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.
Last modified: Oct 16, 2026
