Yankees fans and the local media often wonder why many in America don’t take the Yankees seriously as a contender for the World Series. One reason was on display Tuesday night in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series.
Once again, Yankees manager Aaron Boone and the front office managed to mismanage a win and turn it into a Yankees’ 3-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Now, they are in a win-or-it-is-over situation on Wednesday night.
The Red Sox struggled to get anything going against Game 1 starter Max Fried. Yet, Boone and the front office thought it was a good idea to take him out after 102 pitches and use the bullpen to finish the Sox off while holding on to a 1-0 lead. That blew up on the Yankees in the end.
In contrast, Red Sox manager Alex Cora rode ace Garrett Crochet to 117 pitches, which was the most pitches in a postseason game since Stephen Strasburg tossed 117 against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2019. He trusted his ace because he knew what he could do. It also helps that he has the freedom to operate as he sees fit, unlike his counterpart.
If there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s always trust your starter when he’s going good in a playoff game. That’s what we call keeping it simple.
More often than not, the starter has a better chance to do well by going deep in games in the postseason, with the challenge of going after hitters and finishing them off. That’s the problem with the Yankees. They want to reinvent baseball by using analytics. It’s been that way for a decade and counting. It has not worked for them, yet they insist on doing this.
It’s hard to believe Boone wanted to do this. He has been around the game long enough to know what’s going on. He knows to trust his instinct here. He understands that when a starter is going well, he should get out of the way.
In this case, he was told by the front office to go to the bullpen. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spent the trade deadline getting relievers to improve the bullpen. He believes a great bullpen wins championships. That may be true, but there’s something to be said about a starter going the distance for the kill.
Luke Weaver has been unreliable this season, especially with a 9.64 ERA in September. How was it a good idea to use him in that spot to relieve Fried? The Red Sox salivated at his presence, while the Yankee Stadium crowd dreaded what was to come.
On cue, Weaver walked Ceddanne Rafaela and allowed a double to Nick Sogard with one out after Fried was relieved in the seventh inning. That set up Masataka Yoshida to hit an RBI single, scoring Rafaela and Sogard. The Red Sox took a 2-1 lead, and that was that.
We can blame Weaver. We can blame the hitters for only mustering one run.
It shouldn’t have gone down to using Weaver in that game. I get the decision to use Devin Williams in the eighth for a four-out save or ninth for a save. But using all these relievers to get outs is overmanaging. This is where the collaborative arrangement of manager and front office failed the Yankees in this spot.
It’s an insult to Fried that the Yankees didn’t trust him to get the No. 8 and 9 hitters with no one on base with one out in the seventh inning.
It was interesting that the Yankees did not use Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. in Game 1. Those two have been the team’s best hitters. They need to play. That’s on the Yankees manager to speak on their behalf and use them, especially since he sees them play every day.
It would be nice if Boone could manage on his own rather than relying on the front office. He shouldn’t compromise himself and the team just to placate the front office. At some point, he needs to manage on his own terms. The playoffs should be a showcase where a manager earns his money.
Maybe the Yankees get by in this series. But if Game 1 is any indication, expect more of the same from Boone mismanaging games. Remember him using a rusty Nestor Cortes in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series, which ended with Freddie Freeman hitting a game-winning Grand Slam. That set the stage for the Dodgers to eventually win the World Series.
Either way, it’s hard to say the Yankees are a lock to win championship No. 28 that has eluded them since 2009. Not when the front office and Boone want to act like the smartest people in the room.
