The dust has settled on yet another empty October run by the New York Yankees. Despite an easy victory over the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series, they had no answer for the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series, suffering a three-game sweep.
The Yankees’ elimination extends their World Series drought to 17 seasons and makes them 0-for-9 during the tenure of manager Aaron Boone. To his credit, Boone has not had a losing season since taking over. However, the Yankees have failed time and again when it matters most under his watch: in October. The increasing familiarity of a Yankees season ending in disappointment demonstrates that it is time for a new voice in the locker room. It is time for the Aaron Boone era to end in the Bronx.
Aaron Boone Has Worn Out His Welcome as Yankees Manager
The end of this year’s ALDS, to borrow a phrase from Yankees legend Yogi Berra, felt like déjà vu all over again. Much like last year, the Bronx Bombers spent most of the season trailing a division rival, ultimately falling short in their quest for the AL East. In 2025, it was the Toronto Blue Jays, with the Rays taking their place atop the division this year. While the Yankees were able to beat the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series each time, they fell woefully flat against the division champs in both years.
In fact, it’s become a trend for the Yankees since Boone took over that they don’t fare well in October against superior competition. They have only beaten one higher-seeded team in that time, besting Cleveland in the Wild Card round of the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Their records against higher- and lower-seeded teams in the postseason are night and day. Most of the teams they’ve feasted against have been in either the Wild Card Series (like Boston for the last two seasons) or teams with worse records from the AL Central. Meanwhile, every team that has eliminated them in the Aaron Boone era has been a higher seed and/or had home-field advantage.
Yankees in the postseason since Aaron Boone became manager in 2018:
-18-5 against teams seeded lower
-9-25 against teams seeded higherThe only time they’ve advanced past a higher seed was against Cleveland in 2020 https://t.co/ihbTL2PbwU
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) October 8, 2026
On that note, one of the biggest problems in Boone’s tenure has been a lack of urgency in the regular season. Mid-season struggles have cost them repeatedly later on.
Last year should have served as a lesson that winning the division is paramount in the current format. Winning the AL East these days generally guarantees you a bye to the Division Series and home-field advantage. Although injuries played a part this time, the Yankees failed to do that once again. They’ve been good enough to outlast Boston at home, but they were embarrassed on the road in both the 2025 and 2026 ALDS, and paid the price with an early exit.
Sometimes the only answer is the obvious one: The Yankees aren’t good enough.
They haven’t been good enough once — *not once* — in the Aaron Judge era.
Every single team that eliminated them had a better record/homefield:
2017 Astros
2018 Red Sox
2019 Astros
2020 Rays
2021 Red Sox
2022 Astros
2023 missed
2024 Dodgers
2025 Blue Jays
2026 Rays— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) October 8, 2026
The Last Word
To be fair to Boone, he is not the only common denominator in this situation. Brian Cashman has been helming the front office the entire time. While he has hit on some draft picks, trades, and free agent signings, no roster he’s assembled since 2009 has been good enough to deliver a World Series title.
Plus, as great a player as Aaron Judge is, he hasn’t yet helped the Yankees get over the hump. His often poor performance in the postseason has dragged the Yankees down on several October runs, and his occasional heroics have not been picked up often enough by the rest of the team. This postseason, he wasn’t even a factor, as his late-season injury kept him out for what would be the rest of the Yankees’ season.
In short, the Yankees have more question marks than just their manager going into this offseason. However, if they are going to make one move to signal that the status quo isn’t going to cut it anymore and that things are going to change going forward, the first and most obvious move should be to let Boone go.
It doesn’t have to be unceremonious. After all, Boone has taken the Yankees to the postseason in every year but one (2023). But we’ve seen that story end in virtually the same way year after year: the Yankees run into a team with a better record and end up looking like they don’t belong on the same field. For that story to have a different ending, the Yankees should move on from one of its main co-authors. The Aaron Boone era has run its course.
Main Photo Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images