The 2024 Yankees’ five worst playoff moments

Typically, I am on the positive side of these types of breakdowns. While highlighting top plays throughout the season and postseason is certainly an easier job, there is a place in every season to show what went wrong.

For the Yankees , this postseason was littered with gut-punch moments and stunning displays of incompetency — particularly for a team that actually won a pennant. Please take a deep breath, mentally prepare yourself, and let's take a look at the Yankees' five worst playoff moments of 2024. Unlike with the other rundowns * thus far, we're going to go in reverse order. Think of it as a way to ease the pain of these most agonizing moments.

*As an aside, my colleague Kevin noted who the unfortunate recapper was for each of the five worst regular season moments. Most regrettably, one member of our staff had to endure all five of these in writing: Josh. Poor guy. At least he got the pennant-clincher .

ALDS Game 2

The adrenaline was pumping for Carlos Rodón in his pinstriped playoff debut in Game 2 of the ALDS, and his emotions were on full display in the first inning. Striking out the side amplified those emotions. A yell after his first strikeout led to a yell and a shake of the head after the second. The crescendo built to his third strikeout of the inning—where Rodón stared into the Royals dugout, tongue on full display, accompanied by a chuckle as if to say, "You are not ready for me."

Unfortunately for the Yankees, the Royals were ready by the fourth, knocking him out after just 3.2 innings of work despite zeroes on the board beforehand. They ultimately tagged Rodón for four runs and seven hits, with Salvador Perez's homer snapping the fog and big hits from Tommy Pham and Garrett Hampson causing a crooked number on the scoreboard.

While the Yankees would go on to win the series, at the time, Rodón's poor outing and embarrassing antics put the Yankees in a precarious position heading back to Kansas City tied 1-1. It's easy to forget now because the ALDS ended in four games, but up until the late innings of Game 3, the Royals were oh-so-close to taking control of the series — thanks in part to Rodón.

ALCS Game 3

Two moments from Game 3 of the ALCS made this list, and picking between the two proved difficult. It is not every day that a walk-off home run would be considered the second most dreadful moment of the night. But at this point, something about this game slipping away from the Yankees felt inevitable.

It was a game Cleveland needed to have down 2-0 in the series at home, and David Fry got a Clay Holmes sinker up in the zone that he could handle. This ball was crushed, a no-doubter to keep the series within striking distance — for at least a couple more nights. How did Fry get this opportunity you ask? Well, his teammate hit a ball the inning prior that may not have landed yet.

ALCS Game 3

The Yankees were one out away from taking a commanding 3-0 series lead in the ALCS, but Jhonkensy Noel had other plans. What makes this moment worse than the walk-off is the sudden change in momentum that this home run provided to the entire series at the time. Luke Weaver had been spectacular in the postseason up until that point, giving up just one run across seven innings before this blast. Noel was waiting on a changeup after Weaver fell behind in the count, and he did not miss, tying the game in the ninth.

It was admittedly an A+ swing with a crack of the bat that still rings in my ears when I think about it. I can still feel the sudden zap of adrenaline leaving my body as that ball sailed into the Cleveland night and sent Progressive Field into a frenzy. The game was not over, but it felt like it at that moment. The Yankees would get the last laugh in the series, but not without two brutal moments from Game 3.

World Series Game 5

This could easily be the worst moment of the Yankees postseason, but it dropped to No. 2 because of the fact that it is three moments wrapped into one—an unraveling that highlighted the Yankee's flaws and ended their season. The hardest part of watching this back is that the Yankees were still up 5-0 with two outs and could not find their way out of the inning.

The Mookie Betts hit will linger for a long time, even acknowledging the weird spin. A former Gold Glove first baseman who began struggling at the position decided not to charge a baseball, and a Cy Young Award winner failed to cover first — both assuming the other was going to do the right thing when neither was up to the task. Aaron Judge's complete muff on a liner—his first since 2017 , and what a time for it—sparked the inning, and Anthony Volpe's lawn dart to Jazz Chisholm Jr. extended it, but the final nail was Cole and Rizzo. They could've ended the frame with the 5-0 lead by just completing that play.

The game did not end there, but the momentum was gone. Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández smoked back-to-back hits, and the game was tied. The Yankees would fight back a bit, but the Dodgers would again overcome another deficit to win the World Series.

World Series Game 1

If you have made it this far, hats off to you because these clips are also moments I would like to forget. To set the scene, LA was down 3-2 in the bottom of the 10th. Manager Aaron Boone called on lefty Nestor Cortes to relieve Jake Cousins, who hadn't done his job against the bottom of the Dodgers' lineup. Fellow southpaw Tim Hill had seen plenty of work this postseason and Cortes hadn't pitched in over a month due to an elbow injury, but Boone made his now-infamous call.

It almost worked out anyway. Alex Verdugo made an incredible defensive play , throwing his body into the first row to retire Shohei Ohtani for the second out. An out away from a Game 1 victory, the Yankees decided to walk Betts and load the bases for Freeman. Cortes threw two pitches that night: a fastball up-and-in to Ohtani for the biggest out of his life and a fastball to Freeman trying to produce the same result.