NEW YORK — The loudest voices at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night were not aimed at the Tampa Bay Rays.
Frustrated fans chanted for owner Hal Steinbrenner to fire manager Aaron Boone as the Rays finished a 4-3 win in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. The victory completed a three-game sweep and ended the New York Yankees’ season.
The night turned in the sixth inning. Anthony Volpe’s apparent game-tying two-run homer to left field was overturned on replay and ruled an RBI double. The Yankees did not score again.
The series exposed familiar flaws. The Yankees scored five runs in three games. Drew Rasmussen held them to one hit over eight innings in a 1-0 loss in Game 1. They committed four errors in a 5-2 loss in Game 2 at Tropicana Field.
Aaron Judge, sidelined by a right calf strain, never played in the series. The captain appeared in only 66 regular-season games.
It was Boone’s fourth ALDS exit in nine seasons. The Yankees went 93-68 this year but finished behind the Rays in the AL East. Their last World Series title came in 2009.
The exit followed a pattern. Last October, the AL East champion Toronto Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees in four games in the ALDS. This year, the division-winning Rays needed only three.
The scrutiny on Boone dates back further. In Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, defensive breakdowns helped the Los Angeles Dodgers rally for a 7-6 win that ended the series. The Yankees have not advanced past the division series since.
Boone has guided the Yankees to the postseason in eight of his nine seasons. His regular-season record stands at 790-565, based on year-by-year results. Those numbers have not quieted the noise.
The case for a change is easy to make from the stands. The case against it may come down to a date on the calendar.
Boone deflects as the clubhouse closes ranks
Boone was asked about his contract and his future minutes after the elimination. He declined to engage and said his focus was on his players.
“That’s for another day,” Boone said. “Right now, it’s about trying to reflect on this, trying to connect with guys right now as much as I can.”
Pressed again, the manager offered gratitude but no answers about his status.
“I’m appreciative of a lot of things, but those conversations and things are for another day,” Boone said.
Inside the clubhouse, the message was different. Judge, who watched the sweep from the dugout, backed Boone in comments reported by SNY.
“He’s our manager,” Judge said.
Right-hander Cam Schlittler, an AL Cy Young contender and a cornerstone of the Yankees’ pitching staff, echoed that support.
“I think Boonie’s been amazing,” Schlittler said.
General manager Brian Cashman called Boone “a really good manager” before Game 3, Fox Sports reported.
The Dec. 1 deadline hanging over the Bronx
Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union expires Dec. 1. A lockout is widely expected to follow, according to multiple reports.
A lockout would freeze the sport. Clubs could make no transactions and would have no contact with players on their 40-man rosters.
That timing could protect Boone. A manager hired by mid-November would have about two weeks to meet his roster before contact ends, New York Post columnist Joel Sherman wrote this week. Sherman also warned of a compressed “shotgun spring training” if talks drag on.
Sherman noted that Steinbrenner is among the owners most involved in labor negotiations. He wrote that the Yankees are unlikely to put a new manager in that position.
Boone is signed through 2027, the final year of a two-year extension. The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty reached a similar conclusion Friday, writing that “it’s unlikely there will be a change before 2027.”
The Yankees’ last manager search ran right to this deadline
The Yankees’ most recent managerial search offers a useful clock.
Joe Girardi was let go on Oct. 26, 2017. Boone’s hiring was finalized on Dec. 4, 2017, more than five weeks later.
A search on that pace this fall would end almost exactly when the lockout is expected to start. A new manager could be introduced and then barred from calling his own players.
The last lockout shows the cost. It began Dec. 2, 2021, and lasted 99 days. Spring training was delayed, and Opening Day was pushed to April 7, 2022.
The New York Mets hired Buck Showalter during that freeze, on Dec. 18, 2021. He could not speak with his players until the lockout ended in March. His club still won 101 games, a sign the obstacle is real but not fatal.
There is a second layer for the Yankees. Cashman’s contract expires at the end of this season. The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor reported in late August that Cashman is expected to sign another deal.
Replacing both the general manager and the manager in a five-week window before a lockout would be a rare overhaul. The Yankees have had one GM since 1998.
Where the Yankees stand on Boone
As of Sunday, the Yankees had announced no decision on Boone’s status.
Several insiders expect continuity. Jim Bowden of CBS Sports HQ said Tuesday, before the elimination, that Boone and Cashman “will be back next year.”
For the fans who chanted in the Bronx, the deciding factor may have little to do with lineup cards or bullpen moves. It could rest on a labor deadline seven weeks away.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
