The New York Yankees have entered the ninth inning looking up a few times and have emerged victorious five times this season. Let’s rank the Comeback Kids and their greatest comebacks so far.
What this New York Yankees team is doing right now is nothing short of special. Coming off their surprisingly dominant postseason performance in 2017, the 2018 Yankees are showing that these players are nothing to mess with.
The Yankees are making the comeback great again, getting production from all parts of their lineup and finding ways to win when the odds are stacked against them. This season has been an incredible ride and it is only just beginning.
So far this year, the Yankees have staged numerous come-from-behind victories but what is most impressive is that five of those have victories have come with the Yankees entering the ninth inning while trailing.
To begin a comeback is hard. But to do it all in one inning? That is absolutely incredible. Even more so? This stat.
This is the first time in the live ball era (since 1920) when the Yankees had five comeback wins trailing in the 9th inning or later before June per @StatsBySTATS
— Jeff Quagliata (@yestoresearch) May 30, 2018
So in discussing the awesome games, let’s rank them, shall we? Counting down, here are the best ninth-inning comebacks from the Yankees this year … so far.
5. April 27, 2018
In the city of Angels, the Yankees were hoping to win a tough battle. Down one run going into the top of the ninth, they weren’t ready to quit just yet.
Brett Gardner got the game to go to extras with a clutch, pinch-hit sacrifice fly to plate Gary Sanchez and tie the game at three.
On the road, this comeback is a huge deal. It may only be one run but having a pinch-hitter come in and get the job done so Didi Gregorius could hit his go-ahead homer in the 10th is awesome.
4. April 26, 2018
The Minnesota Twins looked good. However, Gary Sanchez decided that he was going to look better. And when he sent a walk-off home run into the afternoon sky, it looked great.
Shut down by the Twins in Yankee Stadium, the Yankees had already won the series by taking three games from them previously. Down 3-0, the Yankees pushed across a run in the seventh but couldn’t capitalize to take the lead. Then the bottom of the ninth rolled around.
With closer Fernando Rodney on the mound, Didi Gregorius reached on an error and Giancarlo Stanton followed with an infield single. The stage was set for Sanchez.
Sanchez promptly ended the game with a blast to left field, sending the fans home happy.
And the best thing? This was just the beginning of the comebacks that would come along for the next month.
3. May 29, 2018
Let’s be completely honest: this game was atrocious to watch. From the five errors to the 17 strikeouts, there was absolutely no way the Yankees were going to win this game.
Right?
Wrong. The Yankees entered the ninth down two runs and Brett Gardner delivered for the Bombers, sneaking a two-run home run over the right-field wall to tie the game. Oh, and it was against the defending World Series champion Houston Astros. How disrespectful of him.
Of course, the game ended with some Gleyber Torres magic but the real magic came in the ninth inning when Brett Gardner broke out in a big way.
2. May 3, 2018
In Houston and down two runs, the 2017 Yankees wouldn’t be able to do it. This 2018 team is something entirely different.
With the bases loaded, Gleyber Torres hit a huge RBI single to plate two and tie the game in the top of the ninth for the Yanks. With a must less exciting hit, Aaron Judge drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI groundout.
Then in comes Aroldis Chapman to close it all out, which he did in dominating fashion.
Staging a comeback is hard. Staging a ninth-inning comeback in Houston, the city they could not buy a victory during the playoffs, is almost impossible. But never say never with this team.
1. May 6, 2018
How sweep it is! The New York Yankees completed the sweep of the Cleveland Indians in the best way possible: on a rookie’s walk-off hit.
But that wasn’t just what made this game so great. Down 4-0 in the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees pulled within one on a Gardner RBI single and a two-run double from the Judge. Entering the bottom of the ninth, they were facing Cody Allen while down one.
That deficit was quickly erased by a Neil “Rally Starter” Walker double to score Aaron Hicks. The big blow came from rookie Gleyber Torres, who launched his first walk-off blast on his second-career home run.
What makes this comeback so great is the fact that Torres isn’t known for his power. But in this at-bat, he looked like a true heavy hitter. And this was just the beginning of something beautiful.
The Yankees have five ninth-inning comebacks. They are destined for so many more. The season is still young and so are the Bombers.
