On October 7, Boston Red Sox fans had the pleasure of watching the New York Yankees get swept in the ALDS. Boston has nothing to laugh about — getting swept in the Wild Card series is even more pathetic than the showing the Yankees made against the American League-leading Tampa Bay Rays — but it still feels good to see New York beat itself.
Ben Rice, Austin Wells and George Lombard Jr. were the only players who reliably showed up at the plate and they got little help from anyone else. New York has become known for bad fundamentals in key moments — Wells overran an obvious double to be thrown out by a mile at third base after the Yankees had been no-hit all game and New York made three errors in the first inning of Game 2 to hand the Rays an early lead and a lot of confidence.
The Yankees have been eliminated in similar fashion in the last three years. In 2024, they made it all the way to the World Series but blew Game 5 on a brutal two-error fifth inning. In 2025, New York lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in four games. The Jays scored their fourth run following a fielding error by Jazz Chisholm Jr.
The Yankees' repeated fundamental failures show a pattern that will take more than a new crop of high-priced free agents to change. After some hilarious disrespect and the classic "da Yankees lose" from David Ortiz on Fox Sports MLB's postgame panel, he actually gave New York's front office some solid advice.
"There's one thing that I can see missing coming from the Yankees and it's the culture. There's a lot of little things that, in the long run, they start catching up, and those things never happen with your guy over there," Ortiz said.
Even Red Sox legend David Ortiz is acknowledging culture issues with Yankees leadership
Before Ortiz's comment, Derek Jeter mentioned that the Yankees of the 90s and the early aughts "focused on all the little things" to beat their opponents, not just hitting home runs. New York has practiced its infield defense in preparation to play small ball teams like the Sox and Rays, but nothing changes. The offense disappears in big games, letting the pitching down. These issues are all indicative of higher-up problems in the organization.
Yet, the Yankees are seemingly committed to bringing back general manager and senior vice president Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone. New York has made the playoffs in all but five years since 2000, but it's only had the stuff to win two World Series in that time despite massive payrolls. The Yankees are known for their massive free agent spending but don't like to take on money via the trade market, despite many potential fits out there.
Boone has managed the Yankees into multiple postseason losses and the one from October 7 may be no different — leading off with Trent Grisham in a win-or-go-home game is baseball malpractice, but it isn't even close to the worst of Boone's choices over the last many years. At the end of the season, it seemed Boone was also losing grip on his clubhouse. Aaron Judge contradicted comments Boone made on his injury, calling his manager out for them. Chisholm expressed open disdain when he wasn't in postseason starting lineups. Such comments don't indicate that Boone's players trust him.
Don't get us wrong, we love to see the Yankees' utterly insane commitment to its increasingly criticized leadership. Even if the Red Sox can't eliminate the Yankees, it's always a treat to see them lose, especially in the embarrassing pattern they've followed over the last few years (no, we haven't forgotten that the Red Sox are also embarrassing, but let us have something). But there are clear leadership changes that need to be made, and even all-time Yankee hater Ortiz is trying to help the front office see them.
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