Aaron Boone's annual Yankees playoff humiliation hit stunning new low in Game 2 embarrassment vs. Rays

Do you know how bad a game has to be for the "Fire Boone!" crowd to be vindicated in this season, of all seasons? A year in which Boone navigated the losses of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Max Fried and Carlos Rodón, as well as the delayed return of Gerrit Cole, to win 93 games in a loaded AL East, handled his undermanned bullpen perfectly, then outmaneuvered Chad Tracy in the AL Wild Card Series like it was child's play? Boone had a special season - a special regular season, that is.

Because, just like always, the Yankees ran into a team that had a better season than they did in the postseason. When the two teams met, the other team looked better. Looked cleaner. Looked crisp. Looked prepared. When the two teams met, the Yankees' opponent got all the bounces while also making their own luck.

Usually. the Yankees look overmatched in October. On Monday night in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Aaron Boone Yankees hit a startling new low, even for them. Error upon error upon error. Misplays on non-errors. First-pitch swings. Negative awareness, mostly from Jazz Chisholm Jr., who hurled a relay to first full-speed into no-man's land, then also played back when everyone else played in on a run-scoring grounder later in the game.

Boone got in on the action, too, freezing reliever Brent Headrick after five consecutive brilliant pitches by challenging a clear steal of second. When the inning resumed, after a delay the manager caused for no apparent reason, George Lombard Jr. - given more time to think about the soft grounder he'd just fumbled - fielded another one and threw it away. Headrick lost his rhythm. Richie Palacios took three consecutive balls, scrapped, clawed, and lined a two-run single to center to essentially ice the game.

Though maybe the game was iced in the first inning when the Yankees made three errors on four plays, then required Lombard Jr. to stretch and stomp on second to avoid a fourth.

Yankees have 9 years of evidence that Aaron Boone's teams are ill-prepared for playoff pressure

You're not going to believe this, but none of the first 10 postseason teams to record three errors in an inning won their baseball game that day! No team has ever made more than three. But the Yankees have at least one more postseason game ahead of them on the docket this year to attempt it.

It took until the second postseason series of the fall - just like last year! - but Boone's specialty finally reared its ugly head. This wasn't just a head-to-head failure. This was an undressing. An outclassing.

And, again, that's what usually happens. This was several degrees worse than normal. When the Yankees melted down in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, unable to figure out whether to cover first or cower, they were mired in the middle of a series they were bound to lose. That series was the World Series. They'd already conquered the AL. This time around, they were playing the swing Game 2 of a Division Series on the road with their soon-to-be Cy Young winner on the mound. They were resuming a series against the No. 1 seed that most agreed they could hang with, and they brought momentum into the showdown.

Five minutes into the game, the idea that the Yankees had evolved suddenly sounded ludicrous beyond belief, as the players melted down beyond repair. Who knows how they got here? Are they coddled? Or are they clods? Either way, while Boone is not the sole source of the issue, what justification is there to maintain continuity?

Usually, scouts are sent to watch playoff games so they can rationally assess their surroundings, pinpointing specific hidden flaws and touting points of superiority.

When scouts watch the Playoff Yankees, all they can muster is this nonsense:

If that's not the end of an era - with so much at stake, so much homegrown core talent, and the greatest right-handed hitter on earth still on your roster - then what will be?

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