A few inches – and a fan’s arms – separated Anthony Volpe from October heroics. Instead, the Yankees are swept by Tampa

What a hero he would have been.

The New York-born heir to Derek Jeter’s spot on the diamond, Anthony Volpe has become an unfortunate avatar of all the ways this iteration of the Yankees has failed to live up to the legacy set by the Jeter Era teams. The first-round draft pick turned homegrown source of hope-unrealized debuted in 2023 and has never had even an average offensive season.

This year, he spent over a month demoted to the minors. He entered October with just two home runs.

He’ll leave it that way, too.

The Yankees season is over. They were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays – who also bested them in the division despite a bottom-three payroll compared to New York’s third-highest in baseball – in the American League Division Series. Blame belongs up and down the lineup as well as directed at the fallibility of human calf muscles. Ask the New York fans left disappointed, and they’ll say blame belongs higher up as well. Following the final out, the chant that rang out around Yankee Stadium was “Fire Aaron Boone!”

But before that, for a moment in the sixth inning Wednesday night, it looked like Volpe may have at least staved off the reckoning, if not fully reversed the momentum back in the Yankees’ favor.

Over two games in Tampa, the Rays had embarrassed the Yankees – nearly no hitting them in Game 1 and putting the ball in play and watching the errors ensue in Game 2. Back home in the Bronx with the Yanks’ backs against the wall, Volpe was given the start at short for the first time in the series.

Before the game, Boone said he hoped Volpe would provide a “spark.”

It wasn’t the worst plan. In the fourth, Volpe scored to tie the game at two. In the sixth, he came to the plate with two outs, a runner on, and the Yankees trailing by two. And then he did it – the storybook version of how that at bat would play out if this was about a guy who finally got his moment.

Volpe sent the 1-0 pitch 357 feet to left field, over the outstretched glove of the Rays’ left fielder and … onto the outstretched arms of a navy blue-clad Yankee fan. It clanked awkwardly, not quite caught but deflected back into the stands.

“It is up! It is out! It’s a home run!” the broadcast declared. Tie game. New life for the beleaguered Bombers.

“Off the bat, I like the chances,” the Yankees captain, the sidelined Aaron Judge, said later of the pivotal play.

His manager wasn’t as convinced.

“I was a little concerned right away,” Boone said. “I wasn’t sure.”

Neither were the umpires on the field, who sent it for a replay review. The slowed-down, side angle was clear: Fan interference. Volpe was awarded a double, driving in just one run to make the game 4-3 in favor of Tampa.

It was the last scoring for either side on the night.

“Seeing the replay and seeing it unfold, I thought they did the right thing,” Boone said. “I thought they got it right.”

They did, and that’s the important part. It doesn’t matter that almost exactly 30 years ago Jeter himself hit a similar ball that was ruled a home run despite interference from a young fan. That home run, which was allowed to stand, tied an ALCS game that was eventually won in a postseason that was eventually a World Series championship that eventually started a dynasty.

Could it have all hinged on that swing? On a ball that was only expected to be a home run in 12 out of 30 stadiums (the park where it was taking place not among them)? Maybe. But not likely. Even the most dedicated and determined Yankee fan would struggle to blame external forces for their elimination. It wasn’t a blown call. It wasn’t even really a game of inches.

“We had more opportunities, we had a bunch more innings left,” Volpe said after the game was over, that same 4-3 scoreline in favor of the Rays. “We just didn’t come back.”

“Ultimately we didn’t swing the bats enough in this series to move on,” Boone said.

And so instead they’ll go home. Another season in the books without a new Yankee ring. Another winter of wondering whether it all could have been different, or if there’s something fundamentally rotten in the Bronx.

It’s not the umpire’s fault or the fan’s fault they lost. It’s not Volpe’s fault either – not entirely or even predominantly or any more than anyone else in that lineup. He’s just the one left wondering – if he got another few inches on that fly ball – would he have been the hero?

他本该是一位英雄。

作为德里克·杰特在棒球场上的接班人，出生于纽约的安东尼·沃尔普不幸成为了这支洋基队未能延续杰特时代辉煌的缩影。这位首轮选秀球员，被寄予厚望的本土新星，在2023年才完成大联盟首秀，至今从未有过一个赛季的平均进攻表现。

今年，他被下放到小联盟一个多月。进入十月份时，他只有两支本垒打。

他也会就这么结束。

洋基队的赛季结束了。他们在美联分区系列赛中被坦帕湾光芒队横扫出局——光芒队在分区冠军争夺战中也击败了洋基队，尽管他们的薪资总额在全联盟垫底，而洋基队的薪资总额却高居联盟第三。洋基队从上到下都难逃责任，就连小腿肌肉的脆弱也难逃其咎。问问那些失望的纽约球迷，他们会说责任应该由更高层的人承担。比赛结束后，洋基体育场响起了“解雇阿隆·布恩！”的呐喊声。

但在此之前，在周三晚上的第六局中，沃尔普似乎至少已经避免了被淘汰的局面，即使没有完全扭转局势，让洋基队重新占据上风。

在坦帕的两场比赛中，光芒队让洋基队颜面尽失——第一场比赛几乎没有击出安打，第二场比赛则频频将球打入场内，眼睁睁地看着洋基队失误连连。回到布朗克斯的主场，洋基队背水一战，沃尔普在本系列赛中首次被安排担任游击手。

赛前，布恩表示，他希望沃尔普能带来“火花”。

这并非最糟糕的计划。第四局，沃尔普得分，将比分扳成2比2平。第六局，两出局，垒上有人，洋基队落后两分，他站上了打击区。然后他做到了——如果这是一部讲述一个球员终于迎来高光时刻的童话故事，那么他的这次打击就应该是这样的。

沃尔普将1-0的球轰出357英尺，飞向左外野，越过光芒队左外野手伸出的手套……然后落入一位身穿藏蓝色球衣的洋基队球迷伸出的双臂中。球发出一声怪异的撞击声，没能完全接住，而是反弹回了看台。

“球出界了！全垒打！” 广播里传来这样的声音。比分扳平。陷入困境的轰炸机队迎来了新的希望。

“就目前来看，我看好这次机会，”洋基队队长、因伤缺阵的阿隆·贾奇后来谈到这次关键的进攻时说道。

他的经理对此并不十分信服。

“我当时有点担心，”布恩说。“我不太确定。”

场上裁判也看不清，于是将球送回录像回放。慢镜头回放显示，球迷干扰了比赛。沃尔普被判二垒安打，打进一分，坦帕湾光芒队以4比3领先。

这是当晚双方的最后一次得分。

“看了回放，了解了事情的经过，我认为他们做得对，”布恩说。“我认为他们处理得非常正确。”

他们做到了，这才是重点。至于差不多30年前，杰特本人也击出过类似的球，尽管有年轻球迷干扰，但那球最终还是被判为本垒打，但这并不重要。那记本垒打最终扳平了美联冠军赛的比分，而美联冠军赛最终赢得了季后赛的胜利，最终赢得了世界大赛冠军，并开启了一个王朝。

难道一切都取决于那一挥棒？那一球在30个球场中只有12个球场（比赛场地不在其中）被认为会是本垒打？也许吧。但可能性不大。即使是最忠实、最坚定的洋基球迷，也很难将球队的出局归咎于外部因素。这不是误判。甚至也并非毫厘之差就能决定胜负。

“我们还有更多机会，比赛还剩下很多局，”沃尔普在赛后说道，最终比分仍然是光芒队4比3获胜。“我们就是没能扳回来。”

“最终，我们在这个系列赛中挥棒击球的次数不够多，所以没能晋级，”布恩说道。

所以，他们只能回家了。又一个赛季结束了，洋基队依然与新的总冠军戒指无缘。又一个冬天，他们只能一遍遍地思考，这一切是否本可以不同，或者布朗克斯区是不是出了什么根本性的问题。

输球不是裁判的错，也不是球迷的错。也不是沃尔普的错——既不是全部的错，也不是主要的错，也不比阵容中的其他人错得更多。他只是在想——如果那个高飞球他再多飞几英寸，他会不会成为英雄？