Blogs – Keefe To The City

Oct 16, 2026

Aaron Judge Has a Lot to Say

The Yankees’ captain met with the media after the team’s elimination and gave delusional answers.

The words of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” crooned at Yankee Stadium late last Wednesday night, except they didn’t come from the Stadium speakers following a Yankees win to extend the ALDS. They instead came from a champagne-soaked visitors’ clubhouse, as the Rays played the Yankees’ victory song in celebration of eliminating their divisional rival in the minimum three games.

The ritual was nothing new. It started eight years ago after the Red Sox eliminated the Yankees at the Stadium. Sinatra’s hit became the Red Sox’ victory song following the 2018 ALDS and for the rest of that postseason, when they knocked off the Astros in the ALCS and then the Dodgers in the World Series. It became their song all because of Aaron Judge.

After the Yankees won Game 2 of the 2018 ALDS to even the series at a game apiece, Judge walked out of Fenway Park blaring the song on a boombox for all to hear. Acting like the Yankees had accomplished something simply by splitting the first two games on the road, the face of the franchise’s foolish decision served as a rallying cry for the Red Sox, who had won the AL East over the Yankees by eight games that year.

Two nights later, in the series’ next game, the Red Sox handed the Yankees their worst home postseason loss in franchise history. The following night, the Red Sox eliminated the Yankees to start a near-annual tradition of the opposition celebrating the Yankees’ elimination on their field, with the song being played in the visitors’ clubhouse and continuing to play throughout the postseason even though the Yankees were no longer part of it.

Since his foolish antics on Oct. 6, 2018 at Fenway Park, Judge has spent his career acting like he has won anything other than individual awards. He carries himself like he has captained a dynasty, talks like he was part of the Yankees’ last dynasty and acts as if he has done anything other than get eliminated from the nine postseasons the team has played in during his career.

The narrative that the Yankees have failed Judge throughout his career makes me cringe. Judge has failed himself. He’s the one with a postseason OPS 200 points lower than his regular-season OPS. He’s the one who has played in 17 rounds of the postseason and has performed well in six of them. He’s the one who continues to back the manager who has overseen nine of his 10 full seasons in the majors. He’s the one who wanted the team to trade for Alex Verdugo, re-sign Anthony Rizzo and hang on to DJ LeMahieu. He’s the one who said he wanted the team to “run it back” immediately after their elimination in the 2025 ALDS. Judge isn’t absolved from the Yankees’ failures during the Aaron Boone era just because he’s the best player on the team. For as good as Judge is from late March through September, he has played a role in the disappointments of October.

Judge didn’t play in the latest postseason disappointment, but he had a lot to say about it. Judge spoke with the media for just under 10 minutes after the Game 3 loss and tried to sound as much like Derek Jeter would after his teams lost in the ALDS as he could, just without a full hand of rings to fall back on as a defense.

“It’s always tough. Any time you’re not the last team standing and lose at home like that in three straight games, it’s definitely tough, difficult.”

Then I guess Judge’s entire career has been tough since he has never been on a team that was the last team standing, just like his manager. Judge has now been on the team for five home eliminations, so it was nothing new for him. And as for losing three straight games and being swept in the ALDS, it was the first time in 25 ALDS appearances that the Yankees were swept in the series.

“You gotta tip your cap to the Rays. They had an incredible season: go out there and win a division and put the pressure on us all year.”

This answer felt a lot like Boone saying, “The league has closed the gap on us,” after the Yankees finished third in the division, fifth in the AL and were eliminated in the one-game playoff in 2021. The Rays didn’t have to put pressure on the Yankees since they led the Yankees in the division from June 28 through Game 162. The Yankees were the ones needing to apply pressure, and whenever they did, the Rays answered with extended winning streaks.

“I don’t like [the Rays celebrating at Yankee Stadium]. I don’t like other teams celebrating in our place. But if you don’t like it, you gotta play better.”

The 2026 Rays joined the 2025 Blue Jays, 2024 Dodgers, 2022 Astros and 2018 Red Sox as teams that have celebrated ending the Yankees’ season at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have never won a best-of-5 or best-of-7 series at home during Judge’s career, so all he knows is other team’s winning series at his home ballpark.

When asked what his message is to Yankees fans, Judge said, “That’s tough,” then paused for six seconds to try to recall past years’ excuses in his brain, and responded, “We gotta be better. None of us are satisfied.”

I would argue they are satisfied, considering nothing changes. Each season, the Yankees start out well, slump during the summer months, rebound at the end of the regular season and then go home early in the postseason. Rinse and repeat. They show up, do enough to get by and then do it all again the next year. They are content with losing and satisfied with the results.

“We’re the Yankees. I feel like [the front office] should go all in and do what they need to do. If we got holes, if it’s finding certain players or personnel or whatever we need you gotta go out there and get it. That’s why I signed back here to play with the yankees is to fight for a championship and go all in.”

The Yankees have spent roughly $2.5 billion on payroll during the Boone era for zero championships. What does Judge consider all in? A $400 million payroll? A $500 million payroll? A team with roughly a $100 million payroll is going to win the 2026 World Series, whether it’s the Brewers, Rays or Guardians. Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham made just under $100 million in 2026. Those three are equal to the combined payroll of the 26-man roster of whichever team wins the World Series.

“[The front office] give us a winning team every single year, but that’s not good enough here in New York. We’re the Yankees. You gotta go out there and expect championships and go all in every year.”

Let’s stop with the “expect championships” line. Judge has never won a championship. The organization hasn’t won a championship in 17 years. The championship-or-bust mantra is dead. At this point, it’s as meaningful as the Mets or Pirates saying they expect to win a championship.

“He’s our manger,” Judge said of Boone. “He’s running this ship. He puts us in the right position to go out there and succeed … He’s definitely had our back and is a guy.”

He’s definitely a guy, as in, yes, Boone is a male. If Judge wanted the Yankees to have a different manager, the Yankees would have a different manager. So whatever losing problem or culture problem or accountability problem the Yankees have, Judge has played a large part in them having that problem. He’s the team’s best player (when he plays). He’s the team’s highest-paid player. He’s the captain. He’s the face of the franchise. And he’s the one running out of time to change a legacy that will be one of being the face of the franchise during the team’s longest championship drought, an era of disappointment and underachievement.

It has been interesting to see Judge’s personality and media presence change in recent months. He used the media to have a back-and-forth with Boone when he was rehabbing his rib injury, openly questioned being pulled early from his first game back from that rib injury and handled the mid-September calf injury as poorly as he handled the fly ball hit to him in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series.

Last offseason, in an interview with Kevin Durant, Judge said three players he was excited about were Jazz Chisholm, Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon.

“He can be one of the greats in the game,” Judge said of Chisholm. “I think this will be a big year for him to take that next step.”

Chisholm had the worst season of his career.

“I think this will be a big year for him,” Judge said of Wells, “he’s really going to take that next step.”

Wells had the worst season of his career.

“I think there’s just so much more potential,” Judge said of McMahon. “I think what he’s about to do with the bat this year, he’s going to take off for us.”

McMahon had the worst season of his career.

Just like when he walked by the Red Sox’ clubhouse with his boombox, when Judge speaks, nothing good comes from it.

Blogs • Yankees

Oct 16, 2026

No Need for End-of-Season Press Conference

The Yankees have yet to hold their annual end-of-the-season press conference, but they should skip it.

Is there an ex-Yankee or current media member left who hasn’t criticized the current state of the Yankees and called for change? I don’t know what took everyone so long. I have been beating that drum for most of the nine years of the Aaron Boone era, but it took everyone until now — a second straight embarrassing ALDS exit — to realize the Yankees are no longer the Yankees and haven’t been for a while. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Anthony Rizzo, Michael Kay, Mike Francesa, Joel Sherman, Jon Heyman and Ian O’Connor have all finally come around, but it won’t matter. There’s nothing the Yankees enjoy more than telling the world what they witnessed didn’t take place, even if the world has been watching the same season and ending for most of the last decade.

We know there is a lot of delusion within the organization. The general manager called the 2023 team “really fucking good” after they went 82-80. The manager has an excuse and a positive outlook for any and all situations. The players tell you they will make poor decisions “again” because there is no one to hold them accountable. The Yankees as a roster are a group of soft losers who were molded into soft losers by their manager and their front office. The owner doesn’t care if the team wins as long as the line on the revenue chart keeps going up, the general manager doesn’t care how the manager is perceived as long as he’s doing what the front office wants him to do, and the players are more comfortable losing than winning because all they know is losing.

There’s this narrative out there that the Yankees haven’t met with the media yet for their end-of-the-season press conference because Brian Cashman doesn’t have a new deal in place. If you believe that, then you probably believe the organization cares more about winning the World Series than winning 93 regular-season games. Cashman didn’t have a contract at the end of the 2022 season, and the team still held their annual “We came up short” media session despite it. So the idea that they are waiting until Cashman gets a new deal is a stall tactic.

It could be a stall tactic that leads to them not meeting with the media at all. If you remember, they did this after 2023 when the team posted the franchise’s worst regular-season record in three decades. Things were bad then, but not nearly as bad as they are now. Each day former players (who played under Boone or were teammates with him), prominent media members and even current Yankees and YES employees are taking shots at the team. If the Yankees were to trot Cashman and Boone out there right now, it would be a disaster. Maybe not for Cashman because he has a way of just talking and talking endlessly in nonsensical speak, but certainly for Boone, who lacks improv skills. It was just last year that Boone was asked, “What would make people believe that a team put together by the people who are putting this team together managed by you with Judge as the centerpiece will ever actually figure out a way to get to the finish line first?” and he responded with, “I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you.”

I could see the Yankees holding their press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 20. That’s the same day the Knicks open their season at Madison Square Garden by raising their championship banner. What better way to address the stink that lingers on this awful Yankees season than by having the celebration of the Knicks mask it? There’s something poetic about a team that recognized its head coach couldn’t get them to the promised land, so they changed head coaches and won the championship the very next season celebrating said championship possibly on the same day the Yankees give the keys to their championship-less manager for a 10th season.

There’s really no need for the Yankees to hold their end-of-the-season press conference anyway. We all know Cashman is getting a new deal and Boone is returning. The duo will say that Boone is under contact for 2027, so why would they need to address his job status? There is nothing that is going to come from the press conference other than an injury update that could just come from a team press release or social media post. There’s no need to ask Boone why he batted Trent Grisham leadoff in an elimination game. We know it’s because he has no idea what he’s doing and hasn’t since the day he was introduced as the manager nine years ago. There’s no need to ask Cashman anything because he’s a Steinbrenner in everything but name and he will hold his position for as long as he wants.

If you want to continue to be a Yankees fan, you need to accept that Boone is going to be in his position for a 10th year. You also need to accept that Cashman is going to be the general manager until he no longer wants to be, and when he no longer wants to be, he will choose his successor for the Steinbrenners, so they don’t have to do any work. You need to accept that the Yankees will continue to operate as if they are smarter than everyone and every team. You need to accept that they care more about the consecutive-season winning streak than they do about winning in October. Only then can you accept that being a Yankees fan doesn’t mean what it used to mean.

The pinstripes are no longer intimidating and the interlocking NY is now just another logo. Yankee Stadium isn’t some hallowed ground where the opposition’s postseason dreams die. It’s baseball’s version of a party hall or wedding venue that the opposition uses to celebrate the Yankees’ demise. The Yankees’ victory song has become the victory song for whichever team eliminates them. John Sterling’s “Theeeeeeeeee Yankees win!” has been turned into a punchline for the opposition’s Dominican star to repeat on national TV while drinking champagne inside the Yankees’ home. The Yankees aren’t scary. They’re a joke.

With each passing year, the championship drought gets a little longer and the brand power fades a little more. It’s been 17 years since the Yankees last won the World Series. Their one appearance in the Fall Classic during that time was such a humiliating spectacle that they would have been better off being eliminated in an earlier round. But they weren’t eliminated in an earlier round because they only played AL Central teams on their way to the pennant — the only way they can win a pennant with this roster under this regime. Despite being equipped with the best starting rotation in the majors, they were unable to win a game in the ALDS against a non-AL Central opponent. They were unable to hold a lead for a single pitch, batter or inning. The same team playing the same style that always ends their season early did so again, and no one should expect anything different next season.

A year from now Yankees fans will be waiting for the team’s annual end-of-the-season press conference while people employed and associated with the team and anyone who covers the team beg the organization to make a change. Nothing is going to change in the front office this winter. Nothing will change in the dugout. Nothing will change in the clubhouse. And because of all that, nothing will change in October. The Yankees don’t need to hold an end-of-the-season press conference to tell everyone what we already know.

Blogs • Yankees • Yankees Thoughts

Oct 9, 2026

ALDS Game 3 Thoughts: Eliminated

For the second straight season, the Yankees were eliminated in the ALDS by the team they lost the division to. Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. I wasn’t angry when Trent Grisham struck out to end the season. I wasn’t upset, disappointed or sad. I wasn’t anything. It was a result I expected when the Yankees made it clear they would “run it back” in 2026 with the same 2025 roster that wasn’t good enough to win the division or survive the ALDS, and for the second straight year, the team wasn’t good enough to win the division or survive the ALDS. It was a predictable and inevitable result. The expected outcome unfolded, and when an expected outcome comes to fruition, there is no excitement or disappointment. There’s nothing. The 2026 Yankees made their fans feel nothing.

2. You have to be emotionally unstable to think Grisham was going to drive in Jazz Chisholm and tie Game 3 in the ninth inning and save the Yankees’ season. You have to be a fool to think that the Yankees were going to come back and win three straight against the Rays, and you have to be an idiot to think the 2026 season was going to end any differently than it did. Like Derek Zoolander with his “Blue Steel” and “Ferrari” looks, the 2025 Yankees and the 2026 Yankees were the same team and they provided the same result.

3. Grisham striking out in the leadoff spot in the order to end the Yankees’ season was poetic. I spent months writing about Grisham being the worst leadoff hitter in the league, but there he was with the Yankees on the brink of elimination back atop the order instead of Ben Rice, who may have had one of the great postseasons performances of all time if the Yankees’ postseason didn’t last only five games. There Grisham was batting with the season on the line, while Rice looked on from the on-deck circle. And there he was striking out for the third time in the game as the Rays became the fifth different team in the nine years of the Aaron Boone era to eliminate the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. How can you not be romantic about baseball?

4. The offense did the bare minimum in Game 3, even though the bare minimum represented their highest single-game run total in the series with three. The Yankees scored five runs in three games, a result they spent all summer foreshadowing that most fans pushed aside because of their destruction of the Red Sox. Outside of Rice, a couple of at-bats from Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe and a bunch of George Lombard Jr. singles, the offense was a disgrace. I look forward to the Yankees destroying No. 4 and No. 5 starters and fringe major-league relievers all season next season and then disappearing in the postseason again. The Yankees being unable to hit postseason pitching is as much a part of fall as pumpkin spice.

5. Max Fried did what he has mostly done in the postseason: lose. Fried wasn’t as bad in this ALDS start as he was in his last year’s, but four earned runs, nine baserunners and two home runs in 5 2/3 innings isn’t nearly good enough. Allowing a home run to Ryan Vilade (who is with his fifth organization in six years) and a left-on-left home run to Victor Mesa (who was designated for assignment by the Marlins in February), isn’t good enough. I look forward to Fried dominating the league during the regular season next year and then pooping his pants in the postseason again.

6. The Yankees never led in the series. Not for an inning, not for a batter, not for a pitch. Their Big 3 of Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler and Fried all took losses in their respective starts. Their supposed deep bench was barely utilized, and when it was, it wasn’t utilized properly. They were outplayed in the batter’s box, on the mound, in the field, in the dugout and in the front office.

7. The Yankees had never been swept in their previous 24 ALDS appearances, but there’s nothing the Boone Yankees love more than making negative franchise history. They became the first Yankees team to get swept in the division series four days after they became the first Yankees team to get no-hit through six innings of a postseason game (as they were no-hit for 7 2/3 innings). The Rays celebrated beating the Yankees for the division title at Yankee Stadium and then 15 days later celebrated beating them in the division series at Yankee Stadium.

8. The loss continues the trend of the Boone Yankees having never won a real postseason series of five games or seven games after losing the first game of the series. They are now 0-5 in such series and are 3-17 in games in those series. Their record against the AL Central in the postseason is 15-4 and their record against non-AL Central teams in the postseason is 11-26. They have never won a series of five or seven games against a team not from the AL Central.

9. The Rays are the fifth different team in the nine years of the Boone era to celebrate eliminating the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Everyone celebrates in the postseason at Yankee Stadium, just not the Yankees. The Yankees are an ALDS loss to the Orioles away from AL East ALDS Loss Yahtzee under Boone. Maybe they can complete the feat in their next season.

10. And make no mistake, Boone will be the manager of the Yankees in their next season. There is only one person in the world who still believes Boone should continue as manager and that person happens to be the one who decides who the manager is. There will be a 10th season to the Boone era and when that season ends the same way the other nine have and his contract expires, only then can the idea of Boone being replaced be seriously discussed. If you want to continue to be a Yankees fan, you have to sign up for one more year of Boone.

Blogs • Yankees • Yankees Thoughts

Oct 7, 2026

Yankees Thoughts: Getting Ready for ALDS Game 3

The Yankees will play for their season on Wednesday. Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. The finality of a baseball season is unlike any other sport. When the baseball season ends, it’s painful, it’s depressing, it’s downright sad. After watching a team play nearly every day for roughly eight months (from spring training through the postseason), when it ends, it’s abrupt. And while the Yankees’ season isn’t officially over yet, it certainly feels like it is.

2. Being put on the brink of elimination so early in a series always feels like the season is over. It felt that way last year when the Blue Jays took a 2-0 series lead and the year before when the Dodgers did the same (before taking a 3-0 series lead) and two years before that when the Astros did the same (before sweeping the Yankees). Being in a two-game hole through two games in a best-of-5 series is daunting. With these Yankees against these Rays, it feels impossible.

3. Aaron Boone should have changed the lineup for Game 2 after the humiliation of Game 1. He chose not to and got nearly the same result, if not for Ben Rice’s two swings. Boone should change the lineup for Game 3, but at the same time, if he does, he’s admitting he fucked up with the Game 2 lineup. The Yankees will be facing a righty again in Nick Martinez, and if Boone feels the lineup he used in Games 1 and 2 gives the Yankees the best chance to win, then how can he change it for Game 3? Anything other than the same nine names in the same order in Game 3 is Boone telling everyone he should have changed the lineup for Game 2.

4. Here are the lines for Martinez against the Yankees this season:

April 11 in Tampa: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR

May 22 in New York: 6 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

September 22 in New York: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR

Total: 16.2 IP, 20 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 12 K, 2 HR, 2.16 ERA, 1.500 WHIP

The ERA is great, the WHIP isn’t, as the Yankees put 25 baserunners on in 16 2/3 innings against Martinez. That’s promising. Average 1 1/2 baserunners per inning against Martinez in Game 3 and there will be a Game 4.

5. Here are the Yankees’ numbers against Martinez:

Ryan McMahon: 5-for-22, 2 BB, 9 K
Cody Bellinger: 5-for-17, 2B, HR, 2 K
Paul Goldschmidt: 2-for-10, 4 BB, 2 K
Luis Garcia: 2-for-10, 3 K
Jazz Chisholm: 2-for-10
Heliot Ramos: 1-for-10, HR, 4 K
Ben Rice: 3-for-9, 3 2B, 2 BB, K
Jose Caballero: 3-for-9, BB, 2 K
Trent Grisham: 4-for-6, 3 2B, 2 BB
Austin Wells: 2-for-5, 2 HR, K
Anthony Volpe: 0-for-5, 2 K
Giancarlo Stanton: 0-for-4, BB, 2 K
Spencer Jones: 1-for-3
George Lombard Jr.: 1-for-3, K
Ali Sanchez: 0-for-3, K

Here is my Game 3 lineup:

Ben Rice, DH
Cody Bellinger, LF
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Trent Grisham, CF
Austin Wells, C
George Lombard Jr., SS
Jazz Chisholm, 2B
Spencer Jones, RF
Jose Caballero, 3B

6. Rice is the team’s best hitter and has good numbers against Martinez. He stays in the leadoff spot. Bellinger also has had success against Martinez (he homered against him two weeks ago) and because he hits lefties as well as righties (if not better), it’s like having a switch hitter batting second. He stays where he is.

Paul Goldschmidt (in what could be his last game as a Yankee and of his career) goes in at first base for Garcia. Goldschmidt has reached base six times in 14 plate appearances against Martinez. Martinez doesn’t throw hard, so there’s no harm in Goldschmidt facing this righty. His bat breaks up a lane of all lefties, and if the Rays want to use a hard-throwing righty later in the game, Garcia can pinch-hit for him. With Max Fried on the mound, the Yankees need their best infield defense possible on the field. Goldschmidt is their best defensive first baseman.

Like Goldschmidt, this could be Grisham’s last game as a Yankee. His numbers against Martinez are the best on the team with three doubles and two walks in eight plate appearances. Bat Grisham cleanup and see if that success can continue. Considering the Yankees have five hits and two runs in the series, anyone is a candidate to bat cleanup.

7. Wells moves up to fifth. Wells and Rice have been the offense in the series and he has two home runs in five plate appearances against Martinez. Lombard Jr. in the 6-spot because the lefties need to be broken up. Chisholm and Jones after Lombard Jr. and Caballero in at the bottom of the order. Caballero has to be in there. He’s a pest and has the ability to do something drastic to change the series. He has three hits and a walk in 10 plate appearances against Martinez.

8. McMahon can take a seat. He should have been on the bench for Game 2. (Reminder: I wanted him left off the postseason roster for both rounds.) Boone should have played Volpe or Caballero, but went with McMahon and said, “I feel like I want to prioritize the defense.”

I don’t want to see Garcia anymore. Thanks for the home run off Sonny Gray, but I can’t watch him swing at every pitch thrown to him, no matter where it is. His at-bats have been short and dreadful. Take a seat on the bench next to McMahon.

9. The Yankees signed Fried for starts like this. Go out and save the season. Fried is expecting the birth of his first child any day, and if I were Fried, I wouldn’t waste missing that for this team or this game. But if he’s willing to miss the birth of his first child to start an elimination game, go out there and make it matter. Hand the ball off to David Bednar with a lead and then go to the hospital.

10. In order to win the next three games, the Yankees need their offense to show up, their starting pitching to pitch to the best of its abilities, the defense to be flawless and the bullpen to be unhittable. They need to win a game started by the All-Star Martinez, who had a 2.16 ERA in three starts against the Yankees this season. Then they need to win a game started by the dominant Drew Rasmussen, who owns the Yankees in a way no other pitcher ever has. Then they need to win a game started by AL Pitcher of the Month for September Freddy Peralta, who made one mistake in 4 2/3 innings in Game 2. Do all of that and the Yankees will be playing on Monday at home against the White Sox or in Cleveland. Fail to do even one of those things and the season will end the same way the last 16 have: without a championship.

Blogs • Yankees • Yankees Thoughts

Oct 6, 2026

ALDS Game 2 Yankees Thoughts: An Embarrassment

The Yankees head back to the Bronx on the brink of elimination. Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. The Aaron Boone Yankees have never won a postseason series against a team that finished higher in the standings than them, so I’m not sure why I thought this series would be different. I guess I thought it would be different because of Cam Schlittler, but the careless defense and disappearing offense in the postseason that have defined the Boone era Yankees were too much for even the best pitcher in the league to overcome.

2. After the Yankees’ “swing at everything” approach against Freddy Peralta led to an eight-pitch first inning (the Yankees’ 1-through-3 hitters swung at seven of the eight pitches) for the Rays’ starter, Schlittler took the mound with the 2024 World Series Game 5 defense behind him. Schlittler got Yandy Diaz to hit a second-pitch routine ground ball to third base and Ryan McMahon — solely in the lineup for his defense — booted it. Jonathan Aranda followed with a ground ball out of the reach of a diving McMahon, and three pitches into the game, the Rays had runners on first and second. Next up was the league leader in grounding into double plays in Junior Caminero. Schlittler got Caminero to hit a ground ball to short, George Lombard Jr. fed Jazz Chisholm for an out and Chisholm turned and wildly threw the ball past first base for an error as Diaz raced home to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.

When asked if Chisholm would do the same thing if given the chance, with an unaccountable textbook answer his manager probably loved, Chisholm said, “Honestly, I’d probably still throw it.”

Ten pitches into the game, the Yankees had committed two errors, allowed an unearned run and trailed.

Schlittler bounced back to strike out Liam Hicks on three pitches, but the third strike was overturned upon a Rays challenge for catcher’s interference, as Austin Wells’ glove was in the way of Hicks’ swing. Hicks was awarded first base on the Yankees’ third error in 13 pitches.

Chandler Simpson then hit a ground ball to Chisholm and Chisholm made another wild throw, this one wide of second, but Lombard Jr. was able to adjust and prevent the ball from ending up in left field. Victor Mesa ended the inning with a ground ball to Chisholm that the second baseman was able to throw accurately to first.

The defensive letdown didn’t end there. After Ben Rice provided the Yankees’ first run of the series in the fourth inning to tie the game at 1, the Yankees’ defense put the game away for the Rays in the fifth inning.

Aranda opened the inning with a line drive to right field. Spencer Jones hesitated and got a late break on it and the ball fell in front of him for a leadoff single. Boone grew angry after the game when asked if Jones should have caught the ball. Both Jones and Statcast say he should have caught it even though the manager felt differently. Caminero followed with a double in the right-center gap and the Rays were set up with runners on second and third and no outs.

Hicks was up next and Boone brought the infield in. Just not the entire infield. He decided to have Chisholm play back off the grass, and guess where Hicks hit the ball: to Chisholm. Because of the positioning, Chisholm was unable to make a play at the plate, as the Rays took a 2-1 lead and Caminero moved over to third. Simpson then put the ball in play as well with a grounder to short that Lombard Jr. tried to rush, and as a result, got no outs. Caminero scored and Simpson reached first. The play was initially ruled an error on Lombard Jr., but later changed to a fielder’s choice. But don’t worry, Lombard Jr. would get an error that would stand in the inning when he threw the ball away with two outs. His two misplays extended the inning, and eventually, the light-hitting Richie Palacios worked an eight-pitch, left-on-left at-bat against Brent Headrick to drive in two runs to put the game out of reach. The Rays were given five outs to work with in the first inning and six outs to work with in the fifth inning. All five of their runs in the game were a product of official errors or defensive miscues.

3. “Some good defenders that didn’t make a couple plays,” Boone said after the game.

Oh, that’s all? Just a couple plays. I thought a “couple” was two.

Boone gave the same kind of postgame answers he has given in seven of his eight previous seasons as Yankees manager with his team facing elimination.

“You’ve got to find out what you’re made of,” Boone said.

I think we know what they’re made of.

“It’s gut-check time,” Boone said.

Every time in the past eight seasons the Yankees had to check their gut under Boone, their season ended. Yeah, maybe a few times they prevented elimination for a game, but they were always eliminated.

4. The Yankees are now 9-24 in the postseason during the Boone era when facing a team that finished higher than them in the standings. They have never won a best-of-5 or best-of-7 series after losing the first game. And unless they win their next three games, that sad fact will still be true.

The Yankees have got one-hit in Game 1 and that one hit was erased by a disastrous baserunning decision. They had as many hits (four) as errors in Game 2. They have scored two runs in 18 innings in the series: both Ben Rice solo home runs. Rice and Wells are a combined 4-for-12 in the two games and the rest of the lineup is 1-for-46. The team as a whole has a .086/.145/.224 slash line.

It took Drew Rasmussen and Bryan Baker one-hitting the Yankees in Game 1 for the Rays to make their one run hold up. It took the Yankees committing three errors in an inning, four errors in a game and a few other miscues and misreads for the Rays to score any of their runs and win Game 2. But that’s the Rays’ brand of baseball. That’s who they are. They rely on playing clean baseball themselves and capitalizing when their opponent doesn’t. They don’t sit around and wait for home runs to save their offense. They put the ball in play, take the extra base when it’s given to them and they give away nothing. The Yankees wait around for the home run to save them, struggle to make contact and give away everything. It’s not just the 2026 Yankees. It’s the Yankees every season.

5. My kids have watched The Sandlot countless times, and therefore, so have I. At the end of the movie, grown-up Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez steals home as a Dodger and grown-up broadcaster Smalls goes wild on the call. Every time The Sandlot ends, “The Jet” is safe and Smalls goes wild. I don’t watch wondering if “The Jet” is going to be safe at home. The ending is always the same because it’s the same story with the same characters.

Like a movie, each season, the Yankees feature the same story and same cast: same general manager, same manager, same core players, same fundamental issues. Unlike a movie, every Yankees fan fails to accept that the ending will be the same.

Each season, the Yankees get off to a fast start and build up a division lead. Then summer hits, they play at the same level as the worst teams in baseball for a couple of months, while their oft-injured players get injured. They try to build a contending team on the fly at the deadline and patch up the roster deficiencies they ignored during the offseason, and then they spend the final weeks of the season trying to undo everything they undid during the summer. They end up in the postseason, and if they play an AL Central team, they advance, and if they play a non-AL Central team or a team that finished higher in the standings, they’re eliminated. Then they hold an end-of-the-season press conference to announce the return of the general manager and manager, and throughout the winter make it known they are bringing back the same roster (or close to it) from the previous season. Then they show up to spring training as if the previous year didn’t happen and act as if the upcoming season will end differently just because the winter separated the end of one season from the start of the next season. “The Jet” is never out at home and the Yankees never win the World Series.

6. Watching these Yankees every season is insane. It’s the definition of insanity. It’s what Brian Cashman said right before he traded Sonny Gray after the 2018 season: “I don’t feel like we can go through the same exercise and expect different results.” And yet, the Yankees continue to go through the same exercise every season during this era. Same manager, same type of players, and sure enough, same season-ending result. The Yankees believe next year luck will be on their side in the postseason and they will finally overcome the odds of the crapshoot they have considered the postseason to be ever since they stopped winning it. When the Yankees were the Yankees, the organization didn’t talk about the postseason as if it were a game of chance. It wasn’t until they stopped being the Yankees that the postseason became a tournament whose winner was lucky and nothing else.

7. If you’re using Tuesday to cite the 2001 Yankees or 2017 Yankees as to why the 2026 Yankees can reach the ALCS, don’t. Please. You’ve spent 166 games trying to talk yourself into why this time will be different, and it isn’t. It just isn’t. The 2001 team was coming off four championships in five seasons, and the 2017 team was led by a manager who was part of those championships. The 2026 team is led by someone who had six right-handed bats on his bench on Monday and only deployed one despite the Rays using left-handed relievers for 3 1/3 innings. (Not one reporter asked Boone about this either.) It’s led by someone who probably called his wife from the tarmac on Monday and asked her if she could check his office for his 2004 ALCS video because he needs it to motivate the team on Wednesday, like he unsuccessfully did in 2022. It’s led by someone who has never won anything as a player or manager. Someone who doesn’t know how to win in October, but talks and acts like he does.

8. “Winning the World Series is hard,” Boone said after last season. “Been chasing it my whole life.”

Boone wouldn’t know how hard it is to win the World Series because he has never won it. He never won as a player and has never won as a manager. All he has are two American League pennants. One came from his home run, which changed the course of history for the worst for the Yankees considering what the Red Sox have accomplished since Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS and because it led to Boone getting the job he still has. The other came against the easiest postseason field imaginable and was followed by a humiliating defeat in the World Series.

It’s unlikely Boone will ever stop chasing a championship. I can’t fathom a scenario where the Yankees win with him at the helm and no other self-respecting owner or general manager in the league with a ready-to-win roster would be foolish enough to hand the keys over to someone who has overseen such miserable disappointment. The idea that Boone is good at his job because of his regular-season winning percentage at a time when the majority of the league is tanking and pocketing profits or because he has made the postseason in seven of eight years at a time when 81-win teams are getting into the expanded format is comical.

9. Boone’s players believe they can do no wrong performance-wise because they constantly hear their manager and the rest of the organization talk about how great they are. It’s why Wells tried for third in Game 1 and why Chisholm would “do it again” when asked about his first-inning throw in Game 2. Cashman called the Yankees “pretty fucking good” after the team went 82-80 two years ago, so you can only imagine how he feels about the team with the highest payroll in the American League that couldn’t beat out the team with the third-lowest payroll in the majors for the division, but won 93 games.

Boone has created and fostered a culture comfortable with losing. His players recite the same tired lines they hear their manager use following losses. Everyone in the Yankees’ clubhouse talks about “tomorrow” like they’re auditioning for a part in Annie until there are no tomorrows. And now one loss away from their season ending early again, they are down to their last tomorrow.

10. Two days after the Yankees were eliminated by the Blue Jays in the ALDS last season, I wrote:

I fully expect the Yankees to “run it back” (as Aaron Judge mentioned he would like to do after Game 4) in 2026 with close to the same roster, the same failed organizational philosophies and certainly the same manager. And I fully expect another early postseason exit a year from now.

And here we are. The 2025 ALDS roster of position players was the same set of names as the 2026 Opening Day roster, just like The Captain ordered. Same roster, same failed organizational philosophies, and of course, the same manager. And now the same result: unable to beat a team they couldn’t beat for the division in the regular season and going home on the brink of elimination for Game 3. As expected, another early postseason exit a year later is right in front of them and only three straight wins will prevent it.