Yankees: Aroldis Chapman getting booed off mound proves spring must end

Nice try Friday night against the Orioles, Aroldis Chapman, but your new splitter won’t save you or the Yankees now.

While we’re desperately trying not to care about spring training results (don’t…care…come on, now…), the Yankees have now gone 1-6-1 in their past eight games after firing off to a hot start, and the latest loss rested firmly on Chapman’s shoulders.

After entering a deadlocked 0-0 game in the seventh, Chappy recorded one out and allowed three earned runs on a trio of wild pitches.

It was brutal. It was ghastly. It was good that he got it out of his system in a game that didn’t matter whatsoever. But don’t tell that to the fans in attendance, who hoarsely booed the Yankees’ closer off the mound.

Were the fans too harsh? Well…no? They hated what they saw, and a little booing never hurt anybody.

But the chorus of Bronx cheers was the surest sign of all that spring training needs to end, because we simply can’t be wasting our time with morality plays or misplaced emotions when this team has a World Series to win.

When you’ve got a chorus of fans booing your closer (and Gary Sanchez!) over the most meaningless possible game, the warmup period has officially gone on too long.

Yankees fans booing Aroldis Chapman is a non-issue, but…they’re just so, so bored.

No, Yankees fans don’t deserve to be judged for their actions on Friday, per se. But we can’t think of a more meaningless discussion than deciding who has the moral high ground in a spring booing fiasco, the unprepared closer or the surprisingly vicious spectators.

Gerrit Cole has gotten his final warmup. The lineup is all but set. The fifth starter decision has been made. Heck, even Chapman (who had one bad outing!) doesn’t need to prove anything else; he won’t even be available for the season’s first two games thanks to his 2020 actions.

So please, for the love of the Bronx Bombers’ central cause, can we please head north and get the competitive juices flowing for real?

The team’s recent record proves they’re bored of spring ball anyway. Most of the squad looks good and ready. No more shenanigans, please.

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