The New York Yankees' season is on the brink of coming to a premature end yet again, as they've now lost the first two games of their 2025 ALDS clash against the Toronto Blue Jays. Going down 2-0 is not yet the end of the world, especially with the series headed to New York for Game 3 and a potential Game 4, but this reduces their margin of error from slim to zero — requiring the Yankees to be perfect from here on out after being on the receiving end of a 13-7 shellacking on Sunday.
In fact, at one point, the Blue Jays were leading the Yankees 12-0, with Toronto tagging New York's big offseason pitching acquisition Max Fried for seven earned runs in just 3.0 innings. Meanwhile, rookie Trey Yesavage was in control against the Yankees, as he proceeded to strike out 11 batters in five shutout innings — channeling his inner Cam Schlittler in the process.
Nevertheless, Yankees star Aaron Judge, whose production from the plate on Sunday (2-3, two walks, one RBI) came too little too late, is displaying the composure of a veteran who's been in this position before — because he actually has been.
“We've been playing with our backs up against the wall all year long. It's nothing new to us,” Judge said. “We've been here before. You can go back to [my] rookie year in '17. We had a wild Wild Card Game, go to Cleveland and lose those first two against them. They were division champs that year too, coming off an appearance in the World Series.”
“So we came back home, another tough Game 3, a little pitching duel, but we came out the other side. We got experience. We've got guys in here who've been to the World Series. Tough moments with our backs against the wall, especially all season long. Just got to show up and do our thing.”
Aaron Judge on being down 2-0: "We've been here before."
The Captain reflects on the Yankees' 2017 comeback in the ALDS against Cleveland, and discusses flipping the script against the Blue Jays.#YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/3s1psP03Tf
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) October 6, 2025
Yankees look to pull off another miracle
The Yankees did win two in a row in the AL Wild Card series against the Boston Red Sox to advance to the ALDS. They've displayed in the past the kind of composure they need to get over the Blue Jays hump, and all they need is to take it one game at a time.
Carlos Rodon will be on the bump for Game 3 on Tuesday, and Judge and the Yankees will be hoping that he channels his inner Masahiro Tanaka, who blanked the Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians) in Game 3 of the 2017 ALDS — setting them up for the comeback from 2-0 down.
