The Evil Empire is officially out.
The New York Yankees have been denied a fall baseball invitation for the first time in seven years, since 2016.
The Yankees lost 7-1 at home to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday at Yankee Stadium.
It was a tough outing for starter Carlos Rodon, who went 6 1/3 innings and gave up five runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk.
Arizona starter Zach Galle earned the win, going six innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out eight. Galle is 17-8 on the season with a 3.49 ERA and career-high 213 strikeouts, but the NL Cy Young Award is effectively a lock for the San Diego Padres’ Blake Snell (14-9, 2.33, 227 strikeouts), who leads both leagues in ERA.
Arizona jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh inning on Evan Longoria’s RBI double to center field that set up RBI singles by Tommy Pham and Christian Walker, then added a run in the bottom of the inning on an error by left fielder Isaiah Kainer-Palepa and back-to-back wild pitches by reliever Randy Vasquez to extend the lead to 5-0.
The Yankees managed just one run in the bottom of the ninth inning on an Aaron Judge grounder with the bases loaded, but their offense remained lethargic throughout the game.
At 78-77, the Yankees can’t catch the third wild-card spot, the Houston Astros, even if they win all seven of their remaining games. The Yankees missed the postseason in 2016, when they won 84 games and finished fourth in the AL East. However, in the six years between 2017 and last year, they won two division titles and four wild cards.
The Yankees have a 2.5-game lead over the last-place Boston Red Sox in the Eastern Division, so they will avoid the dreaded last-place finish for the first time in 33 years since 1990. But if they lose five or more of their remaining seven games, they will finish with a winning percentage below .500 for the first time in 31 years, since 1992.
The Yankees spent $573.5 million ($76.45 million) in free agency last winter, re-signing Judge to a nine-year, $360 million deal and adding lefty starter Rodon to a six-year, $162 million deal. But Rodon suffered an arm injury in spring training that sidelined him before the season even began, and even after returning on July 8, he struggled with erratic pitching before a hamstring injury kept him out of the rotation for a month.
Worse still was the injury to his jersey. He tore a ligament in the big toe in his right foot on June 4 when he crashed into the fence while catching a fly against the Los Angeles Dodgers, missing nearly two months before returning in late July. Of course, the explosiveness of last season, when he hit 62 home runs, was gone, and the team’s bats fell silent.온라인바카라
“It’s tough to take,” Judge told the AP and other local media outlets shortly after being eliminated from the postseason. I’ve played fall ball every year since I’ve been in New York. This offseason is going to be a little different. We’re going to have to work harder to get ready for next season.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone echoed the disappointment, saying, “It’s hard to accept because the guys worked so hard in the winter, in spring training, and into the season.”
This season, the Yankees had more problems at the plate than on the mound, as evidenced by their 29th-place team batting average (.226), 24th-place runs scored (4.17), and eighth-place team ERA (3.97). It has been reported that Boone and general manager Brian Cashman are likely to be fired after this season.