Do you blame Aaron Boone, Brian Cashman, or Rays for Yankees' playoff reality?

The Tampa Bay Rays come to town today for four games in three days. There's a mid-50s chill in the air. Every step you take alternates between dewy grass and dry leaves. It's October baseball, baby.

Except, because of the way the standings are situated, the Yankees will likely need to win at least one playoff game to even reach the actual month of October. One Rays win out of four games this week sentences the Yankees to the Wild Card round against the Red Sox, taking place Sept. 29-Oct. 1. That's not how it was supposed to be, but that's how it is.

Do you rage at the sky? The Yankees went through a 5-15 stretch midsummer, then steered out of it nicely, playing some of the best ball in the league in August and September without their Captain. But the Rays were still better. Every time the Yankees won, seemingly so did the Rays. Ditto for losses. They synced their inanity pretty nicely with one another. At one point, the Rays hit a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth off Mason Miller that was in a Padre's glove and was dropped over the fence. Do you tip your cap, or does the Rays' relentlessness make you angrier?

Aaron Boone, Brian Cashman to blame for Yankees' Wild Card reality?

Do you blame Aaron Boone? The best argument for ditching him with an underwhelming playoff finish is the same as it's always been for me: Time for a new voice. Something has to change. The other arguments ring kind of hollow this year, to be honest. He's manned the ship during a season where injuries should've killed the Yankees, not just derailed them from the pursuit of their primary goal of winning the AL East, but didn't at all. He's done a fantastic job managing an undermanned bullpen.

Do we blame the man who gave him the undermanned bullpen? I lean more in that direction. Brian Cashman's hubris led him to believe the waiver wire and his surplus of injured starting pitchers would build a better bullpen than what was available all offseason/at the trade deadline. We'll see if he's right, but he already failed to account for August wear-and-tear. He crowded the DH room with purpose, forcing Aaron Judge back into right field, then back onto the IL. We needed bats. We didn't necessarily need an added logjam of non-fielders.

Unless the Yankees can somehow sweep a four-game series, including a doubleheader, this week, the Rays will celebrate on their turf. Will it motivate them more than it motivates you, the general fan, some of whom have already counted them out? It had better. Leaving this series with a bad taste in their mouths could pay dividends. It could also end their season before October begins.

This article has been reprinted (with additions and addendums) from the morning edition of the Yanks Go Yard Newsletter. If you'd like to subscribe, sign up here!

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