In one night, the Yankees watched their division title dreams vanish and their hopes of hosting the first round of the playoffs dwindle.
Luke Voit was not about to sugarcoat anything.
“It was not Yankee baseball at all,” Voit said following the Yankees' 14-1 loss to the Blue Jays at Sahlen Field in Buffalo on Wednesday night. “Everything was bad. It was like we’re the Bad News Bears.”
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With the loss, the Yankees stayed stuck in the fifth seed of the playoff picture, which meant they weren’t in line to host the Wild Card round, which starts Tuesday. They were two games behind the fourth-place White Sox, who had been jumped by the Twins atop the American League Central.
The Rays also clinched the American League East crown with a win over the Phillies.
It all happened as a result of a terrible performance at one of the worst times possible.
The Yankees committed four errors to give them 43 on the season, the second-most in baseball. Starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka lasted just four innings and his bullpen blew up behind him. And the bats faltered: The Yankees failed to score in the fifth inning, when they loaded the bases with no outs.
“I feel like was a lot of mental mistakes all across the board tonight,” Voit said.
“Just not what you want going into the playoffs. I’m not worried about this team at all. It’s just one of those games where you’ve got to throw it out the window, put it in the rearview mirror and keep plugging.”
He added, “It’s frustrating and then you’ve just got to look yourself in the mirror and suck it up. This stuff that happens to like younger players and minor-leaguers and tonight was a night that they got the best of us and, like I said, it’s going to happen. But we need to lock it in. We have four games to get locked and loaded for whoever we play next Tuesday.”
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Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.