The Yankees Failed Again. There Needs To Be Accountability. There Won't Be

For the 15th straight year, the Yankees season has ended in failure. I don't care that they won the AL East. I don't care that they had the best record in the AL. I don't even care that they made the World Series. As George Steinbrenner said, any season that doesn't with a championship is a failure. And we've now had 15 failures in a row. 

And I don't want to hear about how "spoiled" Yankee fans are and about how we should appreciate the season we had and how a team "can't win every year." This isn't VCU making a Final Four. This is the fucking New York Yankees. And I'm not expecting to win every year. But I do just want to win one year. The Yankees are officially in a championship drought, and there's no way around that. So I don't want to hear about how we should be happy that we keep making the playoffs and whatnot. WE WANT TO SEE THE YANKEES WIN A WORLD SERIES. That doesn't make us spoiled or bad fans. No player on this team has won shit for the Yankees so let's not act like we owe them our undying love and support. They have to earn it. They haven't. Simple as that. 

And maybe this would be an easier pill to swallow if the Yankees didn't blow this World Series with that embarrassing meltdown last night, but here we are. This team was fundamentally flawed all season long, and has been for years, and it fittingly came back to bite them and end their season. The defense is terrible. The base running is awful. The mental mistakes are abundant. I understand these are professionals who should know better themselves, but when the problems are so systematic and have persisted for so long, you simply have to point the finger at the manager and coaching staff. Bad fundamentals have been a staple of Aaron Boone teams all seven seasons he's been manager. At a certain point, it's no longer a coincidence and you have to look at the least common denominator. 

Aaron Boone has breaded a losing culture inside the Yankees clubhouse of excuse-making and zero accountability. Even after last night he was trying to make excuses and say they're actually a better defensive team than you'd think. 

That's just not how you answer questions after your defense literally cost you a World Series. And I don't want to hear about how close he is with his players and how much they all love him and what a family they are blah blah blah. I don't give a fuck. You can still have a group chat with him if he gets fired. He's not supposed to be your friend. He's supposed to be your manager. But the Yankees locker room seems to have this sick, almost cult-like feel to it where they feel they are beyond criticism and just care about what a close group they are. Congrats boys. I'm glad you made a bunch of friends this season. I hope you have those relationships for the rest of your life, and I know there's more to life than the game of baseball. But we don't hang banners that say "2024 - Had A Really Close Locker Room." Fans are still allowed to get on you and feel upset that we haven't seen a World Series since 2009. There's almost a sick part of me that feels like the Yankees locker room was too tight this year so they never held each other accountable and just patted each other on the ass over and over instead of lighting a fire underneath one another. And that all starts with Aaron Boone.

Boone should be out as Yankees manager, but he won't be. Aaron Judge will go to bat for him once again and Hal and Cashman will listen to him. But I'm not sure why we have to take whatever Aaron Judge says as the word of God. He failed in the playoffs once again and that stain will officially stick on him for the rest of his career. He's the greatest regular season hitter I've ever seen and the main reason why they made the playoffs, but making the playoffs is not an accomplishment and he's been an albatross to the team in October. It seemed like he was finally getting it going at the plate the last two days, but it was too little too late and the inexplicable dropped fly ball in the 5th that started the Dodgers rally will be a lasting memory. He hit .184 this postseason and now has a .205 lifetime postseason average through 58 games. It's a long track record of playoff failure. Like A-Rod, it'll just take one hot playoff run for all to be forgotten and for him to become a Yankee legend forever. But until that happens, all his regular season accomplishments will feel hollow. It's unfortunate, but it's true and deep down I'm sure he knows that too. 

But I'm not blaming this World Series loss squarely on Aaron Judge or any one particular player by any means. It was an organizational failure. I actually think that this was overall one of Brian Cashman's better GMing years, but it still just wasn't enough. And that's the root of the issue. The Yankees keep assembling teams that are just good enough. Just good enough to make the playoffs. Just good enough to maybe make noise in the randomness of the playoffs. Just good enough to maybe make a World Series and hope things go their way. But they ran into a team who doesn't believe in just good enough. They ran into an absolute powerhouse Dodgers team that operates the way the Yankees used to. Just going 110% all out to put together the best roster in baseball every single season. A team so good that if you make mistakes against them, it will cost you. And the Yankees just don't do that anymore. 

They got Soto which was obviously great, but the roster still had glaring holes and imbalances that were never completely addressed. It was good enough to win the AL East. It was good enough to be the best record in a weak AL. It was good enough to get through the AL Central titans in the playoffs, but it was not good enough to win a World Series. And deep down, we knew that as fans all season long. We saw the prolonged stretches of horrible baseball they played and could see all the flaws that plagued them. And those same flaws are what cost them in the end. Bad defense. Bad base running. Bad fundamentals. An inability to get the big hit when it matters most. You just can't beat the Dodgers when you're too busy beating yourself. 

It would be great if the Yankees went out and had a "Fuck You" offseason where they said "enough is enough." Get rid of Boone. Re-sign Soto. Sign or trade for another impact bat, another frontline starter, and multiple bullpen pieces. But I just don't have faith in all or even most of that happening. And the AL will only be better next year. And the Dodgers will also be healthier. It's not good enough to just be good enough anymore. 

There needs to be accountability. But there won't be.