The Yankees had no magic formula to change this result

For a tempting moment, time has stopped at Yankee Stadium. The bases were loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the fans – those of the remaining 49,641, those who had not abandoned the cause – were dizzy.

As a sports fan, there are times when you do not want the impossible, you can see it. You can feel it. You can anticipate. It was one of those moments. A 4-1 Red Sox lead had already melted to 4-2. Craig Kimbrel, the closest to the Red Sox, seemed ready to burst into tears. He had walked one pair and hit another and allowed a sweet single.

Now he had to throw the fastball to Gary Sanchez, the full count, the juice bags, the season standing there on those loaded bases.

And Sanchez has it squared.

In July or August, when the ball goes more generously into the Bronx, it may be 5 or 6 feet away. At Fenway Park, at least, the ball hits the wall for a brace, probably finding its way into the monster seats. But it was in October. It was the Yankee Stadium. The ball is dead in Andrew Benintendi's glove.

The season died five minutes later.

"You always go after Utopia, you know," Aaron Boone said.

The Yankees coach had an angry voice and a moody disposition, as he was not ready to close the stadium doors for the winter. He was not ready to bid farewell to a baseball team that has climbed so high, so long this season, which has won 102 games in total, it was as good as any baseball team.

Not as good as the one they had just played.

"These guys stay in the game, play in the right direction and manage the goals well," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, hailing the Boston club who made his new year as a manager a dreamlike conduct from wire to wire. "We are a complete team. We are counting on everyone to win games. "

In the end, the Yankees did not have enough men to rely on, not in the spirit of the fight, and this is now a problem that Giancarlo Stanton, more than any other, has to bear. He finished the series at a sickly .222 with zero extra shot and a reduced presence that was shocking to see.

In the ninth inning, the Yankees and crowd were already in Kimbrel's head, four steps away from Aaron Judge and tied with Didi Gregorius who scored two without any exit for Stanton. It was a screaming moment for a prominent man, and Stanton is surely paid for the role.

"I have to put the ball in play there," Stanton said later. "I have to step over the plate and keep the line moving."

He did not put the ball in the game. He waved his weak hand on three brittle courts, never approached any of them, and gave Kimbrel a lifejacket to which he hang up for life. The Yankees still had their chances after Stanton, of course, and for half a second, it seemed that Sanchez could take it back.

It's not happened. Stanton did not know so much this year, a season that started with such a promise with two bombs on the first day in Toronto and ended with a productive run to reach 100 RBIs, but which included Too often did not resemble the weight of the duel of his extraordinary talent and his enormous contract.

"I will use that as fuel for next year," he said. "I think we all are."

But it will always be Stanton who will have the target on his back. He will never be a child with blond hair grown at home, as does his brother Judge. He does not seem inclined or wired to embrace the existence greater than the life required by a slugger in New York; The judge plays this role as easily as he throws BP's meatballs into the second deck.

And even he felt compelled to address the 800-kilogram elephant that would follow him for a moment when he said, "I'm as disappointed as the guys who went farther last year and that was short. "In the same way, Alex The biggest obstacle to Rodriguez was to join a freighter that had already won four titles without him. Stanton plays for the moment the role of an intruder who has not even managed to bring the Yankees to Houston.

"The only thing I'm proud of," said Boone, "is that we're still competing."

They kept all seasons of the season, until the end. They have won a lot of baseball games this year. Just not enough of them. The Yankees are the ones who set their own rules of engagement. The Yankees are the ones who pay their stars to deliver the biggest stage of October. It will be a long winter for everyone.