Captain blames team as Yankees lose ALDS 5-2 to Blue Jays: ‘Didn’t do our job’
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Follow UsNEW YORK — The Yankees season came to an abrupt end Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, falling 5-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 4 of the American League Division Series.
A crowd of 47,823 watched in silence as the Blue Jays celebrated on New York’s home field. Toronto’s win ended the Yankees’ postseason hopes and extended another year without a championship.
“We didn’t do our job; didn’t finish the goal,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said after the defeat. “We had a special group in here, a lot of special players that made this year fun. But we didn’t get the ultimate prize, so we came up short.”
The loss capped a frustrating ALDS where Toronto took the series 3-1, once again proving to be a roadblock for the Yankees in 2025.
Yankees offense goes silent against bullpen game
Coming off an emotional comeback victory in Game 3, the Yankees hoped to carry momentum into Wednesday’s matchup. Instead, their offense was stifled by a Blue Jays bullpen game that used eight different relievers.
New York managed just six hits all night. The Yankees went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 on base. Each of the middle innings — the sixth, seventh, and eighth — ended with multiple runners left stranded.
The turning point came in the eighth inning. With the bases loaded and Austin Wells representing the tying run, he flew out softly to left field on the first pitch. The rally fizzled, and so did the New York Yankees’ postseason hopes.
“We didn’t execute when we needed to,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “The importance of each game. The importance of mistakes. The importance of good at-bats in big moments. Timely at-bats. Timely pitches. We just didn’t do it as well as they did.”
Ryan McMahon gave the Yankees an early spark with a solo home run in the third inning off lefty Mason Fluharty, tying the score 1-1. Aaron Judge added an RBI single in the ninth to drive in pinch hitter Jasson Dominguez, but by then the game was out of reach at 5-1.
Schlittler delivers quality start but not dominance
Yankees rookie ace Cam Schlittler turned in a solid outing but lacked the overpowering stuff that defined his previous start. Pitching on short rest, he held the Blue Jays to four runs, two earned, over 6.1 innings. He allowed eight hits, walked none, and struck out two.
It was a far cry from his electric Wild Card Game 3 performance, where he fanned 12 and dominated Boston over eight shutout innings. Against Toronto, the Yankees rookie faced a lineup that rarely swings and misses, forcing him to grind through every at-bat.
Toronto wasted no time. George Springer doubled on the second pitch of the game, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with an RBI single. Schlittler got ahead 0-2 but repeated a cutter that Guerrero lined just inside the foul line for the first run.
The Yankees right hander then settled down, working through the next three innings unscathed. In the fifth, though, Ernie Clement led off with a single and Andres Gimenez followed with another. George Springer’s sacrifice fly brought Clement home, giving Toronto a 2-1 lead.
Schlittler’s fastball velocity dipped slightly from his previous outing, and Toronto’s contact-heavy approach punished every missed spot. Yankees manager Aaron Boone kept faith in his young pitcher through the seventh, but that’s when everything unraveled.
Seventh-inning error opens floodgates
The inning started with Clement’s third hit of the night. Then Andres Gimenez hit a routine one-hopper to second base. Jazz Chisholm Jr. appeared set for a double play, but the ball skipped off his glove and rolled into center field. The error opened the door for the Blue Jays to knock out the Yankees.
“I didn’t think it was gonna play the way it played,” the Yankees infielder said. “I’ve been thinking about that since the play happened. Still thinking about it now. Can’t get it out of my head, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to move on eventually. I’ve got three months to move on now.”
Boone replaced Schlittler with Devin Williams, who was making his season debut. After striking out Springer, the Yankees reliever gave up a two-run single to Nathan Lukes, extending Toronto’s lead to 4-1. Both runners were charged to Schlittler.
“I’m still going to be thinking about this, even probably when the season starts next year,” Chisholm added.
The Blue Jays added another insurance run in the eighth to make it 5-1 before Judge’s ninth-inning single offered a cosmetic finish for the Yankees.
Guerrero and Blue Jays lineup dominate
Schlittler’s effort kept the Yankees competitive, but Toronto’s offense dictated the pace. Guerrero went 2-for-4 and finished the series batting .529 with three home runs and nine RBIs in four games. Ernie Clement matched him with nine hits, producing an incredible .643 average.
“They hit the crap out of the ball,” catcher Austin Wells said. “They didn’t miss and they took advantage of every free base we gave them.”
Judge continued his postseason tear, going 2-for-4 Wednesday to finish 13-for-26 with a .500 average across seven playoff games. Yet one player’s performance couldn’t make up for a Yankees lineup that repeatedly fell short in clutch moments.
Closer Jeff Hoffman struck out Cody Bellinger to end the game, triggering Toronto’s on-field celebration and sending the Yankees to another bitter offseason.
Bitter ending for championship hopefuls
The Yankees finished the regular season with 94 wins but lost the AL East title to the Blue Jays on a tiebreaker. That forced them into the Wild Card round, where they advanced only to meet their division rival again.
“The ending’s the worst, right?” Boone said. “Especially when you know you have a really good group and a group of guys that really came together so well at the right time, the final couple months. This was a team that played for one another, did a lot of really good things, and we got beat here.”
For the most successful franchise in baseball history, the championship drought now stretches to 16 years.
“You play to win,” Yankees captain Judge said. “When you don’t win, it’s not a good year.”
The 2025 Yankees had the talent, pitching depth, and leadership to contend. But against Toronto, every missed chance and defensive lapse proved costly, repeating a familiar theme that defined their postseason heartbreak.
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