New York Yankees’ Offense VANISHES in Minnesota | Can they SALVAGE the series?

New York Yankees’ Offense VANISHES in Minnesota | Can they SALVAGE the series?

I’ll give them this one after the way they played the last week and a half against their schedule. So, let’s leave it out on the table for them. Not not happy with the loss, but right, they went seven and five in a 12game stretch that really was going to define their season. I’ll take that from them. You are Locked on Yankees, your daily New York Yankees podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome to Locked on Yankees, which is part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Thank you for making us your first listen every day. I’m Stacy Gotulius. He’s Brian McKe and we’ve been hosting the show together for nearly a year and a half now. We’ve seen a lot of stuff from the Yankees. And Brian, quickly, what’s your first take about what happened on Monday night in Minnesota? Another four RA gets to them. Exactly. Exactly. If you’re an everyday, you know what we’re talking about. We’ll get more into it in segment one. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, download the app today. On today’s show, we preview game two between the Yankees and the Twins. Hopefully, it goes better than game one. We take our trek through the miners because it’s Tuesday and that’s what we do every Tuesday. But first, game one in Minnesota. Uh, ugly game. Not a good start to the series. The offense looked lethargic. Poor Rodon. It wasn’t a bad game by him. And if if this was a normal day, if this was a normal game where the Yankees didn’t fly into Minnesota in the middle of the night, maybe he would have had a win. So, uh, we are, let’s let’s start it off here first. We pride ourselves in this show on being realists with the fan base and with the team. Um, I’m not going to kill them for this loss. A lot of things were against them here. and coming out of that 12-game stretch with how they played during that 12-game stretch. Not rooting for losses. I’m not accepting of losses, of course, but if there’s a game they’re going to lose, I’ll give them this one after the way they played the last week and a half against their schedule. So, let’s leave it out on the table for that. Not not happy with the loss, but right, they went seven and five in a 12game stretch that really was going to define their season. I’ll take that from them. Um, they got in at about 5:00 in the morning to Minnesota. because they had to play on Sunday night baseball in Boston for whatever reason. For whatever reason. Um I don’t you know for like for like the fourth time this season like Yeah, that that that does that does in part hurt them. Plus they lost an hour going back uh because they’re going to Minnesota. There is that also. Um the the team was sluggish which is expected. Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. It’s the first game of the series. The only massive negative I’m going to take out of this is the way Luke Weaver pitched. Uh he’s got to figure things out before the postseason starts because there he’s going to be another like we discussed this with Devin Williams yesterday. He’s going to be one of their arms. They’re going to win with Luke Weaver. They are if he pitches well that I mean not if he pitches well. They are only going to go as far as one as those guys allow them to in the bullpen. And Luke Weaver is a big part of that. So he’s going to need to pick things up and figure things out. Thankfully, he has time against bad opponents coming forward, but he has to get that confidence back. On a positive note, which you know, there was nothing out of the offense on the positive note, but from the pitching side of things, Carlos Rodon looked really good and he battled. It wasn’t an ace type performance for any way, but these are the kind of starts you’re going to have in the postseason, Stacy. There are not, you don’t have those easy seven inning, 12 strikeout performances. Yes, some aces do that in the postseason. More often than not, you’re not getting that in the playoffs. So, I like what I saw out of Rodon. Yeah. But my question is, does it scare you slightly that he was struggling against a team who’s like the second worst in the American League and who traded away like most of their team and who’s like and who’s like a quad A team at this point. Like, does that frighten you a little bit? Do you think it’s tiredness? Like, what do you think? It’s I mean it’s it’s in the higher numbers of innings he’s pitched in his entire career. The team has certainly depended on him throughout this entire season more than the team has depended on him in the past. There’s a lot of factors going into this. But the fact that he gave you six innings, only gave up two runs, you know, and there were runners on base. He he, you know, he did have a lot going on, but only giving up two runs. Um the one walk, he controlled things and and that’s what I’ll take out of this start. Was it pretty? No. Was it against a major league lineup? No. He controlled the damage, kept it to a minimum, keeps his confidence up. I’m fine with this start out of Carlos Rodon. Give him a chance to win. And honestly, in a start he’s going to have in three weeks time, that’s all you’re going to ask for. Give him a chance to win. If he gives you six innings of two-run ball in a postseason game, you sign for that. Oh yeah, definitely. So, he had four strikeouts, which means he’s at 190 and he has 10 to go before he hits 200, right? He’s probably gonna have two more starts. The only fear is the Yankees lock things up and he they’re not going to start him in in a last start, but he’s gonna have two more starts. I’m I’m hoping he gets to 200. Just my nerdy baseball self kind of wants him to get to that milestone. So, let’s pull the curtain back because when we do the rundown, or at least when I do the rundown because I’m a bit of a control freak. So, in segment one, when we do game recaps, I will do the pitcher first, then we’ll do offense, and then we’ll do bullpen and we’ll do everything that happens. So, under offense, I said, “What offense?” Cuz there was no offense. And under bullpen, I said, “What the hell happened? The last time I saw it was two nothing.” I left to go to the bathroom, you know, whatever. And I was like kind of walking around the house cuz I was just like, “Uh, maybe they’ll come back in the later innings.” And then a lap around around your compound. Is that what you’re saying? Yeah. And then the next thing I know it’s seven nothing. And I was like, “What what the heck happened?” It just it just felt like one of those it got away from them games. like it just it just the game was over. It got away from them. Minnesota turned it on and that was kind of it. Yeah. But I don’t again I don’t look at this kind of let’s let’s be the offense wasn’t scoring tonight. Like I I got the decision to go with Weaver and Dval. Like I understood that because why why not keep the game close with how bad Minnesota’s been, right? Like anything could happen. Someone could get on base and some guy could just hit a ball and it could fly out of the park and they could tie the game kind of thing. Yeah. But this is one of those losses that it is funny how narratives change in baseball, right? Because let’s say they go five and seven instead of seven and five over the 12game stretch and then you drop game one to Minnesota. Yankee Nation’s freaking out right now. Our video has 10,000 more views than it’s going to have because because people are going to freak out that they drop game one to Minnesota in a winnable series. The series is still winnable. They often they often beat up on Minnesota like crazy. Let’s not forget the history here. um that they don’t struggle in Minnesota particularly. Um they could easily still take two out of three and I wouldn’t be that surprised if they did. So I don’t want to sit here and you gota you got to give teams praise sometimes when they do get things done. And again coming off Sunday night baseball I think the Yankees have the most games in I’d love to know this stat. It’s either the Yankees or the Padres’s the Dodgers because it feels like the same four teams play on Sunday night baseball every week. Um, what team has the worst luck when it comes to going to a different time zone where it’s earlier? It’s got to be the Yankees. Going to an earlier time zone following Sunday Night Baseball and to play a game on Monday without an off day because the Yankees seem to every time they play on Sunday Night Baseball, which is fairly often, they don’t have an off day on the Monday. They always play on the next Monday and they’re always going on a trip following it. They’re never home on that Monday. They’re always going on a and anywhere they go to the other side of the country, they’re losing at least an hour. So the Yankees got into Minnesota at 5:00 a.m., but really they got into Minnesota at 6 a.m. on their clock because they lost an hour of time. And by the time That’s 5 a.m. landing, by the way. Right. Exactly. That’s not being in bed at 5:00 a.m. That’s likely being in bed at 7 a.m. and then having to be up around 11 or 12 to go back to the ballpark. So you’re really only getting five or six hours of sleep. Again, crocodile tears. These guys make millions of dollars. I understand. Like this isn’t an excuse. This is just what happened. This is why they look so sluggish. Like, you know, I know people are going to say, “Well, they get paid to do this. It’s just a game.” You try and human body. Like, you’re flying a couple of hours back in time. You get there late at night, early in the morning. You have to wake up to go to the ballpark to do stuff, but you’re only getting about four or five hours of sleep. Like, I’m a normal person. When I only have four hours of sleep, I want to die. So, I can’t even imagine what it would be like. I the whole I’d love to break this down one day, but like the whole process of it’s not like because people think of it as as well the Yankees Red Sox game ended around 10:40 last night on the East Coast, so what’s the issue here? But people don’t realize the game ends at 10:40. You do you you you shower and the media door opens probably around 11:20, 11, 11:25. Then the media is allowed in until midnight. Then you get on the bus while the bus is getting loaded to the airport for midnight. And you get on the plane, then you sit at the airport for a few minutes, then you get on the plane. Yeah, exactly. So, you probably take off around two, you get you get you land in in Minnesota around 5, which is really six cuz you lost the hour. So, your body clock is all messed up. You finally check in at the at the uh the hotel cuz it’s I don’t know if Minnesota’s airport is in Minnesota, Minnesota or if it’s, you know, 20 miles out, but you’re finally checking into your hotel around 7 o’clock in the morning. You’re getting in bed. You’re winding down. Now, you’re only getting a few hours of sleep. And I know they make millions of dollars a year. We’re all aware of that. But the the human body is still the human body. You’re whether you’re a millionaire, a billionaire, or or or poor, you’re still tired when you’re tired. Your body still reacts the way it reacts. So, again, we’re not making excuses here, but this is the reality of how the schedule kind of works for these guys. So, they are exhausted and it makes sense. They played a late game last night. That’s why it makes more sense when they get the game at one:00 on the Sunday, right? But right, Yankee season never got done, right? No, they have to be on ESPN when they play the Red Sox because, you know, the world would end if that didn’t happen. So, let’s just say this. Toronto beat the Rays on Monday night. So, now the Yankees are five games back, right? Uh, yes. And Toronto won their game, too, which of course they did. Every time they I just said that. Well, well, no, because I’m saying because every time they’re they they they show it on the yes bug because they they they tend to show the little yes bug of of the score and Toronto is always down when they show it and they like to show it to be like, “Look, Yankee fans, there’s a chance here. Toronto’s losing and then they’ll tie it in.” Toronto ties it. Yeah. And then they go into extra innings and the Rays have a runner on first with one a runner on third with one out. They move the runner from second, the ghost runner from second to third. they don’t score him. And then they had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the 11th and did nothing and then the Blue Jays won. So the division is no longer in play. It’s just not. The Blue Jays are not going to lose and the Yankees are not going to take advantage when they do lose. So now they just need to win as many games as they can going forward until the end of the season so the wild card series is a little easier for them. Yeah. The Red Sox actually didn’t play on Monday, but gained a game, game to half game because of the the difference in amount of games played. So, they’re game they’re Yankees are a game up, right? Um you you got to hold on and get that series in in New York. Yeah, you have to because otherwise you’re in big trouble. All right, don’t forget, subscribe to the channel, hit the like button on our videos, hit the notifications so you know when our videos go up. You can also join the Locked On Yankees Insiders Club. The link is in our description, both on audio and video. You get texts from us. You get text us questions, comments, and reactions to trades and signings. You also get top priority on Fmail Friday, which we do every week. We send out the lineups during the season, roster moves, and breaking news, so you don’t have to check social media. And we have a new added perk. We have a private Discord where you can commiserate during the games with your fellow Yankee fans. And sure, it was a fun one on Monday night. There’s a 14-day free trial. Coming up, we’ll be taking our Tuesday trek through the miners next. 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It’s Stacy’s Tuesday threat check for the Miners. Yes. So, we only have two teams left to talk about. Everyone else’s season is over. So, Scranton has one week left before the playoffs. Their last regular season day is September 21st. They have one last series against the Buffalo Bison. They are not doing very well, the Buffalo Bison. They’re 59 and 81. So, the uh the Rail Riders should do okay against them. Should they could have eliminated Lehigh Valley in their game head-to-head on Sunday, but it didn’t happen. But they own a five and a half game lead over them with six to play. Now, here’s the big thing. Syracuse, the Mets, oo, they pulled within three games of Scranton’s lead. Scranton will clinch the second half title because you know they split the titles with a four and two week. Now if they go three and three but Syracuse goes six and 0. They would split they split a six-game series in the second half. That would be the first tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker is the the final 20 games of the season. They go by the record. So a three and three week by Scranton would leave them at 9 and 11 in their last 20. And a six and0 week by Syracuse would make them 14 and six. So Scranton still has to do well against Buffalo to keep Syracuse out of everything. But get this, which they should expect, right? Syracuse is facing Lehigh Valley and Lehi Lehigh Valley is another good team. So it’s not going to be easy for Syracuse to do anything. So we’ll see. And Lehigh Valley is playing for something, too. So there’s that aspect of it, too. Their season’s not over, right? So here’s your Spencer Jones update from from Triple A. Uh thanks to Sunday, he has a 10-game hitting streak heading into that series with the Bison. It’s his second 10 or more game hitting streak this season. He had an 11ame streak from June 20th to July 3rd. During this particular streak, he’s batting .289, which works out to 11 for 38. He has three doubles and a home run. So, it’s not one of those like crazy streaks where he has a ton of home runs. The strikeouts are high because he’s Spencer Jones, but he had that really brutal stretch in August after he had the run of home runs and then hurt his back. So, he’s picking things back up again. So, that’s a good sign from him heading into this last series and heading into the playoffs. The Yankees are definitely letting you know though, by the way, that they are not planning, they were not planning on calling him up and he is not major league ready because almost everybody in baseball is calling up their top prospects right now and he is and he is not. Um he’s not sniffing the major leagues right now. So they are telling you he is not ready, which is fine, but that’s what they’re telling you. Yeah. Although to be fair, a lot of the guys who are being called up are pitchers, right? Because Joe No, no, no. I agree. the the guy who looks like he’s from the 70s for the Red Sox. He was called up. The kid from the Blue Jays who did a really good job on Monday night in his debut. Yes, Savage. He had 19 swings and miss. He had 19 swings and misses. What an awesome 19 swings and misses. That is wild, right? That’s his name, isn’t it? Yeah. No, no, it’s it’s it’s uh it’s a Savage. It’s just great. Five innings, three hits, one ear or nineks. Yeah. Yeah. I’m going to say it for the fifth time. 19 swings and misses. He was these guys were just looking awful against him. He uh Trey Yavage um he also uh they they they kept him on a pitch clock or a pitch count. I don’t know why. Um he only threw 69 pitches. Nice. Great. Great for your debut. Nice. Way to go. Nice. Moving down to Somerset because they are starting a playoff series tonight against Bingmpington. the Mets affiliate, the Rumble Ponies. Here we go. Now, the thing that could work in Somerset’s favor is Jonah Tong is with the Mets. He’s no longer with He’s no longer with Bingmpington. So, two levels, by the way. Not one. Two levels. Yeah. So, they don’t have to worry about that. So, good luck to Somerset. Hopefully, you could beat Bingington. It’s a three-game series. They’re short. They’re they’re small. They’re not like the regular season series where they’re six games. It’s three games. So, I believe first game is in Somerset and then they’re on the road for the second two in Bingmpington. So, we’ll see how Somerset does. And speaking of Somerset, here are George Lumbar Jr.’s final numbers for the season. His batting line, 215, 337, 358 in 469 played appearances. That works out to 24 doubles, four triples, eight home runs, 36 runs driven in. Uh 68 runs scored. He was 24 for 30 with stolen bases. His walk rate was 13.6. His K rate was 26.4. You’re going to want to flip those. Um, if you’re George Lumbar Jr. going into next year between the walk and the K rate, um I I do I’ll say this, the positive, the numbers aren’t aren’t uh eyepopping and they’re not crazy. I do think it’s a good sign they they kept him in double A all year and let him figure things out, work things through. He’ll likely start the year in double A next year. I just I’m glad that even though he struggled at times, they didn’t think to move him down so he could have more success. They let him figure out at a higher level, right? And then these are his numbers overall because that was just with Somerset. So overall, 235, 367, 381, and 580 played appearances. So 32 doubles, five triples, nine home runs, 49 ribbies, 90 runs, 35 for 43 stolen bases. Again, 15% walk rate. So, a little better overall and the strikeout rate is slightly lower at 25.2%. But the people who watched him daily were encouraged. And remember, he’s 20 years old. He turned 20 in June. He should be uh worrying about his junior year of college classes coming up. Yeah. Yeah. So, say he’s playing DA baseball, right? To the people who wanted him to come up replace Vulpi, it’s it’s not happening. He’s still way too young for that and inexperienced for that. He needs to probably start the year in double A and then work his way up to AAA and maybe you’ll see him in 2027. I would say right now that’s probably the ETA. It might be 2028 at this point. Um I will say this though, as a 20-year-old going into a a big off season for him. They’re probably going to put him on some kind of weight uh weight program or something like that. I don’t know if he weighs right now. I can guarantee you coming into spring training, he’s probably going to have five or 10 more pounds of muscle on him. Yeah, they’re going to put him on some kind of program throughout the offseason. He is pretty um I mean he’s not tiny, but he’s not he’s a smaller statured guy though. They’re going to want to put some muscle on him as he grows into his adult body. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, that is your trek through the miners. Again, you know, only two teams left. And if Somerset can’t beat Bingmpington, then only one team will be left for our Tuesday trek through the miners next week. The offseason is quickly approaching. Yeah. All right. Coming up, we’ll preview game two of the series with the Twins and we’ll tell you about some news from around the league next. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure that you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Now, I love using FanDuel. It fits however you like to bet. Player props, building a same game parlay, or even jumping in live as the action unfolds. I got out on the Buccaneers last night. Great comeback for Baker Mayfield. Showed a lot of belief for me and he rewarded me on the FanDuel app. It makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup, it’s the perfect way to stay locked in. Plus, it’s quick, easy, and the best way to add a little more energy to your Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app today now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. It’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. And guys, good news. Not only do we do we cover your team every day, but we’re also giving you instant episodes after every single game. Check out the Locked On Yankees postcast. It’s hosted by Jay Berman and it appears right here on the Locked On Yankees podcast feed. It is also streaming on our YouTube channel. Get rapid reaction all the biggest moments with the Locked on Yankees postcast. Stacey, we head to game two later tonight. Uh 7:40 start once again on uh Tuesday night. It’ll be a yes game as well. Zebie Matthews will go for the the Minnesota Twins. Lucky the Yankees got here. Not a four RA, it’s a five RA. They tend to hit those guys this year. Four is no. Fives, yes. Um he’s four and five with a 506 ERA. So my thought is the Yankees probably try to get his RA into the fours and then they won’t hit him. Doing in this game, he’ll go up against Cam Schlitler who’s three and three with a 305, but has pitched really well as of late. Uh interesting opportunity here for Cam Schlitler to shove potentially in uh against a weak lineup where the Yankees would like to get a win in even this series. Yes, it would also be really nice for the Yankees to actually hit a guy with a 506 erra. We’ll see. You’re asking a lot there. Unfort But they’ll get back But they’ll get back after the game in Minnesota. They’ll get to sleep a full night’s rest and a you know, it’s a little bit better for them in this case. Yeah. Do you think that some of the chirping will carry over into uh Tuesday’s game? Meaning the chirping that the Yankees were doing with the umpires? I mean, it happens. It’s This is why though uh this is why the Yankees don’t get calls, right? Because because it’s gotten around the league now at this point where all they do is complain to umpires. It’s all they do as a as a team. The manager doesn’t stop. The players don’t stop. Um this is why they don’t get calls. Yeah, it’ll continue. It continue. It’s continued all year and it’ll continue into the next series and the series after that and into the postseason, I’m sure, because they don’t stop. And when you when you keep constantly badgering the umps like this that they’re not going to care anymore and you’re you’re never going to get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a call, right? It’s going to be great. So, this first item from news around the league, I know he’s an Astro and I shouldn’t feel bad, but I actually feel bad for Jordan Alvarez because he was hurt for so long. He comes back and they hurt him like and he was doing well. Like everything seemed okay. Yeah. And then he hurt himself again crossing home plate in the second inning on Monday. Didn’t look good. He was having trouble getting down the dugout stairs. Yeah. It was it was bad. So needed help getting off. Uh and they announced the injury that he wouldn’t return to the game instantaneously almost, which is never a good sign, right? Um and they are they are pending imaging. Uh we just did a a sponsor in the last commercial break for FanDuel and if you’re the betting type, I’d look at the market right now for Astros to miss the postseason. There there there is just too much going on there. They’re not consistent as a team. That magic is not there anymore. They don’t have that ace pitcher. Valdez has not been great for them. He got lit up on Sunday. Um I I don’t see it with this team. And if Alvarez is going to miss, I mean, I can’t even say any significant amount of time. If he misses any time at all, they’re screwed because because they have 10 games left, right? So, I mean, he I mean, he needs to play every single day. They’re they won on Monday playing uh the Texas Rangers in a in a unbelievably massive series, but that that lead is only three games, Stacy, in the wild card. They’ve already dipped to the wild card, by the way. Up last week at this time, they had a four-game lead over the Mariners. that that the Mariners have now taken them over and moved into the lead in that division. Um, and I don’t know if the Mariners are going to relinquish that at this point. They’re they have a halfame lead right now because the Astros won. The Rangers are three games behind the Astros in that wild card spot, but again, by the time this series is over, it could be a one-ame lead. Um, plus you look at the rest of the Wildard standings, Stacy, they’ve got Cleveland right on their tail at three games. Also, Kansas City is six and a half. They’re probably out of it after their loss, but they’ve got two teams chasing them down that and the Astros schedule doesn’t fare well for them the remaining of their season, right? They play the Rangers and two more. Then they go to Seattle and play the Mariners in a crucial series. That’s a big series for both teams. Then then you go to um then you go to Sacramento in a park where Sacramento a has played I’m calling them Sacramento. I guess they are Sacramento technically. They’ve played really well. Weirdly enough, the A’s are one of the worst teams in baseball. Stacy, their record is 70 and 80 now. They’ve played really well over the last month. They’ve gotten to 10 games within 500. Plus, the Astros just lost their best power hitter for possibly the season and they’re going to a park where the balls fly out of it in Sacramento. That could be a problem. And then you close the season out against the Angels. It’s not an easy trek for them the remainder of the season. I just I don’t know if they’re making the postseason. They’re there’s too much going on and they’ve slid too much in the last two weeks or so. Right. Right. Oh, you were talking about prospects being called up. The Giants called up their top prospect, Bryce Eldridge, 20 years old. Here we were talking about George Lombard Jr. only being 20 years old, but he is the 29th ranked prospect in all of baseball, Bryce Eldridge. So, he’ll he’ll play on Tuesday. Uh it is crazy how young these guys come up now. I think they’re trying to baseball’s trying to follow the mold of of other sports where they want guys contributing early on in their in their career and uh developing more. But but damn developing more and then locking them up for less money when they’re younger so they can Yeah. Well, I mean the Red Sox just did with Roman Anthony. And I still I still don’t know what Roman Anthony was doing taking that contract. Roman Anthony who’s now hurt. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean they they’ve got a weird uh position themselves going into the postseason as well. Yeah. Um here’s an interesting one too. The Chicago Cubs um have really been middling since the All-Star break. They’ve still got a giant lead on that on that on that wild card and they’ve had chances to catch Milwaukee with runs and they just they just refuse to go on any sign on a significant significant run. They’re starting to get healthier and they’re getting Mike Soka back, but they’re they’re getting him back and putting him immediately into the bullpen. They’re not putting him back in the starting rotation. I kind of like this going into the postseason because there’s they want to use him in the playoffs and they want to use him as that hybrid starter role that can come out of the bullpen and get innings for them, right? I don’t hate this because you see this a lot, Stacy. Teams take their normal starter and then the postseason starts and they don’t want him starting. They’re like, “All right, you’re going right into the bullpen.” And that guy immediately struggles because he’s not used to the rhythm of coming out out of the bullpen into a middle of a game. He’s not used to getting ready in the fourth inning to come in. The routines are all off. We talk about this all the time. Baseball players are such creatures of habit. I kind of like using these last two weeks. The Cubs have a playoff spot locked up. Not mathematically, but it’s all but there, right? I like them using him if they’re going to use him as a bullpen relief for for late in the se for the postseason. I like them using these last two weeks to kind of get him ready for that role. Hey, start figuring out what works for you around the fourth inning. start figuring out when you need to start stretching, when you need to start getting ready, when your last meal needs to be, you know, eaten, when your your predated meal needs to be eaten. I kind of like this. I’m not going to lie. I think this is a smart uh uh strategy to be honest. Yeah, I think it’s interesting. I think you might see more teams do this because of the way I kind of hope baseball is now, right? You don’t need really you don’t really need more than three starters anymore in the playoffs, you know? And if you have three Yeah. So because even that one random series where you might have the fourth guy come in because the the scheduling is weird. They want that game is always a bullpen game. It’s it’s always the the the fourth guy will go three innings and they go right to the bullpen. So it really is um just an update for you quickly on uh the NL wild card position. Uh Cubs had the first spot that’s pretty much locked up. Hodgers have the second spot pretty much locked up. Then it’s Mets with a game and a half lead over the Giants who are currently tied 1-1 as we record this. So that that that lead could go down to a half a game by the end of tonight. Uh Cincinnati is two games back. Arizona is two games back. That and somehow St. Louis is still in it at four at four games back. Um crazy crazy stuff though. I mean that that is coming right down to the wire. Yeah. I like when the last two weeks of the season gets wild. Yep. It’s it’s it’s a with the Yankees not involved in it. When other teams are involved in the craziness, I enjoy it. If the Yankees are involved in it, I do not like it. So, yeah, they pretty much got their last that the one of the last two spots locked on. I just want to see those games in the Bronx. Right. Thank you for making locked on Yankees your first listen today. For your second listen, find the allnew locked on MLB game night. Every game, every night until a World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale. You can find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. So, that’ll do it for this edition of Locked on Yankees. I’m Stacy Gatsulius and I’m Brian McKinnon. We’ll catch you guys tomorrow. [Music]

The New York Yankees struggle against the Minnesota Twins as Carlos Rodón’s solid outing is wasted in a 7-0 loss. Aaron Judge and the offense fail to produce, while Luke Weaver’s bullpen performance raises concerns. Cam Schlittler takes the mound for game two as the Yankees look to even the series.

0:00 Yankees lose to Twins, analysis begins
5:11 Offense struggles, bullpen collapses against Twins
10:38 Wild Card race update, Blue Jays gain ground
14:12 Fan Mail Friday segment explanation
16:16 Minor league updates: Scranton and Somerset
21:57 Game 2 preview: Yankees vs Twins pitching matchup
27:37 MLB news: Giants call up top prospect

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