What Went Wrong: Yankees Fizzle in Fenway and Cards' Season Ends in Walk-off Fashion

The MLB Wild Card Games have come and gone, and after the dust was settled, the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals each saw their season come to an end. These two teams have won a combined 38 World Series, the two winningest teams in MLB history, but no playoff wins in 2021. In fact, the teams scored a combined three runs in this year's postseason. First off, let's discuss the Yankees' exit.

The person you see in the photo above is Gerrit Cole, aka The Reason Why The Yankees are Eliminated. I'm just going to put on my pinstriped hat and say it. I told you so. I said as early as two years ago that the Yankees did not need Gerrit Cole. Yet after the heartbreaking ALCS loss to the Houston Astros in 2019, the Bronx Bombers gave in and gave out a lot of money to acquire Cole. Many Yankees fans begged for Cole to don the pinstripes. They cheered when he finally did. Me? I was immensely skeptical. And from what I've seen from Cole in the past two seasons, my skepticism was justified.

Plain and simple, Gerrit Cole did not earn a single penny of that hefty contract he received. Too many uneasy starts in his brief time (so far) as a Yankee. His starts in the 2020 postseason could have been a lot better. This year saw Cole get blasted a lot by teams any other pitcher would have easily dominated. Even worse, Cole committed the ultimate sin as a Yankee: he got owned this season by Boston. Gerrit Cole's ERA against the Red Sox entering the Wild Card Game was 6.19. In the game, Cole only lasted two full innings, giving up home runs to Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Schwarber before being pulled in the third inning with no outs. Honestly, once those homers were hit, I knew the game--as well as the Yankees' season--was over.

It's time for my fellow Yankees fans to admit the truth: Gerrit Cole has been a failure for this team. He has not delivered like he's supposed to, he's lost a lot of winnable games, and the Yankees would have been in a much better position if they let him stay in Houston.

For the St. Louis Cardinals, however, only two things went wrong for them. One, Max Scherzer was on the mound for the Dodgers. Two, Chris Taylor's swing won it for the Boys in Blue. There is no shame in getting dominated by Max Scherzer; it happens to many, many teams. Adam Wainwright was dealing; only surrendering Justin Turner's solo HR in 5 1/3 innings on the mound. This was a pitcher's duel all the way through; Kenley Jansen got into some trouble in the ninth inning but got out of it, and then after Cody Bellinger got on, Taylor struck with the walk-off shot to win it.

The Cardinals' run to the postseason was quite a magical one. A 17-game winning streak in September; overall, winning 19 of their final 22 games to end the regular season at 90-72 and a Wild Card berth. They took it to the Dodgers in the Wild Card game, but the walk-off HR is a cruel mistress. The Cardinals should be very proud of their season, especially their fantastic home stretch. They lost to the defending World Series champions; absolutely no shame in that.

So the 27th annual Division Series is all set now. The Red Sox will now face the Tampa Bay Rays (last year's American League champions) in the ALDS. This is the third postseason meeting between the AL East clubs; the Rays defeated the Red Sox in the 2008 ALCS to win their first-ever pennant, and five years later, the Red Sox ousted the Rays in the ALDS during their championship run. As for the Dodgers, we have a first, as they will face off against the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS. These two teams have co-existed as rivals in both coasts for 131 years, but this will be the first time that they will face each other in the postseason. The other two Division Series will feature the Chicago White Sox facing off against the Houston Astros, and the Milwaukee Brewers facing off against the Atlanta Braves.

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