Aaron Boone's job should be on the line as Yankees head into World Series Game 3

Many things can be true. The New York Yankees offense isn't doing enough. Aaron Judge is slumping at the worst time. Carlos Rodón is essentially a free agent bust, considering what the team was expecting out of him. The lineup after Giancarlo Stanton is an absolute joke.

But also ... Aaron Boone has killed the Yankees' chances with his decision making in Games 1 and 2. The manager's job is to adapt to how the roster is performing, not "stick with the plan" when everything continues to go wrong.

Boone removing Gerrit Cole from Game 1 of the World Series will assuredly come back to haunt this team if they lose. He removed his best arm at 88 pitches through six innings. That is a capital offense in New York. And you know about the Gleyber Torres pinch run/Nestor Cortes nod. No need to discuss further.

In danger of going down 0-3 in the World Series on Monday night as the Yankees return to the Bronx, Boone's job should be on the line. He needs to switch the lineup around. He needs to make the right pitching decisions. Because he has had an influential hand in the Yankees' postseason failures.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone's job should be on the line in World Series Game 3

At this point, moving Aaron Judge down in the lineup should be in play. It just has to be. Why can't Boone restructure to make it look like this?

1. 2B Gleyber Torres
2. RF Juan Soto
3. DH Giancarlo Stanton
4. 1B Anthony Rizzo
5. CF Aaron Judge
6. 3B Jazz Chisholm
7. SS Anthony Volpe
8. LF Alex Verdugo
9. C Austin Wells

And if Oswaldo Cabrera starts or has to come in later in the game, he can easily take quality at-bats in the Nos. 4 or 6 spots. Nonetheless, right now it's the Torres-Soto-Stanton-Rizzo show, and everybody else is just hanging out.

For as much as we'd love for Judge to come out of his slumber, there is no time for him to "figure it out." The Yankees are two losses away from their season ending. Putting faith in Judge to reverse course on a historically bad postseason would be as irresponsible as it gets.

There's also a world in which Verdugo moves up to No. 6 and Chisholm shifts down to No. 8 so the lineup can deepen a bit. There's been absolutely no pop after Stanton when the last few games were Chisholm, Rizzo, Volpe, Wells and Verdugo after him, so it's worth trying to break things up a bit. But, at the very least, something needs to be done about Judge cutting the head off rallies when he's hitting third.

And how to handle Clarke Schmidt? The answer is simple: roll with him until you can't. The one advantage the Yankees possessed in this World Series was a superior starting staff that had the ability to pitch deeper into games and preserve the bullpen. Boone ruined that by taking out Cole in Game 1, and Rodón's implosion in Game 2 didn't help the cause, either. While Schmidt isn't expected to give six innings, Boone absolutely cannot press the wrong button if he's cruising (and likewise if he starts to falter badly early).

The Yankees going down 0-3 in the World Series against an equal is absolutely unacceptable, especially with the manner in which they handed Games 1 and 2 to LA. A loss on Monday should seal Boone's fate if he doesn't make any changes or if his instincts prove to be wrong yet again.