3 hours ago
2
The Toronto Blue Jays brutally rubbed salt in the wound as they celebrated their series victory and ended the New York Yankees' season in misery yet again on Wednesday night.
Despite saving face and narrowly avoiding a sweep with a Game 3 comeback win, the Pinstripes were unable to completely salvage the American League Division Series in the Bronx.
Aaron Judge and co. suffered a 5-2 defeat to the Blue Jays in a do-or-die Game 4 to send them packing from the MLB playoffs.
The result sees Toronto win the series 3-1 and advance to the ALCS for the first time in nine years, while New York's season ends in yet another bitter end, just one year removed from their crushing five-game World Series defeat.
The knockout loss, which marks the 16th straight year without a 28th ring for the Yankees, sent New York fans into a meltdown.
Yankees supporters immediately flooded social media with calls for manager Aaron Boone to be fired in what has become somewhat of an annual post-defeat postseason tradition for the Bronx Bombers.
The New York Yankees were eliminated from the postseason by the Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays won the crucial Game 4 5-2 to take the series 3-1 and advance to the ALCS
'Fire Boone,' one blunt fan pleaded, while another called for a host of Pinstripes to be axed, adding: 'I hope they get rid of the manager, GM, SS and that big mouth 2nd baseman.'
'What’s the excuse going to be this year for failing again and still keeping Boone and Cashman…,' another said.
A fourth chimed in: 'Wow [Jasson] Dominguez bats 1.000 in the postseason. An extra base hit and run scored... nice move Boone... #moron.'
'Get Aaron Boone the f*** out of New York,' another piled on.
Judge hit .500 (13 for 25) with seven RBIs and four walks in seven postseason games, including .600 (9 for 15) with one homer, six RBIs and four walks against the Blue Jays.
But ultimately the six-foot-seven slugger remained without a World Series win yet again as the Yankees' drought extended to 16 years.
Meanwhile, Vladamir Guerrero Jr and co. launched into raucous on-field celebrations which continued into the visitors' clubhouse, where they ruthlessly piled the misery on the Yankees.
As the Blue Jays popped champagne bottles and let beer spray around the locker room, they added insult to injury by blasting Frank Sinatra's 'New York, New York' - the Yankees' signature song.
The Toronto Blue Jays broke into raucous celebrations in the visitors' clubhouse
The Blue Jays blasted Frank Sinatra's 'New York, New York' - the Yankees' signature song
Blue Jays manager John Schneider rounded off his victory speech with the iconic lyrics
Blue Jays manager John Schneider piled on the misery as he rounded off his victory speech with the iconic lyrics.
'Start spreading the news, b****s,' he cried out before spraying his players in booze.
The Yankees traditionally played the song following every home game before changing the custom this season to inly after winning results at Yankee Stadium.
Guerrero celebrated New York's nightmare with Red Sox legend David Ortiz on the Fox broadcast as the duo broke into chants of 'Da Yankees lose,' during the first baseman's locker room interview.
Yankees fans' misery had begun long before the final out with one becoming the face of frustration for the entire fanbase.
With Anthony Volpe at bat and the Yankees trailing 4-1 in the seventh, one man appeared to hit breaking point.
He was caught on the FS1 broadcast rising to his feet and repeatedly miming bat swings as he pleaded with the shortstop to spark some life into the offense.
'Swing the f***ing bat,' he appeared to shout after Volpe had two strikes called against him.
Jeff Hoffman (L) forces out Trent Grisham at first base during the bottom of the ninth inning
His desperate pleas were to no avail. Volpe did eventually swing at the final pitch but he missed, marking his third strikeout of the game.
Meanwhile, director and renowned New York sports fan Spike Lee, who is often spotted at Knicks games, was seens slumped in his seat in the lower bowl with a look of pure disdain on his face as his team continued to implode on the field.
Running at first base when Cody Bellinger ended the game with a strikeout, Judge walked slowly toward the Yankees dugout and turned his head to watch the Blue Jays celebrate on New York's infield.
Now 33 and perhaps on the verge of his third AL MVP award, Judge has had eight unfulfilling trips to the playoffs in 10 big league seasons.
Instead of moving alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Derek Jeter in adding to a the Yankees' championship collection, Judge remains in the same category as Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield - known for the absence of ice on their fingers during their time in the Bronx.
Judge looked grim when he walked back to the dugout after striking out in his final at-bat of the year.
Judge won his first AL batting title by hitting .331 with 114 RBIs and 53 home runs - reaching 50 for the fourth time. He is on a Hall of Fame track with a .294 career average and 368 homers, and he has a .235 postseason average with 16 homers and 41 RBIs in 65 games.
A year after an AL East title and a five-game World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees had a winning record for the 33rd straight season but finished second to Toronto in the division and rallied to win their best-of-three Wild Card Series against Boston after losing the opener.
New York was outscored 34-19 by the Blue Jays and outhomered 9-4, a surprise for an offense that led the major leagues with 274 homers and scored a big league high 50.2% of its runs on long balls, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
And just like last year , defense precipitated the demise. Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. allowed Andrés Giménez's grounder to skip off his glove for an error instead of turning it into an inning-ending double play, and Nathan Lucas hit a two-out, two-run single off Devin Williams for a 4-1 lead in the seventh.
More to follow.
