Jersey Guy Sports

342 - How a 7-6 Walk-Off exposed all that's wrong with the 2026 Yankees

• Don Signorino

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0:00 | 16:55

Up 6-3 with two outs in the ninth should be a win you file away and forget. Instead, the Yankees turn it into a 7-6, 10-inning walk-off loss to the Mets, and we’re left staring at the same uncomfortable question: how can a team with playoff goals look so helpless late in games?

I break down the 2026 Yankees bullpen meltdown, starting with why the closer situation feels fundamentally broken. David Bednar’s latest blown lead isn’t treated like a one-off mistake, it’s the clearest example of a bullpen with zero dependable arms and no clean path to the final outs. From there, I zoom out to the bigger roster-building problem and why patching relief pitching from the scrap heap keeps coming back to bite New York.

Then I get into the stuff that drives fans crazy in extra innings: the ghost runner on second, the inability to get a bunt down, and a lineup that too often swings like it’s home run or nothing. I also talk bluntly about the bottom of the order, including Austin Wells at catcher and Ryan McMahon at third base, and what it means when multiple spots feel like automatic outs in high-leverage spots. The trade deadline is coming, and “it’s only May” stops working when it’s getting late early.

If you’re fed up, you’re not alone. Subscribe to Jersey Guy Sports, share this with a Yankees fan who’s still making excuses, and leave a review with your take: what’s the first move you make to fix this team?

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Bullpen Collapse And Bednar Breakdown

Why Basic Baseball Keeps Failing

Wells And McMahon Sink The Lineup

Trade Deadline Pressure And Final Word

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to Jersey Guy Sports, your sports talk home for the Yanks, the Giants, Knicks, the Rangers, and the Rutgers Carlton Knights. And the Rio's Dawn. I want to thank you for listening. Today I'm going to be discussing how it's 7-6 Sunday. Walk-off loss to the Mets showed everything that is wrong with the 2026 Yankees. Let's go ahead and get started. Oye. So this is a tough one. On Sunday, a Yankee starter gave up one run, and the Yankees bullpen gave up six. Now raise your hand if this sounds familiar. The epic disaster that is the Yankees bullpen once again displayed just how friggin' awful they are, giving up six runs in a 7-6, 10-inning walk-off loss to the New York Mets on Sunday. That is about as aggravating a loss as you can possibly have if you're a New York Yankee fan. And this is in May. You should not be able to be this aggravated about a Yankee loss in May. Now, this epic collapse of the bullpen, which has gone on all year, included Bednar, once again, giving up a three-run, tying Homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and the Yanks up six to three. You know my thoughts on Bednar, who seems to never, ever, ever be able to get a one-two-three-ninth. I mean, he just can't do it. It's not in his DNA. He simply cannot be the Yankees closer going forward because he is incapable of having a one, two, three-ninth. Even in the rare games that he saves without giving up a run, there's all kinds of drama. A walk here, a blue pit there, you know, a run that he gives up here when they're up two. He cannot simply get a one, two, three, ninth if his friggin' life depended on it. He does not strike out enough people. His killer pitch is mostly a breaking pitch. And we cannot go into the postseason with a closer that is as bad as Bednar is. And last year he seemed to be better. This year he is not. We simply cannot have David Bednar as the Yankees closer in the postseason. Full stop. It cannot happen. And Bednar was not the only problem with the Yankee bullpen. He's just one part of a giant foo bar mess that Brian Cashman put together because every year he just tries to pick up people off the scrap heap and just, yeah, well, we'll be fine. And think, you know, we can just make them better by throwing them in some melting pot and just saying, yeah, here we go. Well, this year they all suck balls. Every single one of them sucks. You get occasional good outings from Hill. We were getting good adject good outings from Hedrick. Lately we are not anymore. Every now and then someone does well, but on a consistent basis, the Yankee bullpen stinks. I don't care what metrics Michael K, other writers put out there, the eye test says they suck the bullpen. They do. And Bednar is the epitome of the problem with the New York Yankees. In this game, everything that is the Yankees' problem for 2026 was on full display. Now, Elmer Rodriguez, the rookie, 21 years old, he threw too many pitches, unfortunately. He pitched pretty well, but too many pitches, too many walks. He only gave up one run, but then the clown show that is the Yankees bullpen had to come in starting in the fifth inning because Rodriguez was up to 85 or 90 pitches through four, which is just way too many. So the clown show bullpen comes in. They only gave up two runs until the ninth. And then Bednar, of course, shit the bed, gave up a three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth, and then Hill, of course, gave up the winning run in the 10th. And just like that, the Yankees are going to limp home losers of seven of their last nine games on this road trip. And this game, as I mentioned, showed everything that is wrong with the 2026 New York Yankees. And the first thing is what we just talked about, this bullpen disaster. I mean, this bullpen is a train wreck. I don't know how else to describe them. And it showed again on Sunday zero reliable pen arms and a closure that can never finish without some kind of drama, runs, base runners, walks, or a blown save. One of those things happens every single goddamn time that Bednar is in the game. Every single time. And it's madning. And it's not viable to go into the postseason with Bednar as our closer. And I'm sorry, the whole bullpen needs a needs to make over. Deval stinks. They have other people that just aren't good enough. I mean, please, we got Byrne in there and Blackburn. Give me a break. We have absolutely no righties that are any good at all. Occasionally Cruz looks good. And the other half of the time he can't find the plate if he had a map. It's a disaster of a bullpen. And Brian Cashman deserved to get smacked across the face for how ridiculous this bullpen is. So that's the full the first thing that was on display. The next thing that was on full display is the Yankees' inability, how should I put this, to execute basic baseball plays, right? Things like just getting a bunt down, which we've talked about in the past before. In the top of the 10th, after Bednar blew the lead and it was tied 6'6 going into the 10th inning, the Yankees simply could not get a bunt down. You have the stupid ghost runner on second base. Try as we may, we could not get a bunt down. Blah, blah, blah. We end up not scoring. Of course we don't, because God forbid we should be able to just play some basic baseball, hit the ball to the right, get two fly balls, two fly balls to right field, score a runner from second with no ass, by the way, guys. Just simple, basic thing that the Yankees can't do. But we cannot get a bunt down. We absolutely cannot get a bunt down. Now the Mets did just fine in the bottom of the 10th, but the Yankees absolutely cannot play basic baseball. It's home run or nothing, right? And that's it. We simply cannot make basic baseball plays. And of course, the announcers early in the game discussed how hard it is. Do you know how hard it is to bunt in 95-minute hour fastball? Do you know how hard it is? I mean, almost making fun of the fact that people want to bunt. And Cone's like, oh yeah, thank you. Give me the bunt. I'll take the extra out every time as a pitcher. Well, you know what? Bednar, or I'm sorry, Hill took the extra out as a bunt, you know, in the, you know, in the in the bottom of the tenth, got the runner to third, and then the little ground ball to the infield got him in where he wouldn't have scored from second. But you know what? That little bunt that Coney said, fine, give me the bun. Well, they gave him the bunt and it cost the Yankees the game because they got the bunt down and we did not. So this yippy-yappy, you know, happy horse shit that the announcers go through about you know how bunting's not important, or it's so hard. It's never hard for other teams. Notice that it's only hard for the Yankees. How many times did Tampa Bay bunt against us in that three-game series we had against them earlier this year? Feels like 15 times. And every time they executed it great, and the Yankees couldn't do anything. They couldn't feel, they were throwing the ball around. Typical Yankees, right? Can't play baseball the right way. Other teams seem to be able to bunt a 95 mile an hour fastball, quote unquote, just fine. It's just the Yankees I can't seem to fucking execute. And I don't understand why the announcers, and they just drive me nuts, starting with Michael K, continue to put lipstick on this pig. It's so hard. You know how hard it is? Oh, yeah, give me an out, Coney says. Yeah, I'll take it if you're a pitcher. Well, you know what? You just you just took a loss, is what you did in the Sent Denny by letting them bunt successfully, right? They are bad at situational hitting. They cannot move runners, they cannot get sacrificed flies, they cannot hit to the right side with a runner on second if you're a righty. They cannot get a bunt down, right? They cannot make basic defensive plays, cannot cover the right bases, throw to the right bases, basic baseball plays the Yankees are not good at. And if you and again, full display in this game. And the other thing, well, the next thing that was on full display that is a problem with the 2026 Yankees is our catcher. Austin Wells continued his putrid, awful, disgusting season. I don't even know what to say. And career, by the way, which is a big point I want to make. It's not just this season, it's his career. The season is even worse than his awful career. But everyone that keeps talking about Austin Wells is just like, oh, he's having an off-year or a bad start to the season. This is not just a bad start to the season. He is a terrible baseball player. I mean, he ended this ninth inning, you know, when when the Yankees could have added to the lead by bouncing into a double play. And of course he did, right? Of course he did. Of course. I'm sorry, he ended the tenth, right? Of course, of course, of course he did. Because Austin Wells is a horrible, horrible, horrible baseball player and a terrible hitter. I mean, it's probably not possible, if you think about it, for the Yankees to find a worse catcher than Austin Wells. Think about it. Tell me who the Yankees can have on this team and play catcher that is worse than Austin Wells. Think about it. Give me one. Any of that come to mind? And this is not new. Austin Wells has a career 218 batting average, right? So when you hear Michael Kay try to put lipstick on a pig or other people in the paper saying, you know, he's having a down year, or Booney, you know, with his stupid colloquialisms. Yeah, you know, Wellsy's having a little tough gun, you know, he's he's going through the grind right now, as if like he's been some good hitter in the past or great hitter in the past. Like right now he's going through it. Yeah, he's worse than normal now, but he's never any good. He's never ever a good hitter. He's a career 218 hitter. And the Yankees have a couple of these guys on the team, by the way. You know, you have Grisham, who's basically the same thing. He's like a career 220 hitter. Volpe is a career 218 hitter. McMahon, another awful career hitter. The Yankees have four people that don't bat in their career above 220. This is not championship caliber players here, guys. This team is not made up of championship level players. And specifically, the catcher, who I just talked about, who I cannot stand anymore. He's just a terrible baseball player, Austin Wells. And then that brings me to the next part, right? The next thing that was on full display today that is a problem for the 2026 Yankees, and that is we do not have a major league hitting third baseman. Ryan McMahon is just another hitting disaster, and he's mired in yet another long slump. And it's just untenable for the Yankees to have Ryan McMahon be the starting third baseman in a playoff series. And I don't care if he's good defensively. And even that is not that great this year because he keeps throwing the ball away. It's untenable. He cannot be the starting third basem in the playoffs, and Wells cannot be the starting catcher in the playoffs. I mean, for third base, put Oswaldo Cabrera there or someone. Anyone else will do. Seriously, I'll take George Lombard Jr., anyone. Someone other than Ryan McMahon has got to be hitting at that spot. Because you get to the bottom of the Yankee lineup and you and you get Volpe, you get McMahon, and you get Wells. Could there be three worse hitters in baseball that you could possibly? And yeah, I know, you know, Volpe actually had a good day today, right? And you know, maybe he'll have a few good games in a row. And what I said, you know, would be true, you know, when I when I talked about him on a few podcasts ago, he's gonna have a few good games, and everybody's gonna say, yeah, see, he's great. It's another one. That's a career 218 hitter, right? And that's another big problem. Although that was not on full display today, you know, that's certainly a problem, too. So we we, you know, if he's gonna be the shortstop, we need a short stop. If he's gonna be, you know, we need a third baseman, we need a catcher, we need a bullpen. We probably need a center fielder because Grisham can't bat 218 and play center field every day. This 2026 Yankees, whatever you want to call it, may decay instead of the usual June, boon, swoon. It's coming a bit earlier this year, right? In 2026. But sure enough, the Yankees, after their usual really hot start, like they always do, get off on under Boon. Once again, you know, all these, you know, Pollyanna views and oh, great the Yankees are, and this and that. And, you know, it's a long season. My dad always tells me that's a long season. People are what the back of their baseball card are. And if you're established in the league long enough, you're usually going to migrate to somewhere around what your baseball card says, right? If you're young enough, you know, you're developing that baseball card and you don't really know what it is yet. But once you're in the league three or four years or longer, you're usually about what your baseball card says. It's just what it is. And when you look at the Yankees, most of them are playing to about what their baseball card is. And they're just not good enough, right? Look at the back of all the Yankee baseball cards. Look at their stats over the years, right? And even though they got off to a hot start, it's a long season. I always have to remind myself what my dad always tells me, right? And Cashman and Boone cannot just sweep this under the rug, right? This was a gut punch of a loss for the Yankees today. And they lost another series to the Mets, who they have not beaten in a series in about seven years. It's so ridiculous. For whatever reason, the Yankees simply cannot seem to beat the Mets, even though they're much better than them as a team. It's just the Mets get up much higher for these games than the Yankees do, and the Yankees end up choking. Cashman and Boone cannot just sweep this under the rug. They cannot just talk, they're pulling in a bullshit like they normally do after games and losses like this, and go forward as if this is just another game or it's another series, or it's just May, or yeah, no, no, or you know, Wellsier turning around. We thought he really had good at bats and had good contact and was really seeing the pitches and all this other bullshit as to why it doesn't matter that he's batting 168, you know, that he ended the game on a double play, that he absolutely is the worst hitter in you know, the Yankees I've seen in a very long time. You can't ignore this stuff. We can't ignore that Ryan McMahon can't hit. You can't ignore it. You can't ignore that this bullpen is a fucking disaster that needs to be scrapped almost from top to bottom. There's probably two or three people we can keep, and everyone else needs to go to the trash heap. Brian Cashman has a lot of work to do between now and the trade deadline, and he better fucking get on the ball and start moving. Because if he doesn't, we can write the season right off right now. I don't care what Garrett Cole does when he comes back. I don't care how well Max Fried comes back from whatever injury this turns out to be. I don't care if Rodon actually bounces back properly and starts pitching well because he sucked, by the way, on Saturday. And I don't care what anyone else on the team does. If we don't fix this bullpen, none of the rest of it matters. We can get better third basemen, better catchers that have to happen. But if the bullpen continues to blow lead after lead after lead and we continue to have Bednar do what he does in the ninth, none of it's gonna matter in the playoffs. It's a long season ahead of us, it's only May. But as Yogi Barra used to say, it's getting late early. And that's gonna do it for the podcast. I've had enough here. Thank you for listening to Jersey Guys Sports. Please subscribe to the podcast. Tell your friends all about it. I'll be back soon with some more sports talk. Thanks. Have a good day.

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Don Signorino

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