Early-postseason-elimination press conferences for the Yankees have become as much a part of October as pumpkin spice, so it was no surprise Aaron Boone was sitting at Yankee Stadium on Thursday — the same day as Game 4 of the ALCS — and answering questions as to why a team managed by him failed to win a championship again.
“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?”
“I don’t know,” Boone replied. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
It was the most powerful answer Boone has given to any question since becoming Yankees manager eight years ago. The man who has overseen in-game management of rosters worth billions of dollars boasting Hall of Famers and all-time greats over the last eight years is unsure why a team managed by him will ever not give one of these press conferences.
I expected no other answer from Boone. At least he was being honest. No intelligent Yankees fan thinks Boone has an idea how to lead a team to a championship or the “top of the mountain” as he likes to say, but here he was admitting he has no idea how to do it. It was refreshing to hear him say what nearly everyone has always known.
No manager in the history of the Yankees has been given a fifth season on the job without a championship. Boone just completed his eighth and is set to begin his ninth. In all likelihood, a year from now, he’ll be sitting in the same spot at the same point in October with the same answer to solve the championship drought: “I don’t know … I don’t know what to tell you.”
When I think of Boone, I will think of those words. I won’t think of his pennant-winning home run from 2003. No, he tarnished that moment and his home run legacy a long time ago from his work as manager. I will think of him having no response to the one challenging question he was asked after an eighth season of failing to do anything other than stack wins against the league’s worst and bow out to the league’s best.
And that was the only challenging question he was asked and the only one he was unprepared for. Every other question was your typical run-of-the-mill, easy-to-answer inquiry he has been asked and answered hundreds of times, just with different player names over the years. He talked about how “proud he is” of Volpe despite him being the worst offensive everyday player in the majors since his debut and how he doesn’t regret playing him over Jose Caballero. He talked about having to fire (the Yankees call it “his contract expired”) “one of his best friends” in Mike Harkey a couple years after he fired his actual best friend in Phil Nevin. He spouted the same expected answer to every question thrown his way except the one about what it will take a team managed by him to win a championship because he still doesn’t have an answer for that.
The Yankees didn’t lose to the Blue Jays because of Boone. He had a huge part in the Yankees losing to the Blue Jays during the regular and not winning the division and securing a first-round bye and home-field advantage against the Blue Jays, but he wasn’t the deciding factor in their ALDS loss like he has been in other postseason series losses. He was nearly the deciding factor in the wild-card series against the Red Sox, which it looks like was good enough for the Yankees this season — to beat the Red Sox in a postseason matchup for the first time since 2003. I can’t stop thinking about how if Jarren Duran could catch the ball in Game 2 or if Nate Eaton ran home from third in that same game that a much different end-of-season press conference would have been held by the Yankees with Boone not present. Instead winning 94 games despite blowing an eight-game division lead to the Blue Jays and barely squeezing past an inferior Red Sox team before getting blasted by the Blue Jays was good enough to bring Boone back. The organization believes it was a good season for Boone and his team, just not for some of his coaches.
Boone walked out holding a piece of paper that I hoped to be a statement of resignation he would open his media session with. Instead, it was just information to recite on the shoulder surgery of Volpe. No resignation, no answers as to how next season will end differently than the previous eight, just more of the same from Boone and the Yankees.
They are really running it back … again. The same flawed roster, the same disproven team-building philosophies and the same failed manager. The roster you saw get laughed off the field by the Blue Jays in the ALDS is going to be nearly the same roster you see on March 25 in San Francisco. The home-run-or-nothing, high-strikeout lineup that couldn’t hit Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage or an overworked and fatigued bullpen will be the same one you see try to hit those same pitchers next season. And the same manager who couldn’t get the most out of a team he called “the best” he has managed in his eight years is going to be sitting in the dugout next season trying to win it all with the same team that wasn’t good enough to win it all last season.
Boone arrived at the press conference with a beard and was asked about the new look.
“Is the beard something that’s staying” was the final question of his session.
“No,” Boone replied. “It’s just winter.”
Actually, it’s the middle of October, not even a month into fall. The league championships series are still going and the World Series has to be played. But for the Boone Yankees it’s winter because their winter always starts early.
Last modified: Oct 17, 2025
