If Yankees lose AL East to Blue Jays, it'll be because of sloppiness they just showed
If they tried, they would have made a throwing error and hit the CN Tower anyway.
Or at least that's how it seemed after the Yankees bumbled through a four-error, 8-4 defeat by the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night at the hostile Rogers Centre — the type of ugliness that sparks worst-loss-of-the-year talk.
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If the Yankees lose the division to the Blue Jays, a big reason will be because they didn't show up when it mattered the most, beating themselves just as much — if not more — than Toronto beat them.
'We've got a lot of things we've got to clean up,' right fielder Aaron Judge said.
'We've got to go out there and believe that we're really good,' starting pitcher Max Fried said.
What is going on???? pic.twitter.com/sCuPjYPIs7
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 24, 2025
The Yankees (56-46) find themselves in a rough spot after falling in two of three games versus Toronto (60-42). They're four games back of the first-place Blue Jays — a game farther back than they were when the series started Monday, when they had hopes of potentially returning to the States nearly tied for the top of the AL East. (The Blue Jays entered the series owning the tiebreaker.)
The worst of it came Wednesday when they looked inept in support of Fried, who pitched OK despite getting tagged with four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.
They made two errors in the fifth inning, another in the sixth and one more in the seventh. They threw two balls away (Fried, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.) and booted two others (left fielder Jasson Domínguez, first baseman Ben Rice). They lost a fly ball in the sky (right fielder Cody Bellinger) and they let a gapper bounce over their head for a double (Domínguez), though it didn't net them another error.
They finished their season 1-6 in Toronto. Overall, they're 3-7 versus the Blue Jays, making an astounding 12 total errors along the way. The Yankees made at least one error in six of the seven games at Rogers Centre.
Manager Aaron Boone said the Yankees simply were 'not good enough,' though he added that the Yankees have a 'very good defensive club.' Going into Wednesday, the Yankees were sixth in baseball in total defensive runs saved with 33, according to FanGraphs. They were 17th in Outs Above Average with minus-4, according to Baseball Savant.
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'I think it's here, and in this building, we haven't played well,' Boone said.
He didn't know why.
'I don't know if it's just coming to the turf,' he said. 'That's not really an excuse. Same game. But obviously, I think in these series and we gave too many outs, and it cost us.'
Sloppiness was a problem in the other games, too. Two runs followed shortstop Anthony Volpe's sixth-inning throwing error in the Yankees' win Tuesday. Runs also scored after third baseman Oswald Peraza and Volpe made back-to-back throwing errors in the fifth inning Monday, contributing to the loss.
The Yankees were swept in four games in Toronto from June 30 to July 3. Blame Canada? No, Boone said he didn't think the pressure-packed atmosphere of facing their division rival on the road had been a major factor.
'We've got to obviously tighten it up,' he said. 'Confident we will. We'll continue to work at it. We have good defenders here, but tonight was obviously a rough night for us.'
Judge was asked whether Yankees players needed to look in the mirror or whether there was a team-wide issue.
'I think it's just all about everybody collectively saying, 'I've got to step up, focus more and just go out there and do my job,'' he said. 'That's what it comes down to. Just do your job.'
The Yankees held a season-high seven-game lead in the division May 28, looking poised to run away with it through the summer.
Since then, they have had spurts of inconsistency in every facet of their game, and they haven't figured out why.
A saving grace for the Yankees? The expanded playoffs. The Yankees were still two games up for the top wild-card spot, and the trade deadline is next week. General manager Brian Cashman has already said publicly that he would be looking to make upgrades at third base and in the starting rotation and bullpen.
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'Look, obviously, we've had two crappy series here, there's no way around it,' Boone said. 'So maybe we'll get a chance to come back here at some point and flip that script. This is a place over the years where we've actually played pretty well. As frustrating as it is, and as pissed off as you are when we don't play our best against a team ahead of us, you obviously have to understand that it's a series, and you've got to keep moving.'
They better. If the Yankees don't keep moving, they'll keep sinking, along with their dream of winning the AL East, all the way to the bottom of Lake Ontario.
(Photo of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and George Springer: Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)
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