The 4-0 ALCS loss is one of the worst in the Yankees’ history. It prompted a mild-mannered Michael Kay, Yankees’ long-time voice, to blast them. The rout was indeed a talking point and quite disturbing for fans of a team that boasts a huge payroll, many star players, and an overwhelming fan base.
Michael Kay was speaking on ESPN Radio’s The Michael Kay Show. Other hosts of the WEPN-FM 98.7 program included Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg. His postmortem rant over the Yankees’ collapse won many hearts for pointing fingers at those who hide behind excuses while there are others who reacted to his analysis sharply.
Speaking outside the YES Network, the sports broadcaster was more scathing and it was here the gloves clearly came off.
Michael Kay clearly blamed the Yankees team brass when he said “the issues start at the top.” He lambasted the team management for failing the fans time and again without fixing the responsibility for the debacle.
According to Kay:
“Yankee fans are really angry. You went to the 7th game in 2017 and let [Joe] Girardi go, but there have been no ramifications to these failures. To continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result in insanity. Something has to change.”
The play-by-play announcer also came down heavily on manager Aaron Boone blaming him for “bullpen mismanagement,” which was apparent throughout the playoffs. Kay spoke:
“The mismanagement of the bullpen completely ruined them. You lost games because of Clarks and the Guardian Series went five games because you messed up the management of the bullpen. They missed Marinaccio, Efros, King, and Green. I get it. And Chapman disappeared. Those are big losses. But you have what you have, and you have to use them.”
Michael Kay showed the mirror to the Yankees management and clearly told them that fans are no longer going to buy their excuses. It is the third time in a row they lost the ALCS to the Astros. He told, “There are no excuses, you got swept without buzzers and without cheating; you got dominated every facet of the game, and they were better than you; I guess their stuff is crapshoot proof because they’re going to the World Series for the fourth time in six years”
His criticism highlighted how fans are desperate to see the Yankees take another ring. The last came in 2009 and since then, they haven’t been able to have a World Series championship. Michael Kay wanted owner Hal Steinbrenner to act against those responsible and seek answers for why despite having a much bigger payroll, the Yankees continued to meekly surrender to the Astros. He suggested Steinbrenner see beyond the money-only approach, which couldn’t guarantee the success of a team, and “make the decision-making process that brings in certain types of players” more effective and game-winning oriented.
Michael Kay asked the Yankees’ team brass to learn from the Astros’ analytics. He blamed them for suffering from “paralysis by analysis of the available data.” According to him:
“I think [the Yankees] over informationalize everything. With athletes, you don’t want to think too much, you just want to react. I think they put the manager in a situation where he has so much information that he can’t react in real time.”
For the last 13 years, the Yankees are among the top three franchises with the largest payroll. However, they haven’t won a World Series. The 2022 ALCS debacle has raised questions over their top players as well as the manager, who now face an uncertain future. Fans call for action to revamp the Yankees.
Michael Kay’s rant against the team invited both appreciation for what he said and reactions from fans on social media.
