Kansas City defeats struggling Yankees
All four matchups in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason division series (three wins out of five) ended with a tie of 1 win, 1 loss until the second game.
In Game 2 of the American League (AL) Division Series on the 8th, the New York Yankees and Cleveland, the teams that won Game 1, lost to Kansas City and Detroit, respectively. In Game 2 of the National League (NL) Division Series the previous day, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, the teams that won Game 1, lost to San Diego and Philadelphia, respectively. This is the first time in the history of the MLB Division Series that no team was able to secure two wins until Game 2.
Aaron Judge (Yankees), who continued his postseason sluggish jinx by going silent with no hits in four at-bats in Game 1 of the Division Series, reported his first hit of the postseason (1 hit in 3 at-bats, 1 walk) on this day. However, it did not prevent the team from losing 2-4. Judge had a total of 7 at bats, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts, 2 walks, and no RBI in games 1 and 2. Judge’s overall OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) in the regular league reaches 1.010, but he is not able to use his strength in the postseason. Judge’s postseason career batting average is 0.208 and OPS is 0.760.
On the same day, Detroit won 3-0 over Cleveland thanks to Kerry Carpenter’s three-run home run that broke the 0-0 score in the 9th inning. On the mound, starting pitcher Tarik Skubal pitched well, giving up only three hits and striking out eight over seven innings. The statistics are slightly favorable to lower-seeded teams that play the 3rd and 4th games at home. So far, the team that started the division series as a visiting game, tied 1 win, 1 loss, and returned home has a 66% chance of winning the series (29 out of 44 advances).
Reporter Lim Bomi bom@donga.com