Lone silver lining of Yankees getting owned by Red Sox feels totally irrelevant

The New York Yankees have lost eight straight games to their nemesis, the Boston Red Sox. That in and of itself is embarrassing. Even more concerning is that the losing has come during a three-month stretch of uninspired baseball that has completely taken the wind out of the club's sails, and has culminated with a 12-1 drubbing that featured some of the team's most chronic issues on full display.

And the two teams play again on Sunday Night Baseball to close the week! Can you feel the excitement?!

Yankee fans aren't known for being a particularly optimistic bunch, but some of the most glass-half-full among us have pointed to the last vestige of Yankee greatness in a desperate search for a silver lining.

Yes, the last time the Yankees lost eight straight against the Boston Red Sox was coincidentally the last year they won the World Series. But that is where the similarities between the 2009 and 2025 teams begin and end.

Despite sharing eight-game losing streaks against the Red Sox, the 2009 Yankees couldn't be more different than the 2025 version.

First, the timing of the streaks matters. The 2009 team came out of the gate slow against Boston, dropping a three-game series from April 24-26, a two-game set on May 4 and 5, and another three-game sweep from June 9-11.

That was the old days when division rivals squared off 18 times a year, and despite beginning the year 0-8 against their most-hated rival, the club would go 9-1 in the remaining 10 contests to split the season series, as was customary for these two clubs back in those days.

In fact, the 2009 club got stronger as the season went on against everyone. That team posted a 51-37 record in the first half, and then put the pedal to the metal in the second half, going 52-22 down the stretch to win 103 games in total. They did not post a losing record in any month of the season.

The 2025 variant went 13-14 in June, 12-13 in July, and currently sits at 9-11 in August. The dream of this club cracking the 100-win plateau will soon be mathematically impossible.

There are two other huge differences, too. First, the man at the helm in 2009 was not Aaron Boone, but rather Joe Girardi. Girardi had no issue calling players out for their mistakes, while Boone will tie himself in knots to justify why an objectively bad baseball play could have actually been clever.

Lastly, the players on the 2009 squad knew what it took to win. CC Sabathia had just joined the team a year removed from single-handedly putting the Milwaukee Brewers on his back and carrying them to the postseason. Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera had grown up in that culture of winning and evangelized it to the younger members of the team, like Robinson Cano and Brett Gardner. Other imports like Johnny Damon had reached the top of the mountain before.

The intensity that simmered under the surface in 2009 is a big reason that a large contingent of the fan base clamors for Posada, one of that team's leaders, to take the reins from Boone as Yankees manager in 2026. The 2009 Yankees weren't impervious to making mistakes, but the white hot passion that guys like Posada played with didn't allow for the prolonged malaise that is present in the Bronx these days.

So yeah, the last time the Yankees dropped eight straight to Boston was during the glorious 2009 season, but that's where the similarities end between the past and the present day.