The New York Yankees swept Cleveland in the 2020 AL Wild Card Series, winning 12-3 and 10-9 on September 29 and 30, then lost the ALDS to the Tampa Bay Rays in five games at Petco Park in San Diego. Mike Brosseau's eighth-inning homer off Aroldis Chapman won Game 5 for Tampa, 2-1, on October 9.
Of all the hitters in that Rays lineup, it had to be him.
Two Nights in Cleveland
The 2020 Yankees went 33-27 in a 60-game season, finished second to Tampa Bay, and drew the No. 5 seed in a 16-team bracket. The first round was a best-of-three at Progressive Field, no fans, against Shane Bieber.
The suspense lasted four pitches. DJ LeMahieu singled, and Aaron Judge hit Bieber's fourth pitch for a two-run homer. Gerrit Cole did the rest: seven innings, two runs, no walks, 13 strikeouts. Only Roger Clemens, with 15 in the 2000 ALCS, had struck out more in a postseason game for the Yankees. Gleyber Torres had four hits and a homer. Yankees 12, Indians 3.
Game 2 was a mess, and I mean that fondly. It rained. Masahiro Tanaka, usually money in October, gave up six runs in four innings. Then, down 4-1 with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fourth, Gio Urshela turned on a full-count fastball from James Karinchak and put it in the left-center bleachers. It was the first postseason grand slam by a Yankees third baseman, and he hit it against the team he came up with. (I'm sure he didn't mind.)
Cleveland went back ahead 9-8 in the eighth. Chapman came in, and Urshela dove to start an inning-ending double play from the seat of his pants to keep it a one-run game.
In the ninth, Brad Hand, who'd gone 16-for-16 in save chances that year, couldn't hold it. Gary Sanchez tied it with a sacrifice fly, and LeMahieu grounded a single up the middle to score Urshela. Chapman got the last six outs. Yankees 10, Indians 9, in four hours and 50 minutes, the longest nine-inning game in big-league history.
Bad Blood, Neutral Site
The ALDS moved to San Diego, part of MLB's bubble plan, against a 40-20 Rays team that had run away with the division. Neutral site, empty seats, and a lot of bad blood.
There was history, too. On September 1 at the Stadium, Chapman's first pitch to the pinch-hitter Brosseau, with two outs in the ninth, was a 101 mph fastball near his head. Benches cleared. The Rays won 5-3, and Kevin Cash didn't mince words afterward.
I've got a whole damn stable full of guys that throw 98 miles an hour. Period.
MLB suspended Chapman three games and gave Aaron Boone and Cash one each. Nobody forgot.
Four Games, Two Each
Game 1 went fine. Randy Arozarena took Cole deep in the first, but Clint Frazier reached the second deck, Kyle Higashioka and Judge took Blake Snell deep in the fifth for the tie and the lead, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a ninth-inning grand slam off John Curtiss. Cole went six with eight strikeouts. 9-3.
Game 2 is the one I still grumble about. Boone started 21-year-old Deivi Garcia, the youngest starter the franchise had ever sent out in October, as an opener, then went to J.A. Happ in the second. Arozarena homered off Garcia. Mike Zunino and Manuel Margot hit two-run homers off Happ, who lasted 2 2/3 innings. Tyler Glasnow struck out 10, a Rays postseason record. Stanton homered twice off him and it didn't matter. Rays 7, Yankees 5. (Trying to out-Rays the Rays is a freakin' trap. We know this now.)
Tanaka didn't have it in Game 3, and it wasn't close. Kevin Kiermaier hit a three-run homer off him, Arozarena led off the fifth with another one, and Michael Perez took Chad Green deep. Stanton's two-run shot in the eighth gave him a homer in five straight postseason games, a Yankees record. Rays 8, Yankees 4.
Facing elimination, the club finally pitched like it. Jordan Montgomery gave up one run in four innings, Luke Voit homered in the second, and Torres put Ryan Yarbrough's first pitch onto the Western Metal Supply Co. building in the sixth. (That's the old brick warehouse in the left-field corner. Fun target.) Green, Zack Britton and Chapman threw five scoreless innings. Yankees 5, Rays 1.
Game 5: Ten Pitches
Cole took the ball on short rest for the first time in his career. Glasnow opened for Tampa on two days' rest. Judge led off the fourth with a homer off Nick Anderson, and for a little while the Yankees led an elimination game behind their $324 million ace.
Austin Meadows tied it in the fifth with a homer off Cole, as Judge leapt and banged his head on the padded overhang. Cole left in the sixth after 5 1/3 innings, one run and nine strikeouts. He'd done his job.
Chapman entered in the seventh. Brosseau, who'd pinch-hit for Ji-Man Choi in the sixth and stayed in at first, came up with one out in the eighth. He fouled off sliders. He fouled off 99. He took a 100 mph heater just inside. On the 10th pitch, Chapman threw another 100, and Brosseau hit it over the wall in left.
The Rays' bullpen did the rest, and that was the season. All three runs in a 2-1 game scored on solo homers.
It's awful. The ending is cruel, it really is.
Brosseau, to his credit, wouldn't take the bait. "No revenge," he said. "We put that in the past."
What It Left Behind
Stanton finished the postseason 8-for-26 with six homers and 13 RBI in seven games. Arozarena hit .421 with three homers against the Yankees and kept going: the Rays beat Houston in seven, then lost the World Series to the Dodgers in six.
I don't think the Yankees lost that series because of one at-bat. They lost Game 2 to a plan that got too cute, and Game 3 to the Rays' lineup. But the at-bat is what you remember, because baseball wrote the September 1 sequel nobody in the Bronx wanted to read.
The Yankees' next October lasted one game, the 2021 Wild Card loss at Fenway. The year before, the 2019 ALDS sweep of the Twins had felt like the start of something. For the full 60-game weirdness, see the COVID bubble season.
Ten pitches, 38 days after the one that started it all.
| Wild Card Series | Yankees 2, Cleveland 0 |
| WC Game 1 (Sept. 29) | Yankees 12, Indians 3 |
| WC Game 2 (Sept. 30) | Yankees 10, Indians 9 (4:50) |
| ALDS | Rays 3, Yankees 2 (all at Petco Park) |
| ALDS Game 1 (Oct. 5) | Yankees 9, Rays 3 |
| ALDS Game 2 (Oct. 6) | Rays 7, Yankees 5 |
| ALDS Game 3 (Oct. 7) | Rays 8, Yankees 4 |
| ALDS Game 4 (Oct. 8) | Yankees 5, Rays 1 |
| ALDS Game 5 (Oct. 9) | Rays 2, Yankees 1 |
| Cole, WC Game 1 | 7 IP, 2 R, 0 BB, 13 K |
| Cole, ALDS Game 5 (short rest) | 5 1/3 IP, 1 R, 9 K |
| Stanton, 2020 Postseason | 8-for-26 (.308), 6 HR, 13 RBI |
| Arozarena vs. Yankees, ALDS | .421, 3 HR |
101 MPH Near Brosseau's Head
Chapman's first pitch to pinch-hitter Mike Brosseau in the ninth sails near his head at the Stadium. Benches clear, the Rays win 5-3, and Kevin Cash mentions his "stable."
Wild Card Game 1: Cole Fans 13
Judge homers on Bieber's fourth pitch and Cole strikes out 13 over seven innings. Yankees 12, Indians 3.
Wild Card Game 2: Urshela's Slam
Urshela's fourth-inning grand slam flips a 4-1 deficit, Sanchez ties it in the ninth, and LeMahieu's single wins it in a record 4:50 nine-inning game. Yankees 10, Indians 9.
ALDS Game 1: Stanton's Grand Slam
Higashioka and Judge homer off Snell, and Stanton adds a ninth-inning slam. Yankees 9, Rays 3.
ALDS Game 4: Staying Alive
Montgomery and three relievers hold Tampa to one run, and Voit and Torres homer. Yankees 5, Rays 1.
ALDS Game 5: Brosseau Off Chapman
Cole strikes out nine on short rest, but Brosseau homers off Chapman on the 10th pitch of an eighth-inning at-bat. Rays 2, Yankees 1.
Rays Win the Pennant
Tampa beats Houston 4-2 in Game 7 of the ALCS. The Dodgers beat them in a six-game World Series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who hit the home run off Aroldis Chapman in the 2020 ALDS?
Mike Brosseau of the Rays. With one out in the eighth inning of Game 5 on October 9, 2020, he homered on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, a 100 mph fastball, to break a 1-1 tie. Tampa Bay won 2-1 and took the series 3-2.
Where was the 2020 ALDS between the Yankees and Rays played?
All five games were played at Petco Park in San Diego, a neutral site, with no fans, as part of MLB's 2020 postseason bubble.
Did Gerrit Cole pitch on short rest in the 2020 ALDS?
Yes. Cole started Game 5 on short rest for the first time in his career and allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts. The Yankees still lost, 2-1.
How many home runs did Giancarlo Stanton hit in the 2020 playoffs?
Six in seven games, with 13 RBI. He homered in each of the Yankees' first five postseason games, a franchise record, including a grand slam in Game 1 of the ALDS.
Who did the Yankees beat in the 2020 Wild Card Series?
Cleveland. The Yankees won both games at Progressive Field, 12-3 on September 29 and 10-9 on September 30, 2020. Game 2 took 4 hours and 50 minutes, the longest nine-inning game in MLB history.