Stepping on Necks

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Let’s take you back to September 13th. On that day, the Yankees beat the Red Sox in Fenway Park and Jazz Chisholm Jr. was talking Jazz Trash.

“We’re the best team in the league,’’ Jazz proclaimed. “Any team that thinks they’re better than us, they should know that when we step on the field, we’re coming with relentlessness. We’re coming to step on necks. We’re not here to play around.’’

Somebody better tell that to the Blue Jays.

These Blue Jays aren’t the powder-puff Red Sox, who, despite their many weaknesses, would have knocked the Yankees out of the wild-card round if they knew how to catch a fly ball and run the bases.

I found it curious why Jazz would make such a bulletin board comment when it was the Blue Jays in first place in the AL East, three games ahead of the Yankees. That was a “We’re coming for you Jays,’’ statement.

Ironically that day Max Fried was the winning pitcher and Luke Weaver came out of the bullpen to put out the fire. Flash forward three weeks and the Yankees got slaughtered by the Blue Jays for the second straight day in the ALDS. Toronto holds a 2-0 lead and one more Jays win and the Yankees will be sent home, and it will be the Blue Jays in the ALCS.

On Sunday, the Yankees, Giants and Jets all had their necks stepped on – a New York Nightmare.

Popkins looks at his hitters as a golfer looks at his bag, there are a lot of clubs in there that have to be used to win.

It is the Blue Jays who are stepping on the Yankees’ necks the first two games of the series at the Rogers Centre. They won game 1, 10-1 Saturday, and stormed out to a 12-0 lead on Sunday finishing with a 13-7 victory. It wasn’t really that close.

This was Trey Day; rookie right-handler Trey Yesavage, who started the season in A Ball completely dominated the Yankees. The only one who could stop Yesavage was his manager, John Schneider. Yesavege pitched 5.1 innings of no-hit ball, striking out a Blue Jays postseason record 11 hitters over that short span. The 22-year-old masterfully used his devastating split-change and the Yankees hitters wound up swinging at air.

The Yankees have 21 strikeouts over the first two games of this series; the Blue Jays, who went full contact offense this season, have only seven. During the regular season, the Blue Jays had the second-fewest strikeouts in the majors with 1099 while only the Rockies and Angels had more strikeouts than the Yankees with 1493.

I foreshadowed the Blue Jays’ hitting success this postseason in a column here at BallNine in mid-July, noting, “The Blue Jays have labeled their hitting approach under new hitting coach David Popkins as Selective Aggression.’’

I love that term: Selective Aggression.

What it means is that sometimes you sell out for power, but it is vital to put the ball in play and that is how the Blue Jays have dominated the Yankees. Of course, you have to have hitters who can make contact to make it all work. Popkins looks at his hitters as a golfer looks at his bag, there are a lot of clubs in there that have to be used to win.

Every October we see Contact is King. Yet the Nerds go all in for the swing from your ass hitter every time. Yes, home runs are vital, and Vlad Guerrero Jr. is showing that, but it is great to create runs in a variety of ways. In some ways the Blue Jays are like the Brewers over in the NL, but with more power. They hit five homers Sunday.

Let’s get back to the rookie Yesavage who was 100 percent savage against Aaron Boone’s team – hitters he has labeled as savages.

On Saturday Yesavage said, “I’m built for this.’’

On Sunday he amended that, saying after the big win, “We’re built for this.’’

He was built for history on Sunday.

In another era of baseball, Yesavage might have had an October no-hitter or one of the most dominating starts in the history of October baseball, but we are not there anymore. And that is so frustrating for fans like me who saw Bob Gibson and others dominate in October.

After only 78 pitches – 78 – Blue Jays manager John Schneider yanked Yesavage with the idea of having him primed and ready for his next start.

Could you imagine trying to take Bob Gibson out with a no-hitter in the sixth inning with 11 strikeouts on the scoreboard?

No, you can’t.

With Yesavage getting a curtain call from the Toronto fans, the Yankees piled on seven runs against cannon fodder relievers. Finally, a nervous Schneider had to bring two of his better relievers Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez to safely get the final six outs – and fittingly the game ended with Giancarlo Stanton taking a wild strike three swing with two runners on base.

Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s power bat has come alive against the Yankees, he loves to beat the Yankees; he blasted a grand slam in the fourth inning, and the grand slam bat flip was worth watching, too. That is when you bat flip, a grand slam in October. The $500 million man is the heartbeat of the Blue Jays, the leader of this Wrecking Crew. This was the first grand slam in Blue Jays playoff history.

Daulton Varsho, a really good player who always seems to be hurt, blasted two home runs and a double as he picked up four hits. Ernie Clement – one of those different clubs in the bag for the Blue Jays – got the party started with a two-run home run, which brings us to another Yankees problem.

Most concerning for the Pinstripes is that their $218 million lefty Max Fried was smacked around in yet another playoff game, being hammered for eight hits and seven runs in only three innings of work. My friend Mark Bowman of Atlanta pointed out that Fried has lasted four innings or less in four of his past five playoff starts. Yikes.

And don’t forget, Aaron Boone pulled Fried from his last playoff start, the Game 1, 3-1 loss to the Red Sox in the wild-card series after only one out in the seventh with Fried throwing a shutout so the Nerd move there did not pay off in the moment – Luke Weaver lost the lead – and it did not pay off in the future, with Fried being slammed all around Rogers Centre on Sunday.

Now it’s onto the Bronx where the Yankees will have to win both games, Carlos Rodon the season is on your back now in Game 3; win that and then win Game 4 and then come back to Rogers Centre and beat Yesavage and the Blue Jays in Game 5 if they want to make it back to the ALCS.

These 2025 playoffs are a much different animal than last year’s playoffs when all the Yankees had to do was take care of business against the Royals in the ALDS and the Guardians in the ALCS, two AL Central lightweights financially and in the batter’s box to get to the World Series.

The Blue Jays spent the money to keep Vlad Jr. forever and this is his chance to show he is worth that $500 million. His presence helped the Blue Jays lead the majors in hitting with runners in scoring position during the regular season with an amazing .292 mark. Their overall .265 batting average was the top batting average in baseball as well.

More successful Selective Aggression.

Let’s not forget that the Blue Jays are 8-1 against the Yankees this season in the Rogers Centre with a plus-39 run differential. That is the definition of Selective Aggression.

This series also got off to a war of words start when Aaron Boone brought up Blue Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez’ remarks about his team, saying, “Contrary to some thoughts up here, we’re a really good team,’’ Boone said on Friday. “I know Buck had some thoughts. That’s all I was responding to. He’s wrong.’’

Martinez, a former major league catcher and manager, called out the Yankees when he said, “The Yankees, they’re not a good team. I don’t care what their record is.’’

So far, Buck is dead right as the Yankees’ 1-8 (0-2 in the ALDS) record in Toronto shows. Jazz Jr. is dead wrong so far with his proclamation: “We’re the best team in the league … We’re coming to step on necks.’’

Jazz is 1-for-8 in the series.

The Yankees found their rookie pitching star in Cam Schlittler in Game 3 against the Red Sox. The Blue Jays found their rookie star Trey Yesavage in Game 2 of the ALDS on Sunday, when he shut down the highest-scoring offense in baseball.

“The kid started in A-Ball this year and just did that against that lineup,’’ Schneider mused after the game. “I know I was getting booed when I went out there but he wasn’t going to go 120-130 pitches. I just wanted him to kind of get recognized for a job well done. I was joking with (my coaches) wish me luck I’m going out there.’’

As for the dynamic offense, Schneider said, “I thought our bats were tremendous against (Fried). He’s one of the best in the league. We kind of just took what we got.’’

Selective Aggression and a kid pitcher have the Yankees on the brink for the second straight series, but instead of two straight wins, they now have to string three in a row to survive against a team much better than the Red Sox.

“It feels like the world is caving around you,’’ Boone said. “You lose two games like that in their building where it doesn’t go right but all of a sudden you go out there and win a ballgame on Tuesday; the needle can change. There has been a lot of weird things that have happened in baseball this year, this would not be the weirdest, us rallying.’’

It might be. Rally for three wins or Yankees go home.