If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, just how crazy must New York Yankees fans be feeling right now? Just when a Wild Card romp over the Red Sox had everyone thinking this year might finally be the year, the first two games of their ALDS matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays have felt all too familiar: a punchless offense, a comedy of errors on defense and some very brain-dead messaging from Aaron Boone in the aftermath.
The good news is that the scene now shifts to Yankee Stadium, and New York has two more aces up its sleeve in Max Fried and Carlos Rodon in Games 3 and (if necessary) 4. The bad news is that there might not be a more confident team — or a team more suited to drive the Yankees crazy — in baseball than the Rays right now. Tampa has made things look very easy to this point in the series, and they'll be sending a starter in Nick Martinez to the mound who has been among the AL's best all year long.
Will the Yankees fight back? Or will the Rays continue to play the sort of high-energy, fundamental baseball that carried them to the AL's best record in the regular season? Fans can follow along with all of the action, player stats and game stats with us below.
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Box score: Rays vs. Yankees live player stats and team stats
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