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SAN DIEGO — The timing was coincidental, but fitting nonetheless.
As Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman was explaining to reporters on a video call how frustrating it was to cough up the decisive home run to Mike Brosseau in Game 5 of the American League division series on Friday, the Tampa Bay Rays were drinking and smoking cigars on the Petco Park field while playing Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” on a portable speaker.
The song is a tradition after games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. And given how the fifth-seeded Yankees — with a payroll nearly four times bigger — had gone 4-11 against their division rival this year, including the three-games-to-two loss in this series, the top-seeded Rays had earned the right to troll.