Same Lineup. Same Problems. If the Yankees Go Home, Aaron Boone Should Too

There comes a point when patience stops being patience and starts becoming acceptance.

For the New York Yankees, that point may finally be here.

After being held to one hit and zero runs in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays, with Drew Rasmussen carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning, Yankees manager Aaron Boone faced one of the first major decisions of the series.

Change something.

Create a spark.

Acknowledge that what happened in Game 1 was unacceptable.

Instead, Boone essentially said: run it back.

The Yankees sent the same starting lineup back onto the field for Game 2.

And now they are coming home down two games to none after a 5-2 loss, one defeat away from another postseason ending without a championship. (New York Post)

At some point, somebody has to be held responsible.

If the Yankees are eliminated from this series, that somebody should be Aaron Boone.

Game 1 Should Have Demanded a Response

This wasn’t a case where the Yankees lost Game 1 after lining balls directly at defenders all afternoon.

They were dominated.

Rasmussen struck out 10 Yankees over eight shutout innings and did not allow a hit until Austin Wells doubled with two outs in the eighth. Wells was then thrown out trying to stretch that double into a triple.

That was it.

One hit.

Zero runs.

A 1-0 loss despite Gerrit Cole giving the Yankees a completely winnable baseball game. (New York Post)

The Yankees didn’t need a complete overhaul after one game.

But they needed something.

Instead, Boone admitted he considered changes before deciding he was going to “roll it back out.” The Yankees again stacked the lineup with eight left-handed hitters against Freddy Peralta, and Ryan McMahon remained at third base despite entering Game 2 just 1-for-14 in his career against Peralta. (Currently)

That is where the criticism of Boone becomes more than second-guessing.

The manager’s job in October isn’t simply to trust the roster that got him there.

It is to recognize what is happening in front of him and react before the season disappears.

Boone chose continuity.

Tampa Bay chose exploitation.

And Then McMahon’s Defense Immediately Hurt Them

If there was one argument for keeping McMahon in the lineup, it was defense.

Then the second pitch of the bottom of the first inning went his way.

McMahon booted it.

It was the beginning of one of the ugliest defensive innings the Yankees have played in October.

New York committed three errors in the first inning, tying a postseason record for errors in the opening frame, and finished the night with four. Jazz Chisholm Jr. threw a ball away. Austin Wells was charged with catcher’s interference. George Lombard Jr. later added another throwing error.

The Yankees weren’t simply beaten.

They helped beat themselves. (MLB.com)

And that might be the most infuriating part for Yankees fans.

Haven’t we seen some version of this before?

A talented Yankees team reaches October.

The pitching gives them opportunities.

The offense suddenly disappears for long stretches.

Fundamental mistakes become magnified.

The opposition looks faster, cleaner and more prepared.

And everyone spends the winter wondering how a team with this much talent managed to look so ordinary when the games mattered most.

Different roster.

Same feeling.

Ben Rice Can’t Do It Alone

Ben Rice deserves to be separated from the criticism.

Rice homered twice Monday night and accounted for both Yankees runs. (MLB.com)

The rest?

Not enough.

Through the first two games of this ALDS, New York has scored two runs, both on Rice solo home runs.

That’s not championship baseball.

That’s not even sustainable playoff baseball.

When your pitching staff enters October knowing that allowing two or three runs might be enough to lose, the margin for error becomes nonexistent.

Game 1 was the perfect example.

Cole allowed one run.

The Yankees lost.

In Game 2, Cam Schlittler had to navigate extra traffic created by his own defense almost immediately.

This is supposed to be the postseason, where every run and every out becomes more valuable.

Instead, the Yankees have spent two games giving Tampa Bay exactly what it wants.

This Can’t Always Be Explained Away

Aaron Boone has accomplished plenty as Yankees manager.

That needs to be acknowledged.

He is now in his ninth season managing the club. The Yankees have reached the postseason in eight of those nine years, and Boone took them to the 2024 World Series. The organization even extended him through the 2027 season. (MLB.com)

Those are legitimate accomplishments.

But this is also the New York Yankees.

Postseason qualification cannot be the final measuring stick forever.

Boone himself acknowledged before the season that what bothers him about his tenure is that he still hasn’t won the World Series. (MLB.com)

Exactly.

Eventually, winning 90-plus games, qualifying for October and talking about how difficult postseason baseball is cannot be enough.

The standard in the Bronx has always been championships.

Not competitive seasons.

Not playoff appearances.

Not ALCS appearances.

Championships.

The Game 2 Lineup Decision Matters

Managers receive too much blame when teams lose and sometimes too much credit when they win.

Boone did not commit four errors Monday night.

Boone did not go hitless outside of Ben Rice.

Boone cannot stand in the batter’s box for his players.

But managers are responsible for putting their team in the best position possible.

And after watching his lineup get completely neutralized in Game 1, Boone had an opportunity to send a message before Game 2.

Instead, he chose essentially the exact same group.

That group immediately fell behind again.

Maybe changing the lineup wouldn’t have changed anything.

Maybe José Caballero wouldn’t have made a difference.

Maybe Anthony Volpe wouldn’t have.

Maybe Paul Goldschmidt wouldn’t have.

Nobody can know.

But when the season is five wins away from the World Series and your offense just produced one hit, doing nothing becomes a decision too.

And decisions have consequences.

The Yankees Are Now On The Brink

This series isn’t officially over.

The Yankees return to the Bronx for Game 3 Wednesday night.

And if there is one piece of history they can cling to, it is that teams have recovered from this exact position before.

In fact, the last team to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five postseason series was the 2017 Yankees, who came back against Cleveland.

But the numbers show how difficult the climb is.

Teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have gone on to win 83 of 93 times — 89 percent. Teams winning Games 1 and 2 at home in the current Division Series format have advanced 33 of 36 times. (MLB.com)

So this isn’t the time for another quote about turning the page.

It isn’t the time to say the Yankees need to have good at-bats.

It isn’t the time to talk about competing.

Win.

That is where the season stands.

If It Ends Here, Something Has To Change

There is still time for Boone and the Yankees to completely rewrite this story.

Win Game 3.

Make Tampa Bay uncomfortable.

Get Yankee Stadium involved.

Win Game 4.

Suddenly Game 5 becomes chaos.

Do that, and the discussion changes dramatically.

But if the Yankees are eliminated?

If another talented Yankees team walks off the field watching somebody else celebrate?

Then ownership cannot simply hold another press conference praising the consistency of the organization and promising to improve around the edges.

There has to be accountability.

And after nine seasons, the manager has had enough opportunities.

Aaron Boone has been given talented rosters.

He has been given stars.

He has been given postseason opportunity after postseason opportunity.

He even reached the World Series two years ago.

But if this season ends with the Yankees going from nearly being no-hit in Game 1, to running the same lineup back, to falling into an 0-2 hole while playing some of their sloppiest baseball of the season, then the organization has to ask whether another year of the same leadership is really going to produce a different ending.

Because at some point, “we’ll get ’em tomorrow” stops working.

At some point, running it back stops being confidence.

It becomes stubbornness.

And if the Yankees’ 2026 season ends over the next few days, Aaron Boone should not be the manager running it back again in 2027.

— CrossTalk Media