Yankees: 3 horrific overreactions from NYY fans after playoff exit

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The Yankees’ playoff exit was disastrous, but there were a ton of overreactions.

We’re not happy about the New York Yankees‘ playoff exit. In fact, we’re quite saddened. Anger took over at first, but the inconsistent performance was simply too draining to remain mad for 48 more hours. This team, as they’ve proven since their magical 2017 playoff run, simply doesn’t possess the “it” factor. The Yankees also don’t have luck on their side in recent decades (with the exception of 2009).

However, the manner in which fans have overreacted in directing the blame has officially gotten out of hand. There’s enough blame to go around, placing each and every player on this roster at fault. To chalk this up to one singular moment, one singular figure, or one singular decision is certified crazy.

Perhaps the last few days gave fans time to sit back and gather their thoughts. Perhaps not. But here are the biggest overreactions after the Yankees blew Game 5 of the ALDS vs the Rays.

Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

3. Blaming Just About Everything Else Except for the Offense

The Yankees’ offense failing was the biggest culprit. End of story.

We’ll get into who pointed the finger at what soon enough, but the first order of business is acknowledging that the offense was the reason the Yankees lost to the Rays. Allowing two runs in a do-or-die Game 5 is not an indictment on the manager or the pitching staff. One run in an elimination game will advance your team 1% of the time.

New York scored 10 total runs in their three losses to the Rays compared to 14 in their two wins. In the losses? Fifteen hits, 12 walks, 18 runners left on base. That’s with a fully healthy offense against a very good Rays bullpen that was without key figures in Chaz Roe, Andrew Kittredge and Yonny Chirinos. But Tampa managed to get by with injuries!

It was the offense’s job to put the Rays under pressure, not the other way around. Tampa managed to put Gerrit Cole in bad spots in Game 5, driving up his pitch count and getting him out of the game after five innings of work. What did the Yankees do? They let Tyler Glasnow, who was pitching on two days of rest, survive the first inning on just eight pitches.

Aaron Judge batted .143. Luke Voit batted .111. Gio Urshela batted .105. DJ LeMahieu wasn’t great by his standards, hitting just .273. Three players performing that badly in your lineup is enough to cost you a series, and that’s what happened. Hold this group accountable, even though we all love Judge, Voit and Urshela very dearly. This is on them.

Yankees RHP Adam Ottavino (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

2. The Yankees Don’t Have Enough Pitching

The Yankees have enough pitching, they were just crushed by injuries again.

At the end of the day, injuries cannot be used as an excuse. The Yankees were very much in this series until the final pitch, and if the pitching staff had featured Luis Severino, James Paxton, Tommy Kahnle, and a functional Adam Ottavino, we’d bet they’d be in the ALCS right now.

This team was built on home runs and pitching. To say there isn’t a sufficient amount of the latter is just wrong. We just talked about the Rays missing three key arms … just like us! Kevin Cash and the front office just did a better job of filling in the gaps and getting their guys ready, it seems.

Manager Aaron Boone was working with a lot less than he signed up for, but that’s part of his job. One could argue he should’ve done better with his pitching decisions. We don’t disagree with that. One could argue he didn’t prepare some arms (like Ottavino, Jonathan Loaisiga or Jonathan Holder) for high-leverage action as much as he should’ve. One could argue Clarke Schmidt would’ve been a tremendous addition to the ailing bullpen. None of that is wrong.

But this team does not need more pitching. They still had three closer-esque pitchers on the roster when this season began in Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, and even Ottavino before he became a garbage time middle reliever. A lot of teams don’t even have one of this guys.

Untimely injuries, questionable roster moves, and former top arms falling into obscurity resulted in the dearth of pitching, if you want to call it that. This team still had enough to get by, but the front office tried to get cute in Game 2, Tanaka didn’t show up for Game 3, and Chapman blew Game 5. We don’t know what else to tell you.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone #17 (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

1. Aaron Boone Must Be Fired

Yankees manager Aaron Boone wasn’t the greatest, but he surely doesn’t deserve to get fired.

Before you start destroying nearby objects in a blind rage, let’s get this out of the way: the Game 2 pitching plan and pinch-hitting Mike Ford for Kyle Higashioka were front office decisions that Boone was forced to implement. No manager in their right mind would do either of those things, especially if their job depended on it (remember, Boone is not guaranteed to remain with the team after 2020).

And now everyone wants to blame Boone because he’s the perfect scapegoat. All the modern day baseball fans who are non-traditionalists all of a sudden believe there should be set-in-stone roles for pitchers. “Aroldis Chapman is the closer! Why is he coming in for seven outs?!” Those are the same people who were screaming because Boone didn’t let Zack Britton get the final out of the eighth inning in Game 4. Yup, they wanted the setup man to go two full innings, but not the closer who began his career as a starter.

Why don’t you take four minutes to make up your mind before blurting all of your inconsistent takes into a void?

Tell us, what was Boone supposed to do? Tell the front office to kick rocks and abandon the plans they instructed him to adhere to? Keep a laboring Cole in for the sixth inning and risk him giving up another home run? Bring in Ottavino in Game 5 to save Britton and Chapman from having to go more than one inning? There. Is. No. Right. Answer.

Boone brought in his best arms. It’s Chapman’s job to get Mike Brosseau out when he has an 0-2 count, not Boone’s. Hell, Kevin Cash brought in his closer in the FOURTH inning of this game and his bullpen managed to keep the Yankees’ offense at bay after he allowed a homer. Multiple relievers went multiple innings. But the $13 million Britton and $16 million Chapman shouldn’t do that because … it’s not entirely normal? Get a grip.

Boone moved batters around in the lineup to maximize production, and it worked for the most part. It resulted in four dominant wins. His decision to start Kyle Higashioka and Brett Gardner when he did yielded tremendous results. We’re sorry the Yankees left 18 runners on base in their losses. Boone can’t hit!

He saved the bullpen as much as he could after Game 1. He managed the bullpen perfectly in Game 4. Then he exhausted every last option when Britton and Chapman were fairly well-rested, and because Chapman doesn’t get the job done, Boone should be fired?

Whatever makes you sleep at night, I guess.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 08: Manager Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees is interviewed in between innings against the Tampa Bay Rays in Game Four of the American League Division Series at PETCO Park on October 08, 2020 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

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