There’s still a game to go, and that likely isn’t good news for these Yankees. Through three games — all defeats — the Yankees are showing no indication they belong on the same field with the Dodgers, much less in a World Series with anyone.
The questions that must be asked now: Did they win a league that was unusually weak? And did we all (myself included) overrate them?
The Dodgers are killing them, and keep in mind LA is doing it with only three starting pitchers — one with an alleged lower-back concern that scared off these very Yankees, one who returned from shoulder woes and a third (Walker Buehler) who’d won only one game since returning midseason from his second Tommy John surgery — that is before shutting the Yankees down in the Dodgers’ 4-2 Game 3 win.
The actual good news is that, assuming the Yankees don’t become the first team to win the World Series after losing the first three games, there is nothing to regret in terms of one bad decision or call. All indications are the Yankees are not the caliber of a World Series winner.
The Yankees should win Tuesday in Game 4 with the depleted Dodgers employing a dreaded bullpen game against uber-talented Luis Gil. But who knows anymore?
These Yankees were supposed to possess an immense rotation advantage — of course, LA has five starters who range from good to all-time great out with various injuries — yet LA’s starter won the last two matchups in overwhelming fashion. Neither Game 3 starter Clarke Schmidt nor Carlos Rodon made it into the fourth.
Luis Severino months ago jokingly trash-talked the Yankees by text, telling them they had “two hitters,” and he might be right. He just had the wrong two. It’s Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton now. Aaron Judge continued his unreal October funk.
This obviously isn’t the real Judge, who still stands as an all-time great.
But we probably need to reevaluate this team. It won 94 games, but it feels like the Yankees did it in a much inferior league. Does anyone doubt the Dodgers played two much better teams — the Padres and Mets — to get here?
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
- Heyman: Yankees crumbling in World Series raises uncomfortable questions
- Yankees decide on Game 4 starter after Gerrit Cole hesitance
- Sherman: Dodgers exposing the Yankees in every way
- Vaccaro: Yankees only have one hope to pull off Red Sox-like miracle
Let’s not forget, those Mets, allegedly a team in transition, beat the Yankees four for four.
It’s time to face the reality that this is a flawed Yankees team, a team whose lineup lacks true depth, a team that runs the bases poorly, a team that doesn’t do any little things. In these three games, they didn’t do big things, either.
The Yankees took 15 years to get back to the World Series, and when they finally arrived, they look like they don’t belong.