New York Yankees fans lament Matt Carpenter's hitless postseason so far

Matt Carpenter is having a rough postseason. The 36-year-old, who is making his first postseason appearance without donning the St. Louis Cardinals jersey, has been hitless through three games. In Game 1 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros, Carpenter went 0 for 4 with as many strikeouts as at-bats.

Carpenter hadn't played a game since Aug. 8 due to a foot fracture before he was inserted as a pinch-hitter in Game 2 of the ALDS in a 4-2 losing effort against the Cleveland Guardians.

With his struggles came the frustration of the New York Yankees fanbase, some of whom are calling for him to be dropped from the lineup.

Having spent more than eight weeks on the shelf, it is understandable that Matt Carpenter might not be up to speed with the proceedings yet. This is at least what the other portion of the Yankees fans are taking into consideration.

After Wednesday's 4-2 loss against the Astros, Carpenter expressed his disappointment with his performance. The slugger stated that if there could be a silver lining, it's that he saw a lot of pitches during the game, implying that he's starting to get the hang of things.

Matt Carpenter's postseason career

This is the slugger's seventh appearance in the postseason and his fifth in a league championship series.

Matt Carpenter owns a slash line of .220/.294/.396 with six home runs and 21 RBIs in the postseason. As shown by his playoff stats, the former outfielder (now being primarily utilized as a designated hitter) is not the most trustworthy bat during the postseason.

Carpenter still has a lot of opportunities left to rectify his record in the playoffs. The next game of the series is on Thursday night, and the Yankees will need a win if they want to avoid falling into a 2-0 hole.

The Yankees last won a World Series in 2009, and this season could be their best bet to break through and claim the franchise's 28th title.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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