The Yankees’ defense put on a genuinely baffling display during Game 2 of the ALDS against the Rays. Credit to Tampa Bay, whose speed on the base paths and ability to make contact at the plate make every play that much more difficult for opposing defenses, but the sheer volume of errors and defensive miscues committed by New York was unacceptable.

Every Yankees fan remembers the ill-fated fifth inning in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series against the Dodgers, when the team committed two costly defensive errors and Gerrit Cole failed to cover first base on a grounder to the right side of the infield, leading to a five-run blow-up inning. Heading into that World Series matchup, the Dodgers had done their scouting on New York. They quickly realized how fundamentally poor the Yankees’ defense was, and L.A. exposed that on baseball’s biggest stage. Nearly two full years removed from that putrid defensive performance, it doesn’t appear Aaron Boone has inspired any significant improvements on that side of the ball, and the Rays didn’t hesitate to exploit that glaring weakness yet again.

The Yankees made three errors in the bottom of the first inning. Chandler Simpson led off with a ground ball to third base, which was misplayed by Ryan McMahon. Then, Jazz Chisholm Jr. failed to find the target on a possible double play ball, throwing the ball wide of Luis Garcia Jr. at first base, which enabled Yandy Diaz to score from second base and let Junior Caminero make his way to second. After that, when fans likely thought things couldn’t possibly get worse, Cam Schlittler had a strikeout erased by a catcher’s interference from Austin Wells, who impeded a half swing attempt from Liam Hicks with two strikes, giving him a free pass to first base and erasing what should’ve been an out. It can even be argued that a fourth error occurred when Jazz Chisholm Jr. scuffed a short throw to second base on a potential inning-ending double play ball, which was only saved by George Lombard Jr. making a recovery at second base to secure the out on the lead runner.

It’s truly mind-bending to think that all of those mishaps occurred in the same inning, and somehow, the Yankees only surrendered one run through all of that. It was the first time in New York’s postseason history that the team has committed three errors in a single inning, and they’re the first team since the 1909 Tigers to commit three errors in the first inning of a postseason game. You could say it was an inning 117 years in the making.

Somehow, things continued to get worse for the Yankees’ defense.

In the fifth inning, Tampa had runners on second and third after a Jonathan Aranda single and a Caminero double. New York had its infield in, hoping to prevent a run on a ground ball, but Chisholm didn’t appear to get that message. He was playing far deeper than the rest of the Yankees infield, and when Hicks hit a ground ball his way, he didn’t have enough time to throw Aranda out at home, instead settling on getting the out at first base. It was a heads-up play from Aranda, who ran on contact after seeing how deep Chisholm was positioned. On the very next play, George Lombard Jr. committed what was initially ruled as the Yankees’ fourth error of the game by mishandling a ground ball while trying to rush and make a play at the plate, though it was later changed to a fielder’s choice. That miscue saw the Rays extend their lead to 3–1.

Official error No. 4 came shortly after, still in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Garcia failed to make the catch on an errant throw from Lombard, which enabled Johnny DeLuca to reach first base. DeLuca then stole second and a single from Richie Palacios scored him and Simpson to make it a 5–1 game.

Cam Schlittler did his best to navigate the mess made by his teammates behind him, but there was only so much he could do on the mound in his first-ever road postseason start. Schlittler exited the game after 4 1/3 innings, having surrendered six hits, four runs (two earned), and one walk while striking out just two batters.

Simply put, Monday night was one of the most humiliating defensive performances in postseason history, and it begs the question of how this Yankees team has consistently been so poor at fundamental baseball in recent years under Boone.

It’s not as if the Yankees aren’t familiar with the Rays’ style of play. They faced them 13 times this season, winning six of those contests, so they knew exactly what to expect from the American League’s best team.

“[The Rays] are not going to lose the game. They’re very good. They’re fundamentally sound. They’re going to move guys over. They’re going to put the ball in play. They do all the little things that you need to do to be able to win tight baseball games. They pitch well, they defend well, they run, they create havoc. It’s one of those series where you have to go out there and beat them because they're not going to beat themselves,” said Max Fried prior to the ALDS, via ESPN.

Well, the Rays handily beat the Yankees in Game 2, with plenty of assistance from New York’s sloppy defense. Tampa Bay stayed true to its playbook, frequently putting the ball in play and using its speed to its advantage, and the Yankees failed to keep up.

The defense was the main culprit of the Game 2 loss, but the offense was also quite disappointing with the exception of Ben Rice, who hit two solo home runs, making up the Yankees’ only two runs. After getting shut out in Game 1, New York compiled just four hits in Game 2. They have produced just five hits and two runs through the first two games of the series, clearly missing Aaron Judge’s presence in the lineup.

Now, the Yankees have their backs against the wall. They’ll need to try to mentally move on from Monday’s horrendous defensive display and look to secure a win in Game 3 on Wednesday night and stave off elimination. Fried will be on the mound, and he’ll be hoping his defense is up to the task, or else it could be another long night in the Bronx.