NEW YORK — The crumpled expression on Aaron Boone’s face suggested he’d been crying moments before, which wouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone who knows him. The manager is a nice guy who’s deeply affected by the Yankees’ failures.
The problem is that Boone’s reddened eyes and sorrowful press conferences in October have begun to look and sound alike. Year after year after year, YES viewers are forced to accept the championship drought that has no end.
It might be crazy to ask if the Bombers ever win another World Series, but the question isn’t all that absurd. Not if you’ve watched the Yankees run the same playbook since 2017.
The means blasting countless home runs, piling up the regular season victories, talking tough about the playoffs and then running into an October heavyweight that’s better prepared, more disciplined and able to muzzle the Yankees’ power.
Which makes easy prey for an early exit.
This year was no different. The Blue Jays finished off the Yankees in four games in the Division Series – two full steps backwards from the 2024 World Series appearance.
The Yankees deluded themselves into thinking they were unstoppable after roiling over the mediocre Rex Sox in the Wild Card Series. But that’s where the fantasy ended.
The Blue Jays scored 23 runs in Games 1 and 2, which was shocking in itself. But they were so much tougher in other ways.
The Jays were the kings of contact. On Wednesday, facing some of the Yankees’ hardest throwers and swing-and-miss artists – including Cam Schlittler, Devin Williams and David Bednar – Toronto’s hitters saw 55 two-strike pitches, and yet whiffed only six times.
They made a mockery of the Bombers’ he-man approach. Aaron Judge, who batted .500 in the Series, was the lineup’s only reliable threat. Everyone else, notably Trent Grisham, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells, looked exhausted or over-matched.
And so the Yankees walked through their annual farewell ritual in the clubhouse. They packed their belongings into boxes, hugged each other goodbye, promised to stay in touch over the winter. It was all too familiar for a franchise that’s gotten used to losing.
Many of my friends who are Yankees fans have followed the team down the ladder of success. There was hope at the outset in 2017, which turned to frustration in 2019. The pandemic years sowed the seeds of rage towards Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner.
Now it’s just numb acceptance. Going home empty handed has become part of the Yankees’ culture.
Those same fans want Boone gone. They figure Steinbrenner will never sell the team and Cashman, like a Supreme Court justice, has a job for life.
Boone is the easier target. Practically everyone I know thinks it’s time for Don Mattingly.
But anyone who believes Steinbrenner reached his breaking point after Wednesday’s 5-2 loss will be disappointed. Boone isn’t getting fired this winter.
The young Boss has chosen time and again not to hold his manager accountable. If failing to reach the playoffs in 2023 wasn’t enough to cost Boone his job, the frustration of 2025 won’t topple him, either.
Instead, ownership will point to the respectable 94-win total, the robust attendance (the Yankees were the American League’s top draw) and the sky-high ratings on YES.
Steinbrenner is convinced Yankees fans love what they see. He’s not wrong.
But there has to be a point where the sales pitch – championship or bust – sounds more like a joke, if not a lie. The Yankees aren’t about winning anymore, not like they used to be.
As long as they have Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm, they’ll hit enough home runs to beat up on bad Central Division teams. Making it to 90 wins and a round or two in the playoffs will likely keep the savages happy.
Give them just enough hope that next year will be better. It’s always next year.
But next year sounds too much like last year. As Boone said on Tuesday, “the ending is always the worst.”
I could’ve sworn those were the manager’s exact words after Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, when the Dodgers – like this October’s Blue Jays – were smarter and more disciplined.
There’s no reason for fans to believe Boone’s promises. He even ramped up the enthusiasm over the summer, insisting the ’25 Yankees were the best he’d ever managed.
Turns out the Yankees were guilty of the same sins of the past. They made mistakes in the field and just didn’t hit when it mattered.
Is that entirely Boone’s fault? Perhaps not. But he’s the one whose legacy is baked in: Mr. Also-Ran.
No manager or coach in New York can keep their job forever without winning at least one championship. Boone has stuck around only because Hal is afraid of his bloodline, and because Cashman remains fiercely loyal.
So make your choice: you’re either in for the long haul or it’s time to hop off, find something else to do over the summer.
Fair warning, though: if you’ve made a commitment to the Pinstripes, be prepared for next October. And the next. And the next.
Like some brutal Russian winter, there’s no end in sight.