The Yankees’ Game 2 collapse against the Tampa Bay Rays put Ryan McMahon squarely in the crosshairs, and for good reason. New York’s defense fell apart in a 5-2 loss on Monday night, but the damage started before the game could even settle in.
On the first batter of the night, Yandy Diaz sent a routine chopper toward third, and McMahon booted it. Diaz eventually came around to score after Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s throwing error, and the Yankees were chasing the game almost immediately.
That one play fit the whole night’s theme. The Yankees made four errors in all, and the loss left them down 2-0 in the ALDS. The deficit is not impossible to overcome, but it becomes a much steeper climb if McMahon keeps manning third base.
That’s the frustration with McMahon. When the Yankees got him at last year’s trade deadline, they were counting on a player who could bring Gold Glove-level work at third and maybe even give the bat a little life.
Instead, they’ve gotten neither. In October 2026, he has hit .213/.279/.357 with a 78 wRC+ in 360 regular season plate appearances, and he has only one hit in seven at-bats in the postseason.
The glove hasn’t held up, either. McMahon had 7 Defensive Runs Saved at third for the Yankees in 2025, but this year he’s at -3 Defensive Runs Saved with a Fielding Run Value of 0, according to Baseball Savant. He’s still flashed the occasional highlight-reel play, but those moments have been wiped out by the kind of mistakes that can’t happen in October.
At this point, the Yankees don’t have much reason to keep him in the starting lineup. If he isn’t hitting and he’s giving away outs on routine balls, he’s hurting them more than helping them. The simplest answer is to move him to the bench.
That pushes Anthony Volpe into the conversation at third base. Volpe got reps there in Triple-A and made his first major-league appearance at the position on September 25.
He didn’t have a ball hit to him in that game, but the Yankees had seen enough of him in the minors to know he can handle the spot. Aaron Boone even thought about starting him at third in Game 2, but held back because he was concerned about the turf at Tropicana Field, according to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News.
With the series now shifting to Yankee Stadium, Boone’s hand may finally be forced. There’s also a case for Volpe to take over at second base instead of Jazz Chisholm Jr., whose defense in Game 2 was rough, but Chisholm brings more offensive upside than McMahon does. Still, Volpe would be the cleaner option at third.
His offense has cooled over the last couple of regular season games, as he went 5-for-26 in his final seven contests, but the stretch he put together after returning to the majors on September 10 is still more encouraging than what McMahon has offered all year.
The Yankees have used the same lineup in the first two games of the ALDS and managed only five hits. Changing out one of the struggling pieces at least gives them a chance to force Tampa Bay to adjust. Volpe may not be a lineup savior, but compared with McMahon - who has done little in this postseason and set off Monday night’s defensive mess - he looks like the better bet.
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Four errors told part of the story, and Aaron Boone did not try to gloss over the defensive mess, even as he praised Schlittler for keeping the game within reach. For a Yankees team already staring at a 2-0 series deficit, the reaction from its young starter said plenty about the mood in the room, and about how little margin is left for anyone to keep waiting on a cleaner version of this group. [Read more 🡒]
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For a Yankees club trying to steady itself in October, the sequence was a jarring reminder of how quickly one inning can tilt a series. Chisholms athleticism has long been part of what makes him such an electric player, but on this night those same moments became part of the story of a brutal collapse the Yankees could not afford. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Boone Just Made Yankees Fans Even More Furious
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The issue only got louder after Game 2 of the Division Series, when the Yankees committed multiple errors and did something the franchise had never done before in a postseason inning. Boone also addressed Trent Grishams defense ahead of the matchup, a reminder that every detail is being scrutinized now, and that the margin for patience gets thinner once October starts exposing the same flaws over and over. [Read more 🡒]