The advantages the Yankees have over the Royals are numerous, especially how numerous they are.

They have a payroll about three times larger than Kansas City’s. But what that gives the Yankees is a very top-heavy roster. And so if their most wealthy men don’t rise until October, they’ll be playing on a much more even field with the Royals.

And indeed, they are now playing on an even field in this Division Series, with one match per game.

In Game 1, the Yankees overcame Gerrit Cole not pitching well and Aaron Judge continued to not perform in October. The Royals walked plenty of batters, the members of the Yankee choir stood up and the instant replay review system helped the home team immensely.

But in Game 2, the Yankees asked Carlos Rodon to pitch as the highest-paid No. 2 starter in the sport, and he didn’t match his salary or the moment. Judge had more difficulty with it, and this time also Juan Soto.

And in this morass of money for nothing, the Yankees meekly fell 4-2 to the Royals, opening a door they certainly didn’t even want to crack.

Home field advantage is gone and now the Royals have a huge advantage by starting Seth Lugo in Game 3 against Clarke Schmidt on Wednesday night. On September 10, Lugo had the best start of 2024 against the Yankees according to Baseball Reference’s game score: seven shutout innings on three hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts. That was in the Bronx. Wednesday will be at Kauffman Stadium, where the Yankees will feel like not only an opponent who hasn’t seen a playoff game since 2015, but also their own failed Octobers since they last won it all in 2009.

That postseason, AJ Burnett started five times and had two clunkers, but three huge Game 2 performances in Yankee victories – the first two helping the Yankees seize the two-games-to-nothing lead and then in the World Series after CC Sabathia and the Yankees after losing Game 1 at home, Burnett had his most crucial start in a generally unsuccessful Yankee career.

I mention Burnett because from the moment the Yankees signed him to a six-year, $162 million free-agent deal, Rodon reminded me of a lefty Burnett – great stuff, but real questions about whether he was overly emotional and could handle New York. Burnett was the type who could put in an overwhelming effort, but when you looked at the scoreboard, he had somehow allowed five runs in five innings.

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Rodon had one of those Game 2. He came out and breathed fire – with his fastball and emotions. And I wonder if he was a marathoner who ran the first five miles like a sprinter. He retired the team on 10 pitches in the first inning and whooped like he was auditioning for the WWE.

He threw a first-pitch strike to the first 10 batters he faced and led 0-2 on half of them. And then he threw ball 1 to six of the last eight batters he faced — and was behind each of them at one point. Salvador Perez opened the fourth inning by taking a 2-0 lead and then hit his fourth career homer off Rodon.

In the next five batters he was Rodon’s classic: three hits, two strikeouts and a stolen base. He was out of the game after 3 ²/₃ innings and four runs: seven hits and seven strikeouts. He was good enough to be great and bad enough to have no staying power or success.

If the Yankees actually fall behind in this series after facing Lugo, they will try to salvage their season with Cole, who may have been hit as hard as he’s ever been in Game 1, and – if it reaches Game 5 – is Rodon that too. lined up to start.

The Yankees lost Game 2 even though they walked five in the first five innings, including three to open frames, struck out 15 total Royals, and got 5 ¹/₃ shutout relief innings after giving up four in Game 1 .Rodon was a culprit. But so did the offense.

Judge came up with two on and no outs in a scoreless first inning for the second straight game and thus with a chance to immediately make the Royals think they didn’t belong in the same ballpark as the Yankees. Instead, he struck out in both games. Judge hit a fly ball against the wall, walked and hit an infield single the rest of the way, but his biggest at-bat ended in a strikeout. He has whiffed 33.8 percent of his plate appearances in the playoffs – second most among players with 200 plate appearances.

Soto walked, but struckout twice. Giancarlo Stanton, another big-money Yankee, hit an RBI grounder off the glove of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the third before Rodon crumbled in the fourth. However, Stanton continues to run like he has the weight of the Yankee’s recent playoff failures on his back.

And the Yanks certainly seemed to be an offensive attack, going 2-for-19 with men on base. Once again showing that when one of their big boys doesn’t park a homer or two, their offense is hardly a threat.

Now this Division Series moves to the Midwest. Will the Yankees’ big, high-salary players show up to save their season?