NEW YORK — The Yankees returned to the Bronx with their season reduced to one night and almost no offense to defend. Two games against the Tampa Bay Rays have produced two runs, five hits and a 2-0 deficit in the American League Division Series. Game 3 is Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, where another loss would end a season coming off a two-game Wild Card Series sweep of Boston.
The contrast has been severe. Drew Rasmussen held the Yankees to one hit in a 1-0 Game 1 loss at Tropicana Field. Austin Wells’ eighth-inning double was New York’s only hit before he was thrown out trying to reach third. Rasmussen earned the win, Gerrit Cole took the loss and Bryan Baker recorded the save.
Game 2 brought more traffic, but little relief. Ben Rice hit two solo home runs in a 5-2 loss, while the Yankees committed four errors, including three in the first inning. Tampa Bay broke a 1-1 tie with four runs in the fifth. Cam Booser earned the win, Cam Schlittler took the loss and Baker picked up his second save.
The Yankees used the same starting nine in both games. Eight of the nine hitters batted left-handed, with George Lombard Jr. the only right-handed bat. Outside Rice and Wells, Yankees hitters are 1-for-46 in the series. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ryan McMahon are a combined 0-for-9, and both were directly involved in the first-inning defensive breakdown Monday.
That is a jarring fall for an offense that finished the regular season second in MLB with 223 home runs, sixth with a .409 slugging percentage and tied for ninth with 739 runs. The Yankees also scored 18 runs in two Wild Card Series wins over Boston. Now they face a Rays team that won the AL East and has not trailed in this series.
Boone reaches decision point after two unchanged lineups
That is where Aaron Boone’s patience appears to have reached its October limit. After considering changes before Game 2 and ultimately running back the same lineup, the Yankees manager said Tuesday that multiple possibilities are now under active consideration for the elimination game.
“Yeah. I’m considering a couple things,” Boone said. “But I haven’t settled on anything. I’ll kind of work through that through the day and talk to some of my coaches and make a decision, hopefully tonight on which way I want to go.”
Boone separated the losses. Rasmussen controlled Game 1, while the Yankees created more chances in Game 2 and forced Freddy Peralta out. Cody Bellinger’s bases-loaded at-bat produced hard contact but no hit.
The most obvious pressure points are second base and third base. Anthony Volpe and José Caballero can cover either spot, giving Boone alternatives to Chisholm and McMahon. Volpe also went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt in his lone Wild Card Series start against Boston.
Martinez’s splits make a right-handed shakeup more than a message
A Game 3 change would not have to be framed only as punishment for two poor games. Nick Martinez’s 2026 splits provide a baseball reason for Boone to alter the Yankees’ left-heavy look. The right-hander finished 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA over 180 innings. Right-handed hitters batted .267 against him, compared with .236 for left-handed hitters, and his ERA split was 3.41 against righties and 2.89 against lefties.
That gap matters because the Yankees opened each of the first two ALDS games with eight left-handed hitters. Boone can move toward the other side with Volpe, Caballero, Paul Goldschmidt or Heliot Ramos without changing the 26-man roster. New York carried 15 position players for the series, giving Boone room for more than one adjustment. Amed Rosario, who started in the Wild Card Series, is not on the Yankees’ ALDS roster.
Giancarlo Stanton is another possibility if Boone decides the need for damage outweighs the defensive tradeoff. Stanton is 0-for-1 in this series after returning as a pinch hitter in Game 1. Starting him at designated hitter would likely push Rice to first base and force another lineup decision elsewhere.
The decision now carries a defensive test, too
Boone’s choice is not only about finding a hit. McMahon booted a routine ground ball to open Game 2, Chisholm made a wild throw later in the inning and Wells was charged with catcher’s interference. The Rays put pressure on the Yankees by forcing the ball into play, and New York repeatedly gave away extra outs.
The public pressure around the Yankees has climbed with the series deficit. YES Network broadcaster Michael Kay, reacting Tuesday to the Game 2 performance, put the frustration in fan terms.
“If you’re a real Yankee fan, and you watched your team not perform, how could you not be totally chapped?” Kay said.
Game 3 leaves no room for another trial run
The Yankees will still need Max Fried and the pitching staff to keep Game 3 within reach, but the immediate question is whether Boone finally changes the lineup that has generated five hits in 18 innings. Fried is scheduled to face Martinez at 8 p.m. ET. Teams that won the first two home games of a Division Series under the current 2-2-1 format have advanced 33 of 36 times. The last team to erase an 0-2 best-of-five deficit was the 2017 Yankees.
Boone’s final lineup had not been posted as of Wednesday morning. The choice is no longer a routine platoon adjustment or minor postseason tweak. With the Yankees facing elimination at Yankee Stadium, every name Boone moves into or out of the order will become part of the club’s last attempt to keep its season alive.
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