Aaron Boone gets testy with reporter after Yankees' ALCS Game 3 collapse

In what will go down as a season-defining loss if the New York Yankees don't make it to the World Series, the collective ALCS Game 3 meltdown vs the Cleveland Guardians cannot be taken lightly. You don't merely "shake this off" and win the next day that easily. It doesn't work like that.

The Yankees wasted two of the most exciting home runs of the 2024 postseason because of bullpen overuse, poor managerial decisions, baserunning mistakes, and shoddy defense. This was not an example of being out-played. It was the embodiment of actively being worse and weaker than your opponent.

Aaron Boone seems to be brushing this one off rather easily ... or at least he tried to at the beginning of his postgame presser. But then he was asked a question he took exception to.

One reporter asked if the Yankees felt like they had the series "in the bag" after Judge and Stanton went back-to-back off Emmanuel Clase to plate three runs and give New York a 4-3 lead. Progressive Field was completely deflated. Fans couldn't believe what they had just witnessed. In all honesty, it was a valid to ask, even if it sounds unrealistic given the stakes in October.

Boone immediately brushed off that question with an attitude, potentially revealing he's at a bit of a loss after that one. For a guy who preached being "even-keeled" all year, he sure did waste a small emotional outburst on something very insignificant.

Aaron Boone gets testy with reporter after Yankees' ALCS Game 3 collapse

Do we blame him? Not really. Emotions are running high. You're a professional on the field surrounded by other professionals, so you know exactly what the mindset is. Nobody's dancing around the dugout celebrating a win with two outs in the top of the eighth inning leading by a run.

However, there does exist a level of confidence in which you shift gears after a moment like that and go into kill mode — something the Yankees famously never do, and didn't do on Thursday night. Boone called on three relievers to help get the job done, and they all failed in different ways.

Tommy Kahnle clogged the bases in the eighth, forcing Boone to go to Luke Weaver. Though Weaver got out of the jam, he gave up a double and the game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth despite backing Lane Thomas into an 0-2 count with two outs. One strike away from locking up a 3-0 series lead. Then Clay Holmes took the ball in the 10th, immediately gave up a leadoff single and got the next two outs before surrendering a walk-off two-run homer to David Fry.

In between, the offense only scored one run in the top of the ninth after having runners on second and third with nobody out. Austin Wells struck out. Gleyber Torres hit a sac fly. Juan Soto struck out looking. In the top of the 10th? Judge struck out. Stanton walked. Jazz Chisholm grounded out. Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked. Anthony Volpe struck out, swinging out of his shoes. In all, they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, left eight runners on base, struck out 10 times, and recorded only six hits.

And to cap it all off, Boone essentially talked out of both sides of his mouth in this presser. He insisted the Yankees would be back and ready to go on Friday as he deflected a question about the rollercoaster of emotions. Then, minutes later, he abruptly responded with disgust to the reporter asking the "series in the bag" question.

So, yeah, we'll see how the Yankees "respond" on Friday as everybody tries to act like this one-of-a-kind crushing defeat doesn't have a great likelihood of completely flipping the series.