2025 wasn’t “This is the year!” And there’s no assurance “the year” will come any time soon.
The camera caught Jazz Chisholm Jr. yawning in the middle of Game 3 of the AL Division Series on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. It happened when the Yankees were in danger of getting swept.
Photo courtesy Sports Illustrated
Fortunately for the Yankee yakker, it did not become a story. Aaron Judge hit a game-tying home run, and he made amends for yawning by breaking a tie with a home run, giving the Yankees a 9-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays and living another day.
The Yankees couldn’t take advantage of the reprieve, though. On Wednesday night, their season ended meekly after a 5-2 loss to the Jays at Yankee Stadium.
Chisholm’s yawn served as an illustration of what was a listless season. There was nothing to feel good about this year. The Yankees were a flawed team this season. They failed to put the ball in play when they struggled to hit home runs. Their pitching didn’t scare anyone, especially the bullpen. They continue to make errors. They were a poor baserunning team. They couldn’t come up with a big moment this season.
If you want to celebrate Judge’s game-tying home run on Wednesday night or Cam Schlittler’s gem against the Red Sox in the AL Wild-Card Series, knock yourself out.
No one cares when one evaluates the Yankees’ season. It was a failure that did not end in championship No. 28. The drought is now at 16 years and counting. A 16-year title drought for a once-proud franchise is equivalent to the Knicks’ 52-year title drought.
For a franchise with a rich history and substantial financial resources, it’s unacceptable that this drought has lasted this long. When the Yankees won a championship in 2009 after an eight-year title drought, no one thought they would have another drought. Folks figured the Yankees would have at least three more championships after that.
It hasn’t happened. It’s hard to celebrate last year’s World Series appearance when the Los Angeles Dodgers outclassed the Yankees in five games. It was a gentleman’s sweep.
This was after a brave talk about being equipped to win it all at the start of spring training.
The Blue Jays outclassed the Yankees all season long. In the regular season, they won eight of their 13 matchups against the Bronx Bombers. They won the series in four games. That’s why the Jays won the AL East and why they are going to the AL Championship Series.
Just watching what happened in the ALDS makes last season’s World Series appearance meaningless. If the Yankees did not benefit from playing two AL Central cupcakes in the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians in the previous season’s playoffs, they wouldn’t even be playing in the Fall Classic.
The Yankees had a tough bracket to return to the championship round this year. The Boston Red Sox gave them fits all season, and the Jays were waiting in the weeds.
When Aaron Boone took over as Yankees manager in 2018, he inherited a championship-laden team. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman figures that Boone’s light touch would maximize young players like Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Gleyber Torres, helping them play at their best and making the Yankees great.
That never happened, as they all became busts.
Boone managed the Yankees for seven seasons now, and it did not have a happy ending. The ending has been so hideous, too.
The Red Sox outclassed, outplayed, and outmanaged the Yankees in four games of the ALDS in Boone’s first season. Altuve’s game-winning home run in the ALCS would give the manager another heartbreak in 2019. In 2020, Brosseau’s home run off Aroldis Chapman in Game 5 of the ALDS would give Boone another heartbreak to start his offseason. In 2021, Gerrit Cole got rocked in the Yankees’ wild-card loss to the Red Sox, and later that year, the Yankees got swept by the Astros. In 2024, his Yankees ended their season by committing numerous errors in the World Series.
The Astros, Dodgers, and Blue Jays celebrated on the Yankees’ turf in ending their opponents’ season in the playoffs in recent years.
Remarkably, won’t two be getting fired? He announced that he was coming back when asked about his job status after the game. He knew he wouldn’t tire and wasn’t afraid to answer the question.
Boone and Cashman (photo courtesy FOX News)
As long as Boone and Cashman are around, the Yankees will not be winning championship No. 28. The Yankees’ general manager has no idea how to build a team offensively, as he is still stuck with this idea that home runs win games. The Yankees manager follows whatever his boss tells him to do, knowing he can keep his job if he does that.
Unlike his father, Hal Steinbrenner would not fire any employee on a moment’s notice. He has created a country club atmosphere with this franchise since George Steinbrenner took over. There’s no accountability anymore.
Guys can fail and try again with no consequences.
Amazingly, Boone can keep his job despite his players not fielding or not being fundamentally sound. What exactly is he teaching beyond it? It’s fair to wonder if he is really involved with the team when watching players make the same mistakes year after year.
Every year, the Yankees seem to embarrass themselves in their playoff ousters.
At some point, something has to change. I won’t, and that’s why the beat goes on when it comes to championship droughts.
It’s amusing why Yankees fans and the soft local media here continue to be optimistic year in and year out. You hear this is the year for the Yankees, but it never ends well. Maybe they believe in the insanity theory that, if they believe, things will be different one day.
The 16-year drought should teach all of us a lesson. But next year, you will hear the same old nonsense about this year being different.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Consider it a threat next time you hear, “This is the year!”
