From Bryan Hoch:
The 2025 Yankees are gone sooner than they expected, undone by a team they never quite solved.
For all their late-season fight and the backs-against-the-wall drama of Aaron Judge’s unforgettable October moment a night earlier, they ran out of answers against the Blue Jays on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, falling short in a season-ending 5-2 loss in Game 4 of the American League Division Series.
“We didn’t do our job; didn’t finish the goal,” Judge said. “We had a special group in here, a lot of special players that made this year fun. But we didn’t get the ultimate prize, so we came up short.”
Coming off the game of his life in the AL Wild Card clincher, rookie Cam Schlittler pitched well into the seventh inning, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. booted what could have been an inning-ending double play ball. The miscue proved costly when Nathan Lukes connected for a two-run single off Devin Williams, effectively putting New York’s season on ice.
Is it fair to make the featured image a booted groundball in a game they were already trailing? Probably not, but fuck it, Jazz still deserves the shit for it.
But really, I mean, what the fuck, they allowed Toronto to kick their fucking ASS throughout this series. 10 runs, 13 runs, six runs, and five runs. What the fuck, dudes? That’s just an ASS-BEATING.
Still, here’s the thing. There is a straightforward path to get to the World Series for the Yankees, and it is get the #1 seed in the playoffs. They did it in 2024, and they made the World Series. They did it back in the 1990s. They did it in 2009. Before 2024, they HADN’T done it since 2012. And yes, you might say, “But wait, they didn’t make the World Series in 2012 OR 2011, the OTHER year they had the #1 seed,” and that’s true, but that’s before they started giving out first round byes for winning the #1 seed.
The key goal is get the bye, get home field throughout the playoffs, and make it to the World Series. The American League is rough, and doesn’t seem to be getting any better any time soon, so the Yankees SHOULD have been the #1 seed this season. They choked against Toronto in the regular season, and blew it.
They need to NOT blow it next season.
They will have a fucking SICK starting rotation next season. Will Warren is a decent enough back of the rotation guy, and he will not even BE IN THE ROTATION. Clarke Schmidt is an above average starting pitcher and he DOESN’T HAVE A ROTATION SPOT when he returns from Tommy John after the All Star Break. Their starting rotation will be very good next season.
So they should definitely be able to win the #1 seed. They just need to do two other things…
1. Sign Kyle Tucker
2. Fix the fucking bullpen. David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Tim Hill, Fernando Cruz, and Yerry de Los Santos are a decent start to a bullpen (I won’t say the certain avian-themed pitcher in the minors that I think they will be able to fix in the offseason, but just know that I think he will be surprisingly good, as well). But Cashman needs to go out and get at LEAST one lockdown late inning reliever, and preferably two. Doval and Cruz as 6th inning guys are a LOT better than Doval and Cruz as 8th inning guys, and that’s where they currently stand. Carlos Rodon was allowed to give up six runs because Boone didn’t think whichever reliever he was going to bring in would have done any better. That can’t be the case next season. They need a bullpen that can hang with their rotation. The rotation will be stellar, they need a stellar bullpen, as well.
Judge and Tucker alone give you a pretty darn good offense, and Tucker can gradually take on some the pressure from Judge as Judge ages. Tucker played a month with a broken fucking hand and he still had a better OBP than anyone on the team other than Judge. Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham were fine fill-ins, but next year, bring in an actual superstar in Kyle Tucker. Then maybe sign a cheap righthanded first baseman and platoon Rice at first base and catcher with Wells. Austin Wells as the starting catcher is blah. Austin Wells as the backup catcher is really nice. Ben Rice catching and playing first base with, say, I don’t fucking know, SOME righthanded first baseman would work well. Ryan McMahon is uninspiring, but he’ll play strong defense, and maybe might hit a little more next season. He was one of the few guys who looked good in the playoffs. Jazz is fine. He ain’t great, but he’s fine. Stanton just had a GREAT regular season, I don’t think we should be down on his chances of being an okay DH next season.
That leaves center field and shortstop. Shortstop SHOULD be Jose Caballero, but it’ll probably be Volpe, but I will say that with Caballero on the team, it will be less likely that Volpe will just be allowed to suck and continue to start, so that’s something. This isn’t Oswald Peraza. Caballero can actually push the issue a bit.
Center field. I’d like it to be Jasson, and just see if he can figure it out. But we shall see if they trust him to do so. Aaron Judge canNOT be the center fielder next season. He just can’t.
Tucker LF
Judge RF
Rice 1B
Stanton DH
Jazz 2B
Dominguez CF
Wells C
Volpe SS
McMahon 3B
That’s a good lineup. Tucker and Judge batting back-to-back will give other teams FITS. Tucker had a 4.5 bWAR while playing over a month WITH A BROKEN FUCKING HAND.
.935
.882
.982
.675
.735
Those were his OPSes by month. Guess when he broke his hand and played through it for over a month? He also missed most of September with a calf issue (he had a .515 OPS that month, but it was only five games. I didn’t want to count that), but that’s not a recurring injury, so I’m not too worried about it. If anything, it’ll hopefully knock a few million off his asking price.
Judge OBP .457
Tucker OBP .377 (playing for over a month with a broken fucking hand)
Stanton .350
Grisham .348
Rice .337
Bellinger .334
Jazz .332
Dominguez .331
McMahon .308
Wells .274 (.270fuckingFOUR?!?!)
Volpe .272 (INSANITY)
As an aside, VERY small sample size, but Caballero? .372
Kyle Tucker, improved bullpen, get it done, Cashman, and the Yankees will hopefully be playing next year as the #1 seed in the American League. 2023 was awful, and they made the World Series the following year. This year was a disappointment, but not even THAT bad, so 2026 could finally be a title.
Firing Boone would also be cool.
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Also, Belli can’t even bitch about them dumping him because if he wants to play here so badly, he HAS a player option for 2026. He can just opt in if he wants to stay here that badly.