Yankees’ offensive futility painfully captured by brutal stat after 2 games vs. Rays

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Having Aaron Judge healthy and on the active roster must sound like the sweetest dream for the New York Yankees at the moment. The Yankees are now down 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS courtesy of a 5-2 loss in Game 2 on Monday, and it’s their offense that’s mostly to blame for this series deficit.

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After scoring a grand total of zero runs in Game 1, with the Rays taking a 1-0 victory in a strong duel between pitching staffs, the Yankees followed that up with a one-man show from Ben Rice in Game 2. Rice drove in both of the Yankees’ runs on the night via two long balls, and the rest of the New York’s hitters continued to run cold.

In particular, the middle of the Yankees order has been toothless without Judge. As Talkin’ Yanks on X pointed out, the team’s hitters from the three to seven spots, comprising of Luis Garcia Jr., Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr., Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Trent Grisham have combined to go hitless in 33 at-bats through the first two games of the ALDS.

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Baseball may be commonly known as a game of inches, but it is a game of timing as well. Hitters go through hot and cold streaks; such are the ebbs and flows of the sport. But when five of the hitters the Yankees rely on to produce runs all go missing at the same time, that is quite difficult to overcome.

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It did not help matters at all that the Yankees had four errors on the night. Of the Rays’ five runs on the night, only two counted as earned runs. New York is falling apart on almost all sides of the ball, and now, their season is on the verge of ending.

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It’s easy to think just how much more dangerous this Yankees offense would be had Judge been healthy enough to suit up in the ALDS. But with Judge out, now is the perfect time for them to not shrink the way they’ve done through the first two games of the series.

Related: Aaron Boone is confident Yankees can respond to ‘difficult times’ down 0-2 vs. Rays

Related: Rays on verge of eliminating Yankees with Game 2 ALDS domination

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