The New York Yankees’ 2022 season has come to an end after Sunday night's game in the Bronx after the Houston Astros completed their sweep of the ALCS, winning 6-5. The Yankees started off the game well, looking fired up and poised to make a comeback in the series by taking an early 3-0 lead. But the Astros responded with a four run third inning to take the lead, and came out swinging again in the seventh inning, scoring two runs to take a 6-5 lead, and never looked back.

Jeremy Pena won ALCS MVP going 6-for-17 with two homers and four RBIs across the four-game series, including a three run homer on Sunday to tie the score and give the Houston Astros the momentum in the deciding game. The Houston Astros are now the third team in postseason history to go undefeated in the playoffs before the World Series, following the 2014 Kansas City Royals and the 2007 Colorado Rockies. 

The dominant factor in the ALCS was the Astros starting pitchers, though. In the four game series, they had a combined total innings pitched of 18.1, dominantly only allowing eight hits and one earned run. The bottom line of the series that everyone will remember is how the Yankees “wanted Houston” but failed to even win one game. Yankees manager Aaron Boone even blamed the game two loss on the roof being open.

Aaron Judge had one of the biggest fall offs from regular season to post season that we’ve seen. He only gained a disappointing five hits in the playoffs after his stellar MVP season.

But Judge isn’t the only one to blame.

The last straw was the entire Yankee lineup hitting under .200 for the entire series against Houston and struck out at a laughable rate. If this team ever wants to advance to win a World Series, the same team that plays all summer must continue to show up in October.