There’s plenty of pressure on the New York Yankees to win a World Series this October. From Juan Soto’s pending free agency to Aaron Boone potentially on the hot seat, the Yankees have a lot to worry about this postseason.
Boone, the manager since 2018, will be judged on how the Yankees play in the offseason. Anything short of a World Series, and the Yankees could look to make a change, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who listed Boone as one of the “10 MLB managers likely to face the most scrutiny this offseason.”
“Boone’s fate, like [Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave] Roberts’, might hinge on what happens in the postseason,” Rosenthal wrote in his September 26 story. “The noise in New York certainly will grow louder if the Yankees make a quick exit in the [division series] or even if they advance to the American League Championship Series and perform the way they did in 2022, when they were swept by the Houston Astros.”
Rosenthal listed Roberts and Boone as No. 1 and 2 on the list, respectively. Even though Roberts has led the Dodgers to eight division titles in nine years, his teams were bounced out of the division series in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
“The Yankees have made the playoffs in all but one of Boone’s seven seasons, and are tied with the Atlanta Braves for the third-most victories in the majors during that time. The current team, though, can be hard to watch,” he wrote. “The Yankees are the worst base running team in the majors, according to FanGraphs. Their lapses on the bases and in the field are at some level a reflection on their manager.”
Would It Be Fair for the Yankees to Let Boone Go?
When they traded for Juan Soto in December 2023 after signing fellow superstar Aaron Judge to a massive extension a year earlier and landing ace starting pitcher Gerrit Cole in 2019, the expectation was to win a World Series.
Rosenthal wrote that the Yankees’ current roster “might be their best since 2009, when they last won the World Series.”
With three of the best players in baseball, the Yankees have more than enough talent to get the job done, but if they don’t, it could be Boone who takes the blame for falling short.
“Boone, 51, will need to be quick-witted in the postseason, deploying pinch hitters and pinch runners, and managing a bullpen without a true closer (though Luke Weaver certainly has looked the part),” Rosenthal wrote. “The Yankees hold an option on Boone for 2025.”
Why the Yankees Can (& Can’t) Win It All
The Yankees have already clinched a spot in the postseason, but as of September 25, they’d yet to win their division. The Yankees need one more win or a Baltimore Orioles loss to clinch the division. The two teams were scheduled to complete their three-game series at 7:05 p.m. Eastern time on September 26 in New York.
One reason the Yankees can do damage in the playoffs is the hitting duo of Soto and Judge, who occupy the No. 2 and 3 spot in the batting order, respectively.
The Athletic’s Jayson Stark made the argument that they are baseball’s “greatest offensive duo” since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
“There is no other teammate tag team that has hit this many balls over the fence, done this much extra-base damage, created this many runs, walked this many times, reached base this many times or seen this many pitches — at the same time, in the same season,” Stark wrote in a September 23 story.
However, New York does have question marks in the bullpen.
“The Yankees’ high-leverage bullpen arms have been a big concern all season,” Sports Illustrated’s Tim Dierberger wrote on September 19.”The Yankees don’t really have a go-to reliever to set the table for whoever gets the ninth inning.”
Nestor Cortes, who had been demoted to the bullpen in mid-September, is also now sidelined with an elbow injury, further adding to their pitching issues.
