-mph pitch with two outs. With a 10-1 lead, however, this was without consequence, and Hoffman ended the game by striking out Volpe.

Game 2 @ Roger Centre[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0	0	7	10	1
Blue Jays	0	2	3	6	1	1	0	0	x	13	15	1
WP: Trey Yesavage (1-0); LP: Max Fried (0-1)
Home Runs: TOR - Ernie Clement (1), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (2), Daulton Varsho 2 (2), George Springer (1); NY - Cody Bellinger (1)

Attendance: 44,764

Never mind the high score, the story of Game 2 was rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage, making not just his postseason debut for Toronto, but only his fourth start as a major leaguer after making his professional debut back in the Florida State League in April. He was facing one of the best pitchers in the AL in Max Fried, the major league wins leader and a two-time AL Pitcher of the Month, including in September. It was no mismatch however, or if it was, it was all in favor of the youngster. He showed some absolutely filthy stuff in his 5 1/3 innings on the mound, not allowing a single hit and striking out 11. When he left the mound, the Jays had a 12-0 lead, having beaten Fried like a bush leaguer, scoring in double figures for the second straight game. The Yankees did have a couple of innings in which they put up crooked numbers against the lower-ranking members of the Jays bullpen, and it made the final score look less lopsided than the game actually was. But the Yankees took a veritable beating, with the hitting heroes being Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who had three hits, including the first grand slam in franchise postseason history, and Daulton Varsho who had four extra-base hits, including a pair of homers.

Yesavage was amazing from the get-go. He struck out the first batter of the game, Trent Grisham, then faced his only trouble when he walked Aaron Judge. But he came back by striking out Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice, and over the next four innings, he would strike out just about everybody in sight. The Yankees looked completely baffled by his stuff. Meanwhile, Fried did not fool anybody. He gave up a pair of hits in the 1st but was saved when Alejandro Kirk grounded into a double play on a ball smoked at over 98 mph, but directly at 2B Jazz Chisholm. The Jays continued to hit him hard in the 2nd, as Varsho led off with a double to the right field corner which Judge bobbled, allowing him to take third base. Ernie Clement continued by driving a very low pitch into the right field stands for a two-run homer, and the ballpark was rocking. In the 3rd, Davis Schneider drew a one-out walk and moved to third on a single by Guerrero. Kirk then hit a grounder to Rice at first base to drive in a run, and Varsho doubled again for a 4-0 lead. Clement followed with a single that made it 5-0. And then the floodgates really opened in the 4th. The last two batters in the order, Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw led things off with a single and a walk, and that was it for Fried, who just couldn't get anyone out. Will Warren came in to pitch in what already looked like a lost cause, and he poured more fuel on the fire by walking George Springer to load the bases. He managed to strike out Davis Schneider for the first out, but that only brought on Guerrero, and he absolutely crushed one of his pitches into deep left field for a grand slam. It was now 9-0, and the Jays kept pounding hits. Kirk singled, and Varsho hit a homer to right field for an 11-0 lead.

Barring a disaster, the Jays now had the game won, and the final innings were about workload management. John Schneider did not want Yesavage to throw too many pitches, and after he let him start the 6th with a 12-0 lead, following another homer, that one by Springer in the 5th, he pulled him after he retired the first batter he faced, Austin Wells, on a pop-up. The problem was that the skipper had probably prepared for a lot of scenarios before this game, but nursing a 12-run lead in the 6th was unlikely to have been one of them. He decided to use the lower-ranking members of his bullpen, starting with Justin Bruihl, to give them some work. For a spell, it looked like none of them were pitching at 100%, given the lack of urgency, and the Yankees took advantage to get their bats going. Judge got the first hit of the game for New York with a two-out single, and Bellinger followed with a two-run homer. Braydon Fisher eventually finished the inning, but he did not come back for the 7th, as more pitchers got rocked. The Yankees eventually scored five runs in the inning before Mason Fluharty came on with two outs, and he looked like he meant business. It took him just two pitches to get Chisholm to ground out, and in the 8th Louie Varland also looked like he took things seriously, as did Seranthony Dominguez in the 9th. Whatever faint hopes the Yankees may have had about mounting a historic comeback were soon extinguished, as the Yankees would not record another hit after Fluharty's entrance. The only good point for the Yankees, except for scoring a few runs against back-enders from the bullpen, was that Warren pitched until two were out in the 8th. Even if he gave up six runs, he saved his team's bullpen, and the only reason he did not record the final out in the 8th was because Aaron Boone did not want him to face Varsho, who had homered twice off him already, another time. Instead, it was Luke Weaver, who had yet to retire anyone this postseason while giving up five runs, who faced Varsho and got him to fly out to left.

Game 3 @ New Yankee Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Blue Jays	2	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	9	2
Yankees	1	0	2	3	2	1	0	0	x	9	12	0
WP: Tim Hill (1-0); LP: Louie Varland (0-1); SV: David Bednar (1)
Home Runs: TOR - Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 3; NY - Aaron Judge (1), Jazz Chisholm (1)

Attendance: 47,399

Game 3 was the game the Blue Jays absolutely needed to win and they completely blew it. The main problem was that they had bet the farm on one pitcher, trading deadline acquisition Shane Bieber, and that they absolutely needed him to pitch at least five innings to have any chance to win. When he was chased in the 3rd inning, even though Toronto had managed to build a quick 6-1 lead, it was basically game over for them, and probably series over as well: they would need to win the rest of the game with a bullpen that was leaking left and right, as had been amply demonstrated in Game 2, while the Yankees could just stand back and aim for the fences at New Yankee Stadium. If that wasn't enough of a tall order already, they played poor defence, turning two certain outs into runs, and as a result they did not stand a chance. They did get to Carlos Rodón early, forcing him to throw a lot of pitches and forcing him out of the game in the 3rd as well, but once the bullpen came on, the Jays hitters had no plan anymore, and just went through the motions the rest of the game, waiting for the Yankees to catch up and bury them, which is exactly what happened. Facing more of the same in a bullpen game in Game 4, and a very likely strong bounce back performance from Max Fried in Game 5, it was a good thing that hockey season was starting, as the Jays looked like they were likely done for the year.

The game started as the first two had, with Toronto taking an early lead. Davis Schneider drew a one-out walk in the 1st, thanks to some friendly calls by umpire Jordan Baker, and for some reason the Yankees elected to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who crushed a ball deep into the left-field stands for a two-run homer. The Yankees would not make the mistake of giving Guerrero a chance to hurt them again, though. In the bottom of the inning, Bieber struggled with his command from the first pitch, and it resulted in a one-out single by Aaron Judge, who while he did not yet look like the man who had multiple 50-homer seasons on his résumé, he certainly looked like the American League batting champion. Bieber got Bellinger to fly out, and then Ben Rice to hit a ground ball to 2B Isiah Kiner-Falefa, but the former Gold Glove winner bobbled it, and an inning that should have ended there continued with a single to Giancarlo Stanton, cutting the lead to 2-1. Both pitchers got through the 2nd without giving up a run, although Rodón again needed a lot of pitches before stranding two runners on base. The game was then decided in the 3rd, for all intents and purposes. The Jays looked like the team from Games 1 and 2 in pounding Rodón to a pulp, with Schneider hitting a lead-off double. This time, Aaron Boone had realized that facing Guerrero would be a bad idea, so he gave him an intentional walk. Alejandro Kirk hit a line-drive to Judge in right field on which the runners failed to advance, but Daulton Varsho followed with a sinking liner to short left field that Cody Bellinger failed to catch and Schneider scored from second base. Ernie Clement also singled and Guerrero raced home, diving in ahead of the throw, with the runners advancing to second and third. Boone still did not want to admit that Rodón simply did not have it that night, and he let him face another batter, Anthony Santander, who hit a two-run single. It was now 6-1, and Boone took the decision he should have made two or three batters earlier, replacing his starter with reliever Fernando Cruz. The Blue Jays would not do a thing on offence for the rest of the game, but they had managed to build a 6-1 lead. Would it be enough?

The answer to that question came quickly, as soon as the bottom of the 3rd. Bieber was no longer able to finish off hitters after getting into two-strike counts, and Trent Grisham took advantage by hitting a double. Bieber then went ahead 0 and 2 on Judge, but then threw a wild pitch, advancing Grisham to third, and allowed a double to the big man, cutting the lead to 6-2. Another 0 and 2 count on Bellinger resulted in a single, with Judge going to third. Rice then hit a ball to Guerrero at first base, and Judge made an egregious baserunning mistake, getting into no man's land between third and home and being caught in a rundown. Guerrero eventually tagged him out, while Bellinger made it to third but Rice stopped at first base for some reason. On another 0 and 2 count, Stanton hit a ball to deepest center field where it was caught by Varsho, but Bellinger had no difficulty at all scoring a third run on the sacrifice fly. Bieber than walked Jazz Chisholm and John Schneider had no choice but to remove him. However, at that point, smart gamblers would have placed a heap of money on the Yankees winning the game, the series, and even the World Series, because there was no way Toronto's beleaguered bullpen could hold them down for another six plus innings. Rookie Mason Fluharty did manage to record the final out of the 3rd, getting pinch-hitter Amed Rosario to pop up, but it was only a matter of time until the Jays were steamrolled.

The only Blue Jays player still showing any sign of life by then was Guerrero, but he was limited to a two-out single by Cruz in the top of the 4th, and Camilo Doval quickly stepped in to retire Kirk before any serious threat developed. The Yankees then went to work on the young Fluharty, who got off to a good start by striking out Anthony Volpe and getting Austin Wells hit a routine pop up to shallow left field. But 3B Addison Barger insisted on waving off LF Davis Schneider, who was much better placed to make the catch, and saw the ball bounce off his glove for a two-base error. The Yankees probably did not need the help, but who is going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Fluharty then walked Grisham and Louie Varland came in to face Judge. He got two strikes on him, and his third pitch was a 100 mph heater, high and a full six inches inside, but Judge still managed to crush it. The only question was whether it would stay fair, and it did, clanging high off the left foul pole for a three-run game-tying homer. It was now just a matter of waiting for the Yankees to apply the killing blow as they were like a cat toying with a wounded bird. That blow came in the next inning, when Chisholm hit a long homer to right field, putting the Yankees ahead for the first time of the series. At 7-6, the game was over, given the Blue Jays had gone into offensive hibernation, and it was just a matter of finding out how lopsided the final score would be. The Yankees added another run almost immediately, as Wells hit a two-out single with Rosario on second base, but he did manage to get himself thrown out at second to end the inning. By now the Yankees were scoring at will, with Rice hitting a sacrifice fly off Brendon Little in the 7th, scoring Judge who had been walked intentionally with the bases empty, to make it 9-6. That was enough for them, as the Blue Jays went down in order once again in the 7th against Devin Williams, and David Bednar picked up one of the easiest saves of his career by retiring the final two batters in the 8th and three more without the Jays making a stir in the 9th. Meanwhile, the Yankees had had some pity on their mortally wounded foe, leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th, not that it made any difference.

Game 4 @ New Yankee Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Blue Jays	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	5	12	0
Yankees	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	1
WP: Seranthony Dominguez (1-0); LP: Cam Schlittler (0-1); SV: Jeff Hoffman (1)
Home Runs: NY - Ryan McMahon (1)

Attendance: 47,823

The Yankees had just about every advantage going for them heading into Game 4: they were the home team, in a ballpark where they had won five of seven games against Toronto so far this year; they had their hottest pitcher taking the mound in rookie Cam Schlittler, who was coming off a scintillating performance in the decisive game of the Wild Card Series; and the Blue Jays were forced to resort to a bullpen game because they had not included a fourth starter on their roster for the series - with a bullpen that had given up a total of 15 runs over the last two games. The Yankees had also played much better than the Blue Jays down the stretch, and had seemingly put the hiccup of the first two games of the series in Toronto behind them with a convincing win the night before. To say they were heavily favored to push the series back to Toronto would be an understatement: it looked like an absolute certainty as the game was about to start - and yet, the Yankees managed to lose the game and be eliminated, doubtless starting a winter of recrimination in the Bronx.

Schlittler, who had been nearly untouchable against the Boston Red Sox the week before, started off by giving up a double to George Springer on his second pitch. After one out, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. came to bat, and as he had done in all three games, he gave the Yankees nightmares. He did not need to hit a towering home run this time, just a single to right, but it was enough to score Springer and break Schlittler's shield of invulnerability. Addison Barger followed with another single, moving Guerrero to third and the Jays were on the verge of a big inning, but Schlittler got Alejandro Kirk to pop up and Daulton Varsho to fly out to limit the damage to a single run. The first of Toronto's parade of pitchers was Louie Varland (or Louis as he was now more frequently called) and he got over his nightmarish outing of the night before by getting a scoreless inning. Sure, Aaron Judge, who was completely unstoppable with the bat the entire series, got a base hit - it was his eighth in four games, and he would collect another one before the night was over -, but it was just a single and he was stranded without advancing as far as second base. The Jays went down in order in the 2nd, and in the bottom of the inning, Varland struck out Jazz Chisholm, who had homered off him in Game 3, and then hit Paul Goldschmidt with a pitch. That ushered in the first of many pitching changes, with Mason Fluharty replacing Varland. The fearless rookies struck out both Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe, and that was that. By now Schlittler had settled down after his 1st-inning troubles, and he reeled off another 1-2-3 inning. Ryan McMahon then led off the bottom of the 3rd with a homer against Fluharty, not being bothered by the fact he was a facing a lefty, against which he was normally platooned. It now looked like the Yankees were back where they should have been all along, the 1st inning having been just a bump in the road. However, contrary to Game 3, the home run did not create any momentum. Fluharty struck out Trent Grisham for the first out and Seranthony Dominguez came in to retire the next two batters, so the inning ended with the game tied, 1-1.

In the 4th, Barger led off with a double, but the Jays could not drive him in even if he made it to third base on a wild pitch, Anthony Santander ending the frame with a strikeout. Dominguez issued a lead-off walk to Giancarlo Stanton in the bottom of the inning, but he was quickly erased when Chisholm grounded into a double play started by Guerrero at 1B. In the 5th, however, the Jays took the lead again. It was a typical Blue Jays run, created by a string of batters putting the ball in play with good things resulting. In this particular case, Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez both singled, with Clement advancing to third and Springer hit a fly ball to CF for a sacrifice fly. Eric Lauer, one of the unsung heroes of the Jays' season as a jack-of-all-trades pitcher, was next to take the mound, and he put up a goose egg at exactly the right time, retiring all three batters he faced in order. Barger then had his third hit of the game off Schlittler to lead off the 6th, but he was erased on a double play grounder, before Lauer got the first two outs in the bottom of the inning, sandwiched around a bases-empty intentional walk to Judge, and Yariel Rodriguez got Chisholm to ground out after a second walk, to Stanton. The game was still extremely tight at 2-1, but the Blue Jays delivered the big blow in the 7th. Schlittler was still on the mound to start the inning - he had pitched very well in spite of striking out just two batters, something very characteristic of his opponents. He got the first out on a pop-up in foul territory by Santander on which McMahon made a great sliding catch. But Clement singled after that and Gimenez had one of the key at-bats of the series. He lined a scorching line drive back through the mound towards Chisholm, but the second baseman failed to catch it and was charged with an error, with Clement ending up on third base. On a side note, much more egregious errors had been ruled to be base hits at other times this postseason, so Gimenez got a bit of a raw deal from the official scorer, but that did not change the outcome. It was the end for Schlittler, replaced by Devin Williams, back in manager Aaron Boone's good graces after having been awful for a good stretch of the season. Williams struck out Springer for the second out, although Gimenez stole second base on the play, which turned out to be big as Nathan Lukes followed with a single to center, and both runners raced home to make it 4-1. Williams pitched around Guerrero and walked him, and then accomplished what Schlittler had failed to do: get Barger out, on a line drive to LF Cody Bellinger.

The Yankees now had three turns at bat left, and contrary to what had been expected, had not been able to do much against Toronto's unheralded relievers. It was more of the same against Brendon Little in the 7th as the Yankees were unable to take advantage of a lead-off walk to Goldschmidt and a two-out single by Amed Rosario, who was pinch-hitting for McMahon, never mind his homer against another lefty earlier in the game. Grisham ended the inning by popping up to Gimenez in foul territory. It was important to keep the Blue Jays from adding to their lead at this point, but Camilo Doval failed in this mission, giving up a lead-off double to Kirk, and then a long out to RF to Varsho - long enough that even the extremely slow-footed catcher could advance to third base. Myles Straw, who had just come in for Santander for defensive purposes, followed with a single and the Jays had themselves another important run. Doval continued to struggle, hitting Clement with a pitch, and closer David Bednar was summoned early to clean up his mess, but this was a must-win game and the Yankees really had to throw everything they had at the Blue Jays at this point. Bednar got Gimenez to hit into a force out and then struck out Springer to keep the Yankees within striking distance. And strike they almost did in the bottom of the 8th, against rookie Braydon Fisher. Fisher got the first two outs, striking out Judge and getting Bellinger to pop up. Stanton then singled and Chisholm drew a walk as Ben Rice was brought in to pinch hit for Goldschmidt. It was now John Schneider's turn to bring in his closer early, the highly-erratic Jeff Hoffman. He walked Rice to load the bases, but got Wells, representing the tying run, to fly out to Straw in left field to end the inning with the score still 5-1. Bednar then gave up a lead-off double to Lukes in the 9th, but the Yankees decided to face Guerrero this time, and got him to ground out to third, with Lukes staying put. Bednar then retired the next two batters. The Yankees had one more chance against Hoffman and Jasson Dominguez started things off on the right foot with a pinch double. However, Hoffman got Rosario to fly out and Grisham to ground out, so while Dominguez was now on third, the Yankees would have needed a couple more baserunners for Judge, who was up next, to have a chance to tie the score. He hit another single and collected another RBI, but it was literally too little too late. Hoffman then struck out Bellinger, and the game was over, with the Yankees having found a way to lose a game they should have won - and had had plenty of opportunities to win.