Roasting the Yankees for not prepping for Tropicana Field misses the bigger point: they did prep, and it still didn’t save them.
Before their ALDS clash with Tampa, the Yankees worked through the same sort of Trop-specific drills people are now saying they ignored. They rolled balls down the line to track bounces and weird hops, had Austin Wells handling relays with two-hoppers to the plate off the turf, and then got into pop-up work. They even brought out a machine behind the plate to launch high flies and pop-ups so the club could sort out the challenge of picking a white baseball against a white fabric backdrop.
That detail matters because a lot of the criticism after New York’s Game 2 mess has been built on selective memory. Fans have pointed to the Yankees practicing at George M.
Steinbrenner Field during their off day in Tampa and turned that into a punchline, as if they skipped over Tropicana Field’s quirks entirely in favor of outdoor sunshine and high-tech gadgets. But the Yankees did the homework before Game 1.
It just didn’t translate.
And that’s the part getting lost in the noise. The Yankees’ failure in Game 2 started from the first batter of the first inning, with the defense unraveling in spectacular fashion. So yes, there’s plenty to critique about how that postseason went, but blaming their prep routine for this particular flop doesn’t really hold up.
The Brewers are now heading into Tropicana Field with a 2-0 World Series lead over the Rays after Milwaukee fell behind 4-0 against Drew Rasmussen, rallied, and then went after Ian Seymour in the late innings. Seymour’s postseason line has become its own cautionary tale: 3 innings, one hit, one run, four Ks against the Yankees in Game 2, 1 1/3 shutout frames against the Yankees in Game 3, 1 1/3, one hit, shutout in Game 2 against Cleveland, 1 inning, four hits, two runs in Game 4 against Cleveland, 0 batters retired, two walks and a hit by pitch in Game 6 against Cleveland, and 2/3 of an innings, two hits, one run, a walk and a blown save in Game 2 of the World Series.
So, no, this isn’t a case of the Yankees forgetting how to prepare for the building. The more accurate read is simpler: they practiced for Tropicana Field in much the same way the Brewers did, and they still got buried when the game got rolling.
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