Updated October 8, 2026, 4:08 p.m. ET
NEW YORK — It was a microcosm of this American League Division Series.
In the bottom of the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium in Game 3, the sellout crowd of nearly 49,000 was eerily silent, waiting for something, anything, to happen as their beloved team trailed the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2.
Up to that point, in nearly three games of action, New York had scored four runs, but with two outs, the Bronx Bombers had a rare runner on base after George Lombard Jr. walked on five pitches.
Anthony Volpe came to the plate with two outs and drilled a 95 mph sinker from Rays reliever Griffin Jax that entered the middle of the plate and headed to left field, where Victor Mesa, Jr., who then provided the winning margin with his two-run home run in the top of the inning, returned to the wall to try to catch.
Instead, fans had flashbacks to 1996. Mesa’s attempt went awry after a fan went over the fence to catch the ball and was then escorted out of the stadium for his efforts. During that year’s American League Championship Series, 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached over the right-field wall to catch a ball hit by Derek Jeter, much to the dismay of Baltimore Orioles outfielder Tony Tarasco.
It’s a shame that video replay wouldn’t be available in MLB for another 12 years, when New York had a win in five games and then won the World Series.
This time, that luck would not come to pass, because as soon as the ball cleared the fence, the umpiring crew regrouped and immediately requested help from Major League Baseball’s Replay Operations Center, located about 11 miles from Yankee Stadium.
Volpe rounded the bases, touched home plate and entered the dugout, congratulated by his teammates, only to be called back to second base moments later after an umpire’s review ruled spectator interference. Lombard, Jr. scored on the play, but the Yankees never got closer to the final score.
Get ALCS tickets“After observing all relevant angles, the replay official definitively determined that the spectator interfered with the ball on the field of play. The ball would not have left the field of play and would not have been caught,” the MLB replay center later said in its explanation.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he had no problem with the call and felt the umpires understood the call correctly.
Game 3 reeked of desperation from the moment Boone announced his lineup. Jazz Chisholm was on the bench and Trent Grisham took the starting spot.
In the eighth inning, still trailing by one run, the oft-injured Giancarlo Stanton was called upon to try to add a spark, making his second appearance since April 24 after a calf injury. But he struck out in his only at-bat of the evening.
The bottom of the order couldn’t get anything going with Bryan Baker, who saved all three games of the series, sending the Rays back to Tampa Bay for their third LCS appearance against the Cleveland Guardians or Chicago White Sox after striking out Grisham to end the game.
The team will look for answers again this offseason, with a tentative home game on March 25 against the Toronto Blue Jays – that might not happen.
But in this case, the stats don’t lie: New York scored five runs in the ALDS, hit an abysmal .130 with a .192 on-base percentage, and batted .239.
Boone, who said he wants to become a manager next year and be under contract, took about 30 minutes to meet with the media after the game, and the disappointment was evident from the second he opened his mouth.
“But for us, there’s just no easy solution. It’s a broken clubhouse. This is what you go through as a team, as a family over the last eight, nine months to prepare, and there’s just – it’s the worst part.” » said Boone. “So you go through a lot as a group and then it’s just a sudden end. It’s the worst feeling in the world. You know, again, offering that perspective with all due respect. And I have this perspective that we’re playing a game. I understand that.
“But that doesn’t take away the pain of the end, you know, and I hope that’s something that continues to fuel the guys who are going through this for the first time and then those of us who have been through it a lot.”
The Yankees’ problem certainly wasn’t pitching, and they’ll have to figure out what to do with Grisham and Chisholm, who will become free agents at the end of the season.
Unless something drastic happens, there shouldn’t be a scenario where these two players are back in pinstripes in 2027, as three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge, who didn’t appear in a game after September 16 and only played in 66 games all year, will most certainly be healthy whenever baseball decides to get its house in order. But Judge turns 35 in April, and Stanton turns 37 next month and could be entering the final year of his 13-year, $325 million contract, which includes a club option for 2028.
“We’re the Yankees. I feel like they (the front office) should go all-in and do what they need to do. If we have some holes, if it’s finding certain players or staff, whatever we need, you have to go out there and get it,” Judge said.
The emergence of 27-year-old Ben Rice, who has hit a team-leading 41 homers, will form a power trio once his two hitting teammates are back at full strength.
So the Yankees are back to the drawing board, with calls for change once again echoing loudly until they end a championship drought that has now lasted 17 years.
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