Anthony Volpe's two-word answer about Yankees' 2025 mindset says it all

The New York Yankees' 2024 World Series loss left them in an oddly similar position to the one they'd been in one year earlier, but with more data to work with.

At the end of the 2023 season, the Yankees felt like a collective shell of themselves. It was a one-of-a-kind calamitous season, but one that still showed promise. After all, Aaron Judge all but replicated his remarkable 2022 numbers, but in limited playing time due to a freak toe accident. The starting rotation quite literally could not have been worse; ERAs above 6.00 for Carlos Rodón and Luis Severino, and 12 combined starts from Nestor Cortes and Frankie Montas (all Nestor). There was reason to believe that, with normalized starting pitching and a savvy offseason, the Yankees could swiftly be "back".

And they were. Juan Soto helped paper over their holes powerfully, and New York's improved staff helped carve through a weakened American League to the AL pennant. Unfortunately, once there, the Yankees' flaws began to show again. As Chris Taylor put it, New York "sh*t down their leg" when pressured defensively, in both the sandstorm of Game 5 and the pressure cooker of Game 1, when Soto and Gleyber Torres each botched fundamental plays that led to runs in an eventual extra-inning loss.

Neither player is here for the 2025 comeback tour, but Anthony Volpe noted to Brendan Kuty this week that Judge's message has the team "pissed off" and ready to attack a rebound in a more "introspective" manner this time around.

Yankees, Anthony Volpe "pissed off" entering 2025 season at spring training

Individually, plenty of the 2023 Yankees recalled how their seasons clattered to the ground (remember Carlos Rodón in Kansas City?), and prepared differently to avoid repeating that fate.

For the most part, the adjustments worked. Rodón and Cortes clawed back. Judge dedicated his surplus energy to covering center field for the greater good, avoiding needless leaps and unnecessary slides in the name of self-preservation. The Yankees reached the edge of the promised land, but were pushed back at the last second by their greatest indignity yet.

Only Volpe, though, can leave the postseason mess nearly unscathed. After a year of bouncing back and forth between approaches, everything finally clicked as he found a power balance in October. Like the rest of the Yankees, Volpe entered camp furious, but with action items and directives this time. All he must do to get the Yankees where they need to be is repeat what he found in the fall, while the rest of his teammates forget where they left things last October.