Gerrit Cole's heartbroken Instagram shows why Yankees fans feel personally affected

On Monday evening, doctors confirmed the inevitable, sending a cascading wave of beat reporter push notifications into the wild: Gerrit Cole, sent to undergo elbow testing on Friday for a second consecutive spring, was informed he'd need Tommy John surgery following a second opinion.

The surgery will, hopefully, fully fix his problematic UCL, but will sideline him into the 2026 season, his age-35 campaign. The rehabilitation will likely take between 14 and 16 months to complete.

Last time around, prior to the 2024 season, Cole's elbow was diagnosed as merely inflamed after a series of closer-look scans. He returned in mid-June, and navigated a bumpy road to the finish line as his less-than-whole self, somehow starring in the ALDS, ALCS and World Series anyhow before his team fell in five games. His Game 1 start was too short, by his own standards, but brilliant nonetheless. His Game 5 seemed headed the same way until catastrophe befell him; his own mental error contributed to the defensive spiral that ultimately left the final game of the Fall Classic knotted. It did not end that way.

Cole's arrival to the Yankees on a record-setting contract following the 2019 season was paired with a sense that the universe had preordained it; his faded "Yankee Fan: Today, Tomorrow, Forever" sign, which he held aloft at the 2001 World Series, made it with him from Houston for his introductory press conference. Nobody wants a championship-filled Yankees legacy more than Cole, who instead saw his first season in the Bronx reduced to 60 games, following by a Wild Card Game disaster on one hamstring to end the team's most off-balance regular season since before the Baby Bombers arrived.

Now, the ultimate blow. He will be back, but he's lost a year-plus of his dream. The hurt was evident in the Instagram post he launched after the diagnosis became public. As Yankee fans who share his lifelong ambition, it was very difficult to reconcile a season evaporating before reading Cole's personal words. The region's collective stomach sank a little bit further after realizing how much harder it must be to be both a Yankee fan and in his body right now.

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole's Instagram post announcing his Tommy John surgery diagnosis hurt fans hard

"From the time I first dreamed of wearing the Yankees uniform, my goal has always been to help bring a World Series championship to New York," Cole wrote. "That dream hasn't changed -- I still believe in it, and I'm more determined than ever to achieve it."

"I have a lot left to give, and I'm fully committed to the work ahead," he finished, a helpful reminder that he'll be able to counsel and advise his fellow pitchers while on the sidelines, which has been an invaluable resource since he first arrived.

The 2025 Yankees' ceiling just slumped significantly, but if the diehard fan who also happens to wear a pinstriped No. 45 isn't ready to give up yet - on the team, on the season, on himself - then why should you?