3 key takeaways for the Mariners from the Yankees series

2. The squad's baseball IQ seems to falter under pressure

There were two decisions that left spectators dazed and confused in this series alone. The first was Victor Robles attempting to steal home in the first game. Stealing home is a bold decision and works great if you've got a decently speedy guy, the pitcher is a lefty, and the timing is just right. Unfortunately, Robles has an average sprint speed, Luis Gil is a righty, and the timing didn't make any sense at all. With two outs, Gil was struggling to find his command against Justin Turner who was already up 3-0. As Gil turned his back briefly, Robles took this as a green light and took off, giving the Yankees enough time to tag him out at home. Even Justin Turner seemed confused.

In game two, the Mariners took the Yankees to extra innings and were down by one in the bottom of the tenth. With runners on the corners and no outs, it seemed like Seattle had a good chance of walking it off. Randy Arozarena lost his bat on a big swinging strikeout against Yankees reliever Ian Hamilton and the bat flew to third base, causing Julio Rodriguez to come off the base to get out of the way. Unfortunately, he didn't have the awareness to return to the bag and was quickly tagged out, killing essentially any chance Seattle had of winning the game. This double play gave the Yankees an additional 56% chance to win.

Was this a simple misunderstanding? Probably, but the consequences in this case were dire. Could the series have been different if these two mistakes hadn't been made? It's hard to know for sure, but they demonstrate how brief lapses in judgement can lead to disastrous results