What Went Wrong: Owning Boston is NOT Enough, Yankees

I've been a Yankees fan for 30 years, and I've seen my share of wins, championships, and of course, eliminations. When the Yankees lose in the postseason, it does hit me, depending on how it happens and especially who we lost to. I still want to forget the 2022 ALCS because it pissed me off so much.

But at least that year warranted feeling something. This? This was the numbest I ever felt.

The sad part about this is that the injury excuse doesn't fly here. It doesn't. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton--best duo in baseball by far. We missed Judge for several months, but Stanton had been out since April. Even so, this Yankees team was good enough to do something. Hell, we were favored to beat the Rays out because of our depth. We should not have needed Judge and Stanton. We didn't need them to beat Boston. And don't say, "It's Boston." Those are not the same sputtering Red Sox from a couple of seasons ago. And here's the thing: we did better in this year's series without Judge and Stanton, than we did with them last year.

Yet what happened in the ALDS? Swept. We had never been swept in the ALDS since its official inception in 1995.

In Game One, we wasted Gerrit Cole's performance and didn't get a hit until there were two outs in the eighth inning. And even THAT was a bust because Austin Wells decided to try to stretch that double into a triple. We actually scored in Game Two, but Cam Schlittler's efforts ended up wasted. Down two headed home. And I'll be honest, I gave up at that point. Something told me that it would end that night in Game Three. Yes, I drank in the home atmosphere, but the way we were playing in that series? Yeah, it was done.

The effort was there, especially from Ben Rice, and from Anthony Volpe. And yeah, we all know about the fan interference. None of us disputed the call of fan interference. But we better not say that cost us, because it didn't. We didn't have a lead in the entire ALDS. We blew many opportunities. We wasted pitching performances. Carlos Rodón didn't get to pitch at all in the 2026 postseason. We dragged out a semi-broken Stanton out of desperation. It was disgraceful!

But despite it all, there's one thing I will always remain the same on:

The most annoying song I've heard is "Fire Boone!," from people who should have their Yankee fan cards revoked. So 2024 didn't happen, right? We're just going to forget that Boone got us to the World Series, right? "Girardi got us a ring!" If I have to hear that one more time, I'll scream. To the delusional Girardi ass-kissers, I will explain this to you one more time, and after that, you're on your own. I won't hold your hand or babysit you anymore. Here goes. In 2009, Girardi had the Core Four, CC, Godzilla, Tex, Swisher, and most of all, A-Rod. We had Hall of Famers in every position. It is not hard to win a championship when you have Hall of Famers everywhere. Yet Girardi had that same stacked team for years, and only won once. A good manager wins at least three rings with that team. In 2024, Boone didn't have the HoFers Girardi had, yet there we were in the World Series.

Girardi's not the second coming Torre or Stengel. Please stop pretending he was.

So with that, The Tampa Bay Rays are in the ALCS for the fourth time in franchise history, and the first time since 2020, which saw them reach the World Series. As for the Yankees, this completes our 17th season without a championship--a cup of coffee to some, but to us, it's an eternity. Two years straight, we beat Boston, but get ousted by a division rival. This is why winning the division is important, folks. Hopefully we'll get it together in 2027. I truly believe that #28 will happen in '27.