Yankees get some ALDS deja vu with another divisional rival — with the hope of a different outcome

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In the midst of a joyous but not raucous celebration in a Yankees clubhouse that was drenched but not flooding, Cody Bellinger provided perspective about what the club had done and had not done. 

“We were here last year,” the veteran outfielder said after his three-run home run Wednesday added some late thunder in a sweep of the Red Sox in the wild-card series. “We were at this [upcoming] series.” 

Bellinger did not finish the sentence, but this upcoming series is when their run ended. 

The location and opponent will be different, but the Yankees’ next series mirrors the hurdle they could not climb over last year: an ALDS matchup with an AL East champion whom the Yankees could not catch and is built on a contact-hitting approach and also flourishes at home. 

Playing the role of the Blue Jays this year are the Rays, whom the Yankees did not solve in the regular season. 

Will the 2026 Yankees be any different than the 2025 version? 

Beginning Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla., they will find out. 

“We have, hopefully, a long month in front of us,” manager Aaron Boone said. “And we know the next obstacle is a really challenging one with the Rays, but I love how [we are] playing the game.” 

The Yankees are thriving on the backs of a series of aces — Cam Schlittler and Max Fried combined for 12 ¹/₃, one-run, five-hit, 16-strikeout innings against Boston, thus not even requiring Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón to pitch — as well as an offense that, for two games at least, collectively stepped up without Aaron Judge. 

But they only played Tuesday and Wednesday because the league-best Rays seized control of the division June 28 and never really were threatened afterward, finishing 4 ½ games clear of the Yankees. 

Tampa Bay won the season series, taking seven of the 13 games. The Rays dominated on their home turf — a term here used literally — in winning five of the seven head-to-head contests, including a memorable sweep in April in which the Rays continually put the ball in play and the Yankees continually showed their defense was not up for the challenge. 

No team in baseball made as much contact as the Rays (18.8 percent strikeout rate), who play the same brand of baseball as the 2025 Blue Jays who so frustrated the Yankees’ staff — and have more speed, tops in the American League in steals. 

No team bunted, either for sacrifices or hits, than the Rays, who play their home games at Tropicana Field, where they try to use the hard and fast artificial turf to their advantage, putting constant pressure on the opposing defense. 

Where the 2025 Blue Jays had Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the 2026 Rays have Junior Caminero. 

Their rotation’s ERA (3.51), anchored by All-Stars Drew Rasmussen and Nick Martinez, only trailed the Yankees’ (3.30) in the AL. Their solid bullpen helped them go 25-14 in one-run games. 

For the entirety of the season, they essentially did everything well. 

“They’re a good team. Pitch well. Hit for power. Hit for contact,” Bellinger said. “… We’re going to have to play good baseball.” 

That will mean the club’s defensive questions — maybe most notably in center, where Trent Grisham’s hamstring or effort level gifted an extra base to Boston on Wednesday — will go under the microscope. Whether Boone favors a platoon bat or a surer defender at several positions will be curious. 

Not as curious as whether Judge — two-plus weeks removed from his calf strain and doing “everything I can” to be ready, he said — will talk his way onto a roster that at least did not need him for one round. 

In explaining how they knocked around the Red Sox so easily, several Yankees referenced the club’s depth — Ben Rice and Bellinger may have led the team’s attack, but the lineup received contributions from just about everyone — that it will need to lean on with or without Judge. 

“Keep playing like we’re playing, and trusting one another,” said José Caballero, who knows the Rays better than anyone. “We know that we have a deep team that we can beat anyone and just keep trusting the guys behind us.” 

And if the Yankees are going to get past the Rays — and an ALCS opponent and whoever awaits in the World Series — their rotation would have to continue buzzsawing through opposing lineups. 

“It’s always good to celebrate,” said Schlittler, set up to start Games 2 and 5. “Hopefully we get to do it a couple more times.”