Is there anything better than watching the New York Yankees self-implode? You thought Game 5 of the 2024 World Series was the best, when the Yankees led 5-0 in the fifth inning then self-destructed by allowing five runs to score on a number of errors and just stupid plays.

It got better. Last night, the Yankees committed four errors (five if they hadn’t have felt sorry for them and changed the official scoring later in the game to a non-error).

They’ve just played fundamentally bad baseball. In Game 1, down 1-0, being no-hit into the eighth inning, catcher Austin Wells finally gets the first Yankee hit, a double off the wall. But for some reason he decides he has to turn it into a triple. He’s a catcher. He was thrown out by ten feet at third, ending the only threat they had.

Then in Game 2, they just fell apart. The first Tampa Bay batter reached on an error by the third baseman. He’s singled to second. Then a throwing error on what they had hoped would be a double play to end the inning instead turns into a run. The next batter reached on catcher’s interference. 

All in all, it was sloppy baseball for the Yankees, who scored two runs due to two Ben Rice homers, who had half the Yankees four hits in a 5-2 loss. Now the Tampa Bay Rays head to New York up 2-0, with every game an elimination game. The way the Yankees are playing, they will eliminate themselves.

And that makes playoff baseball even more glorious.

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