HOUSTON — If the regular season were not enough, the postseason is now trolling the Yankees as well.
In an all-Lone Star State ALCS, the Yankees feel like the third wheel — driving over themselves.
It is easy to forget after this disappointing season, but just a year ago, the Yankees were actually in the ALCS. They were swept out by Houston, managing nine runs via a .162 average over four games. What they took from that offensive no-show was that they needed a co-ace to Gerrit Coles, who they believed could shut down the Astros in October.
They invested six years at $162 million in Carlos Rodon, who in Season 1 contributed to the Yankees not making it back to another showdown against the Astros by having bad health, bad performance and being a bad actor.
Turns out, the Yankees had a lefty who could handle October and the Astros. Only they moved Jordan Montgomery at last year’s trade deadline via a string of malfeasance that it might take an outside auditing firm years to fully appreciate. And the Yankees also ignored in free agency last offseason a pitcher who, since he left their employ, had proven he can excel at this time of year, since Nathan Eovaldi was open to a reunion in The Bronx. Instead, Texas gave Eovaldi nearly five times less than Rodon on a two-year, $34 million pact.
Montgomery delivered 6 ¹/₃ shutout innings Sunday night, throwing harder than Astros manager Dusty Baker could recall, working inside with precision to open up his off-speed stuff away in the words of his catcher Jonah Heim and — among other items — striking out Houston star Yordan Alvarez in all three of their matchups in what would prove a 2-0 ALCS opening win for the Rangers. Now, Eovaldi will have a chance Monday night to author a devastating shot at Houston in Game 2 before this best-of-seven heads to Arlington.
Meanwhile, Yankees fans will hope the organization is using its offseason to understand:
Why they failed to maximize the abilities of Eovaldi and Montgomery when they had them in their employ?
How exactly did the decision-making go to invest $223 million in center fielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Hicks while not developing someone internally for that position, leaving them midway through last season under the belief they had to turn Montgomery into Harrison Bader?
How did the Yankees reach the belief that Montgomery was expendable because he was not good enough to start a postseason game for them when he has started two series openers this postseason and delivered 13 ¹/₃ shutout innings against the Rays and Astros.
“We did a ton of work on him [before acquiring the lefty at the deadline from the Cardinals], and we are seeing what we found out — that he will compete and attack,” Rangers GM Chris Young said.
The Yankees have played 18 playoff games against Houston since 2015 and been eliminated four times, and their only pitcher to throw longer than Montgomery without allowing the Astros a run was Masahiro Tanaka over seven shutout innings in Game 5 of the 2017 ALCS. Montgomery rose in the biggest moment, striking out Alvarez with two on and two out in the third followed by Martin Maldonado with the bases loaded and two out in the fourth to outduel Justin Verlander.
“Nothing straight, nothing the same,” Heim said of his batterymate.
The Rangers, who have never won the World Series, are now 6-0 this postseason. The Astros, who lost the World Series opener last season but still won the title, will try to tie the ALCS on Monday. But they have to do it against Eovaldi, who as a Yankee in 2015-16 was a terrific athlete and teammate but league average-ish as a pitcher. But since he left, the righty has gained the reputation as a big-game force with a 2.70 career postseason ERA in 13 games (eight starts).
He is part of a postseason that does not include the Yankees. But every success by Eovaldi and Montgomery, every homer by Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper — the Yankee fan who could not get the Yankees interested in him in free agency — feels like a continuation of a disappointing pinstriped season, a continuation of questions about the processes that have the Yankees in their current situation.
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