Early on Tuesday night time at Yankee Stadium, it appeared fairly secure to place the champagne on ice within the visiting clubhouse.
The Blue Jays jumped out to an early 6-1 lead, turning a raucous Bronx crowd into a bunch mourning the tip of their season. Nonetheless, the Jays did what most anticipate from the Yankees — kick the ball across the yard.
Toronto made two essential errors to ignite an Aaron Decide-led comeback, permitting the Bombers to maintain their season alive in an 9-6 win over the Jays in Recreation 3 of the ALDS.
With one out within the backside of the fourth, the Jays led 6-3 as Austin Wells lofted a can of corn popup down the left discipline line. Third baseman Addison Barger drifted close to the left discipline line and dropped the ball, permitting Wells to succeed in second base.
And that was the place the sport formally started to vary.
Trent Grisham was the following batter and walked to arrange first and second with one out for Decide. The captain launched a 100-mph fastball off the left discipline foul pole to tie the sport and shift all the momentum again to the pinstripers.
“[We] kind of just didn’t play our game really,” mentioned supervisor John Schneider. “When you look at things as a whole, just defensively, getting extra outs, things like that, and they can do that in a hurry. It’s not one thing. It’s a couple things. Their bullpen did a really good job, and we just gave them extra outs.”
Had Barger made that catch, the two-time AL MVP would have by no means had the chance to have arguably his greatest postseason second.
Nonetheless, Barger wasn’t the one Jay to make a blunder. With two outs within the backside of the primary — after Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s two-run homer took the air out of the constructing — Ben Rice grounded what ought to’ve been an inning-ending curler to second base. Nonetheless, Isiah Kiner-Falefa booted the ball, permitting the following batter in Giancarlo Stanton to smash an RBI single, making it 2-1.
Toronto additionally had a blunder that led to an insurance coverage run for the Yanks. Proper fielder Anthony Santander misplayed a line drive off the bat off Cody Bellinger, turning what ought to’ve been an out right into a double, organising second and third with one out — earlier than Rice lined a sac fly to proper, making it 9-6.
It was an uncharacteristically poor defensive sport for the Blue Jays who ranked as one of the best in baseball with 38.5 fWAR and fourth in defensive runs saved (51).
“Yeah, [tonight was frustrating because of how good we’ve been defensively all season], but it happens,” mentioned Schneider. “It’s baseball. Once more, I mentioned it 1,000,000 instances. These guys will likely be able to play tomorrow. It occurs. It will get magnified this time of 12 months, positive, all that sort of stuff, however you’ve obtained to handle the ball. Is it irritating?
“Yeah, it’s frustrating today, but you’ve got to come to work tomorrow, get prepared, and physical errors happen. It’s part of the game. But you’ve got to move on and get ready for tomorrow.”
The Jays had a reliable likelihood to finish the Yankees’ season. Nonetheless, they let the Bombers reside to struggle one other day, solely now, they’re geared up with the undisputed greatest hitter in baseball that will have hit his postseason stride after years of struggles.
Initially Printed: October 7, 2025 at 11:52 PM EDT
