The Yankees squandered a golden opportunity for a commanding ALCS advantage last night when the Guardians put them away for a crucial victory in Game 3. Although the Yankees still have a 2-1 lead in the series, they let their opponents back in. , taking their boots off Cleveland’s neck and ceding the momentum they brought with them after doing business in the Bronx. As the franchise is all too well known, momentum can only take you so far in this sport, but the morning after it’s still a crushing feeling.

ALCS Game 3 was all about strength versus power. It was hard to believe that the same Guardians team that went down with a whimper in the first two games of the ALCS won 92 games in the regular season, en route to the AL Central crown in a three-way division playoff teams. But after taking charge for the first time in this series, Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt was able to deploy his winning formula for most of the year: the “four horsemen” who lived in his bullpen.

Cade Smith, the first man taken out, looked unhittable, riding a four-seamer worth 28 runs in the regular season and eliminating Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on 10 pitches. Tim Herrin got into even more trouble, causing Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked and Anthony Volpe doubled. But the southpaw, who caused groundballs more than half the time this season, got Jon Berti — who started in place of Anthony Rizzo for the sole purpose of hitting lefties — to roll over a slider for a double play that the Yankees kept at a distance. the board. Hunter Gaddis made quick work of pinch-hitting Austin Wells and Gleyber Torres before walking Soto, giving way to the Guardians’ far-from-secret weapon in the late inning.

Then Vogt’s plan unraveled. After All-Star campaigns in 2022 and 2023, Emmanuel Clase has now been named the consensus best closer in baseball after posting a ridiculous 0.61 ERA in 74 appearances this season. Even with a recent shocking save by Kerry Carpenter and the Tigers in the ALDS, he was considered an automatic.

Clase took an 0-2 lead over Judge and it looked like the Yankee captain was headed for another frustrating missed opportunity at a key position. Instead, after spitting on a ball from the outside corner, Judge placed a 99 mph cutter in the opposite direction that snaked over the right-field wall to tie the game. Stanton followed with a gritty at-bat, fouling four pitches before hitting a hanging slider. He didn’t miss it. By the time the ball landed, the Yankees were back in the lead, showing once and for all that good hitting can be better than good pitching.

While the Yankees unfortunately couldn’t hold onto that lead as their own closer, Luke Weaver, and their former closer, Clay Holmes, allowed two-run home runs in the ninth and tenth inning respectively, the ability to reach Clase could pay off as the series progresses. He has now allowed six runs in six innings this postseason after allowing just 10 all season, and he also has a checkered history against the Yanks dating back to 2022. Will Vogt, given how sharp Smith and , to a lesser extent, Gaddis have looked like, continuing to focus on his ‘all-world closer’ in the biggest places? The answer is almost certainly “yes” at this point, given Vogt’s rock-solid confidence in him, but that the possibility could even be increased speaks volumes.

Of course, the Yankees’ bullpen fared even worse. Ian Hamilton left with an injury in the sixth, potentially shrinking the Yankees’ bullpen depth going forward.

Tim Mayza and Tommy Kahnle both got into trouble, but kept the train on the track for Luke Weaver. After allowing a homer to José Ramirez in Game 2, the Yankees’ closer gave up a tying, two-run moonshot to Jhonkensy Noel last night that cost the Yankees the lead. Given his recent success and Kahnle and Holmes, the Yankees’ other two shutdown options, also looking shaky, Aaron Boone is unlikely to take a step closer. But the honeymoon period for Weaver is over, and both he and Holmes are in dire need of rest after pitching in all of the first seven games of this postseason for the Yankees.

Pitching wasn’t the only problem. Jose Trevino drew his first start of the postseason with Wells in an ugly funk and came up with a clutch hit in the second, a vintage Trevino grounder into the opposite field through a pulled infield that got the Yankees on the board. But he was inexplicably retired during the next at-bat, killing a potential rally.

More importantly, the Guardians took a clear approach with the former Platinum Glover behind the plate: run early and run often. And, as has been the case all year, they were able to execute that plan with little resistance from the Yankees’ backstop, who once again looked exposed behind the plate and nearly threw at least one ball into the outfield. Despite Wells’ anemic offense in recent weeks, Boone should think long and hard about giving Trevino another start behind the plate this postseason, even against another southpaw, with the veteran backstop’s inability to stop the run mastering the game is a major handicap.

First base also fell back into some degree of uncertainty. As noted, Berti had a somewhat surprising start versus Rizzo, who looked sharp in the first two games of the series. Berti made some nice moves, but there were also a few that didn’t look particularly sharp. However, when Rizzo replaced him as a defensive replacement, he let a very playable ball roll past him for a leadoff double in the eighth. He then made a straight mistake to start the ninth.

If healthy, Rizzo should have a stranglehold on the position. But the decision to play him on the bench last night implies (even with a left-hander on the bump) that his two broken fingers could be an ongoing concern that will need to be assessed on a game-by-game basis. Don’t be surprised if Berti or Oswaldo Cabrera reappear before the series ends.

Neither Trevino nor Rizzo cost the Yankees the game last night. Had the Yankees won and taken a commanding 3-0 lead, their struggles would have been largely incidental. But now that the Guardians have made it a series, the Boone and Yankees brass will have to make some decisions about how to deploy their lineups — and, more importantly, their defensive lineups — the rest of the way.