Because the Yankees discovered themselves caught within the midst of their annual summer season swoon, Aaron Boone insisted he wasn’t fearful.
Perhaps it was the truth that his group had overcome these slumps in previous years, reaching the World Collection as just lately as final October regardless of an identical midseason freefall. Perhaps it was the parity that surrounded the Yankees, as no American League membership really separated itself from the pack this season. Or perhaps Boone simply actually believed within the gamers at his disposal, particularly after the commerce deadline had simply yielded just a few upgrades and reinforcements.
“Since I’ve been here, I feel like we have a chance to be as good as any team as we’ve had,” Boone stated after the middling Marlins swept his squad to kick off the month of August, a low-point throughout an prolonged interval of slop. “I actually really feel like that. That begins with me and serving to them get it out, however we gotta do it. And once more, I’m very assured that we’ll. However it has been a protracted sufficient stretch of ups and downs, lose just a few, win just a few.
“We gotta do better than that.”
The Yankees did do higher after that, as they entered the playoffs as one of many hottest groups in baseball after pushing the American League East race, which they in the end misplaced to Toronto, to the ultimate day of the common season. A Wild Card Collection win over the Purple Sox — which required two do-or-die victories — adopted.
Then got here these pesky Blue Jays within the ALDS.
Plagued by Toronto all yr, the Yankees noticed their season finish with a Sport 4 loss to John Schneider’s Canadian membership on Wednesday. The 5-2 defeat at Yankee Stadium left the pinstripers heartbroken after shedding two laughers north of the border and delaying elimination with a win on Tuesday.
Cam Schlittler, who performed hero within the Wild Card Collection, did his greatest to power a winner-take-all Sport 5 in Toronto, holding the Jays to 2 earned runs over 6.1 innings with out his sharpest stuff on Wednesday. Nonetheless, the rookie’s evening ended when a grounder ricocheted off Jazz Chisholm Jr. That error, dedicated on a possible double play ball, got here again to chunk the Yankees, already down a run, as Nathan Lukes shot a two-out, two-run single the opposite manner off Devin Williams to pad the Blue Jays’ lead.
With collection star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer having already pushed in a pair of runs off Schlittler, the Jays added yet one more for good measure within the eighth. Aaron Choose picked up an RBI single within the ninth, nevertheless it was too little, too late.
Unable to beat their newest bout with adversity — the Bombers left the bases loaded within the eighth and totaled 10 stranded runners — the Yankees may solely watch in misery as their division rivals celebrated on their residence turf. It felt considerably becoming, their season snuffed out by Toronto because the untidy play that plagued the group all summer season reared its ugly head.
In any case, it was the Blue Jays who knocked the Yankees out of first place again in early July, and it was their possession of the tiebreaker — Toronto’s reward for an 8-5 file in head-to-head play — that determined the East on the ultimate day of the common season.
With their postseason now over, the Yankees went 6-11 in opposition to the Jays general. That features shedding 8-of-9 video games on the Rogers Centre, which first turned a home of horrors for the Yankees throughout some error-filled common season video games. Then Toronto exploded for a record-setting 23 runs there between Video games 1 and a couple of of the ALDS.
Now the Blue Jays, who entered the collection well-rested after their division title earned them a bye, will put together for a matchup with the Tigers or Mariners within the ALCS. Toronto is attempting to win its first World Collection since going back-to-back in 1992 and 1993.
The Yankees, in the meantime, got here up brief of their makes an attempt to avenge final yr’s World Collection loss, a messy displaying that had the underside of the Dodgers’ victorious roster mocking all of them offseason. Contemporary off one other letdown, the Yankees are left to ponder the longer term, as a busy offseason awaits a company that has did not win a championship since 2009.
Whereas an overhaul on the management aspect just isn’t anticipated — Boone signed an extension previous to the season — time is of the essence.
Choose, who overcame previous postseason struggles by hitting .500 this October — he additionally mashed a mesmerizing residence run in Sport 3 of the ALDS – solely has so many prime years left, although the 33-year-old doesn’t look like slowing down simply but after one other MVP-worthy season. Giancarlo Stanton, who hit an uncharacteristic .192 this postseason after beforehand dominating the playoff stage, and Gerrit Cole, who didn’t throw a pitch this yr because of Tommy John surgical procedure, aren’t getting any youthful, both.
Each are 35, and Cole gained’t be prepared for the beginning of subsequent season after two lingering tennis elbows delayed the start of Stanton’s 2025 marketing campaign.
Clarke Schmidt may even miss time in 2026 after his personal Tommy John process, although the Yankees’ rotation seems to be in a robust form with Max Fried, Rodón — who each flopped within the ALDS — and the ultra-confident Schlittler main the best way. Will Warren, whereas bumpy at occasions, together with Sport 2, additionally confirmed encouraging indicators as a rookie, whereas Luis Gil should hope {that a} wholesome offseason and spring enable him to recapture his 2024 kind.
The bullpen can be a serious offseason challenge, because the unit routinely struggled from begin to end this season. Williams, an issue initially and center factors earlier than discovering his manner on the finish, and Luke Weaver, susceptible to implosions during the last month, are each set to develop into free brokers.
The Yankees’ lineup, the very best in baseball in the course of the common season, may lose some key items, as outfielders Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger are anticipated to hit the open market after large years however poor postseasons. So is Paul Goldschmidt, an growing old former MVP who’s best-suited in a platoon position at this level.
Simply what number of of these gamers can be again with the Yankees after Boone stated this yr’s group had “a chance to be as good as any team as we’ve had?”
At first look, the response could also be “not many,” however that and different questions can be answered within the coming weeks and months.
For now, the Yankees can solely stew over one other season that fell in need of expectations.
