Yankees only have themselves to blame as 2025 MLB Playoff Bracket officially revealed

The New York Yankees, facing a gauntlet of Houston, Toronto, Detroit and Boston, could've seen their season end in mid-September. Easily. Instead, they were victorious in three of those series, and their efforts were barely marred by bad bullpen work against the soon-to-collapse Tigers. 7-5 against a slate that could've sent them packing. It was beyond acceptable, and their momentum carried over into a never-ending array of weaker opponents during the season's final weeks.

It was enough to make the race for the AL East exciting. Very exciting. But, in the end, needing to win their final four games to keep the pressure on, the Yankees watched Toronto win all four from afar, topping Boston in a bullpen game before laying waste to the suddenly meager Rays.

You can curse Toronto or the heavens or a combination of the two all you want. The damage was done to the Yankees by the Yankees throughout the regular season.

They were nightmarishly bad in the head-to-head with the Blue Jays, winning four of six at home, but going 1-6 in Canada. That's on them. They coughed up a 6-0 lead in Miami and a four-run cushion in the ninth in Tampa. That's on them. They struggled through an eight-game losing streak - EIGHT! - at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, spanning both Boston's run of competence and Boston's lowest moment. Their fault as well.

And so, when you wind up within a stone's throw of the top of the division after a rabid charge, but have to rely on a loss by the other guys in order to have a prayer, you can rage at the Rays' wimply lineup all you want. It's only natural. But the less-than-ideal bracket reveal falls only on your team's shoulders

Yankees Wild Card Round Opponent Revealed: Oh, boy, it's the Red Sox in the playoffs

Yes, there were plenty of moments when the playoffs were far from assured. The Yankees, in August, were dangling at the bottom of the bracket. First, it was Texas that challenged them. Then, it was Cleveland. The Yankees were 12 games up on the Red Sox, at one point, then fell three behind them, only to clinch the No. 4 seed above Boston by five full games.

But that won't make playing Boston in a best-of-three series, with Garrett Crochet in the opener, any easier to swallow.

The only solace Yankees fans face here is that they won't have to contend with the fans of Fenway Park at any point this October head-to-head. They're a different team than the one that sleepwalked through an octet of ominous Sox showdowns this year. They've won eight in a row themselves.

Against the Orioles and White Sox, however. And it was nearly enough to escape the pull of history. But not quite. Place the blame on the fates that dragged them here. Now, they won't move on to the ALDS - and, yes, that's where the Blue Jays lie - without slaying a few more demons in a suddenly extended gauntlet.