Pedro Martinez has never been one to mince words. The MLB legend, best known for his dominant seven-year stretch with the Boston Red Sox, once threw former New York Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer to the ground during a 2003 playoff game and once said he wasn’t afraid to hit batters, as they would only feel a “nibble.”
But not even during his playing days did Martinez taunt the Yankees like he did on Tuesday night following their 5-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Martinez claimed the Yankees, who were held to one hit in the contest, were like chihuahuas — barking a lot but offering little bite.
Martinez: “It’s tough to watch them”
Speaking on TBS, Martinez said it was “unbelievable” to see the Yankees — whose record dropped to 60-60 on Tuesday night — look so toothless.
“It’s hard to watch the Yankees go that way. I remember watching the Yankees early in the season and when they were going well, they looked so confident. It was like watching a bulldog beat up on a chihuahua when they were playing those teams,” Martinez said. “Now, they look like the chihuahuas to any other team, especially a good team like the Atlanta Braves.”
The mockery surely will not go down well with Yankees fans, who have watched their team drop four consecutive games and win just 26 out of 62 games since the beginning of June. Not even the return of American League MVPAaron Judge has been enough to reverse New York‘s fortunes.
Yankees in danger of missing the playoffs
The Yankees‘ extended slide has put them in what is normally an unthinkable position — an October without postseason baseball.
New York last missed the playoffs in 2016 and have won at least 90 games in each full season since then. But the Yankees find themselves dead last in the American League East division — and with as many losses as wins — at this point in a season for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The Yankees have not finished last in their division since MLB’s 1995 realignment that reduced the AL East to five teams. New York is also on pace to be outscored this season, which hasn’t happened to the franchise since 2016.