Once again, the Yankees will be clearing out their lockers far earlier than they hoped or anticipated.
The current core of Bronx Bombers surprised the league with a run to the ALCS in 2017, leaving many assuming that it was the start of a sustained run of World Series contention. Instead, the team is still searching to make it as far as they did in that resurgent season after falling to the Red Sox in Tuesday night’s Wild Card Game.
“The guys are crushed,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Unfortunately, we’ve been in this position where we’ve been in the playoffs every year but it hasn’t ended how we wanted. Tonight was another tough one to take. We’ve been through a lot of wars with guys in that room, and the guys are bummed. They poured a lot into this.
“I love the way we’ve competed. But the other message is that the league’s closed the gap on us, and we have to get better in every aspect. Teams are getting better and better, and that needs to be front and center as guys get ready for next season.”
A gap being closed normally suggests that a gap was created in the first place, but in reality, the Yankees have been on the wrong end of playoff celebrations for the past five years, since their young core led by Aaron Judge burst onto the scene in 2017 and came one game short of reaching the Fall Classic. So the end of their 2021 season was more of the same: disappointment.
“I think every bit of me can’t believe it,” Judge said. “It’s not what we wanted or imagined, the ultimate goal is to get to a World Series and we fell short. Another tough loss. It’s cut and dried for me. I’m here to bring a championship to New York, and when you fall short, it hurts.”
The Yankees tried to get over that hump by signing ace Gerrit Cole to a record $324 million deal, but Cole couldn’t survive the third inning on Tuesday, as the Yanks once again failed to overcome their archrivals in October, having now lost eight of their last nine playoff games against Boston, a team that has won two World Series titles since the Yanks last were on top of the baseball world.
“This is the worst feeling in the world, and it happens to 29 teams every year,” Cole said. “Focusing on all the good that got us here doesn’t really make it feel any better. You can’t be afraid of this feeling.”
That brutal feeling has now hit Yankee teams in each of the last 12 years. The only player on the roster to experience a championship in the Bronx is Brett Gardner, who could be retiring and breaking the team’s last link to its last moment of glory.
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“It is that time of year, and only one team goes home happy at the end,” Gardner said. “I think everybody kind of wants to know that answer, but the first one I have is that we’re playing really good teams. It’s harder now than it’s ever been to win the World Series. Obviously the work we put in over the season, at the end of the day it wasn’t enough, and collectively we need to take these next few days and weeks to reevaluate and find ways to push each other and get better.”
Of course, there still is time to get over the hump and experience what Gardner did way back in 2009. Judge and Giancarlo Stanton both stayed healthy and put together monster seasons for the offense, while Cole seemed to lose a notable amount of efficiency after his hamstring injury. The bullpen found some new pieces that could be reliable late-inning arms like Jonathan Loaisiga, and Jordan Montgomery and Luis Severino could potentially give the rotation some reliable depth.
Changes and upgrades have to be made elsewhere, but the championship window hasn’t slammed shut just yet, even if another season without a title has closed.
“We’ve been in this situation for a couple years now, and it doesn’t matter when it is – it all hurts the same,” Judge said. “You never want that feeling. I won’t go into what was said, but it’s not a fun place to be. But you’re going to go through tough times, and those only make it sweeter when we get that championship, You’ll look back on days like this when you get kicked in the nuts and remember you got over it all.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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