Baseball has a way of delivering humblings. This isn’t meant to point out even the immortal Kiké Hernández has made outs in half his playoff plate appearances, true as that is. It’s more a reflection on how quickly we can go from feeling like we’re holding the winning lotto ticket to pawing at our pockets, befuddled where it could’ve went.
For the Yankees, it never got better than Sept. 26, the end of their first Fenway Park sweep since 2015. For the Rays, munching popcorn in their dugout during Game 1 of the Division Series was made real ancient, real fast.