The 2026 Yankees’ season came to an end much like 2025 — with a loss in the second round of the playoffs against a division rival.
The Rays beat the Yankees 4-3 in Game 3 of the ALDS to sweep the series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.
The end mirrors last year, when the Yankees beat the Red Sox in the wild-card round and fell to the Blue Jays in the ALDS. The Yankees again beat the Red Sox in the first round but could not get past a division champion foe in the next series.
Max Fried went six innings, surrendering four runs — and two homers — and seven hits with seven strikeouts. The crusher came in the top of the sixth when Victor Mesa Jr. crushed a two-run homer 401 feet to right field to put the Rays up by two runs.
And it was Mesa who was in the middle of Game 3’s controversy when Anthony Volpe’s deep fly ball to left in the bottom half of the sixth looked like a game-tying blast — at first. As Mesa leapt at the wall, though, a fan reached over the fence and touched the ball. Upon review, the umpires ruled the fan had gotten in the way, and Volpe was awarded an RBI double. He was stranded on base, with the Yankees trailing.
In the bottom of the eighth, with the Yankees still trailing by a run with a runner on base and two outs, manager Aaron Boone sent up Giancarlo Stanton as a pinch hitter for Austin Wells. But the Rays countered with right-hander Kevin Kelly, who struck Stanton out on five pitches.
Bryan Baker, dominant all season, was shaky in the ninth (particularly with his changeup), but closed out the Yankees in the ninth to seal the deal.
