Hal Steinbrenner is blaming the players.
The Yankees owner threw the 26-man roster under the bus for their ALDS debacle this year in his first comments since the Bronx Bombers got swept by the Rays.
“The players didn’t live up to their end of the bargain in the playoffs,” Steinbrenner said.
Steinbrenner made his comments after publicly praising general manager Brian Cashman and returning manager Aaron Boone in a press conference Wednesday morning.
He called the roster built by Cashman as good as any in baseball exiting spring training and he believed that it could have won a World Series.
Steinbrenner also praised Boone for his performance during the season, particularly how he handled a rotation that dealt with injuries and a bullpen he labeled as “absolutely exhausted” by the end of the year.
He then pinned the blame for a 17th straight championship on the players.
The Yankees bats went cold against the Rays’ stellar pitching, slashing .130/.192/.239 with two home runs — both from Ben Rice — and five totals runs.
The pitching posted a 2.52 ERA but Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler and Max Fried all took losses in the series.
When pressed whether “World Series or bust” is still the mentality for the franchise despite this lengthy title drought, Steinbrenner insisted that’s still the case.