The Yankees’ season ended with boos, chants and another October letdown, but the most important factor in Aaron Boone’s future may not be the sweep itself. It may be the calendar.
After Tampa Bay’s 4-3 win in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Wednesday night, Yankees fans at Yankee Stadium shouted for Hal Steinbrenner to fire Boone as the Rays closed out a three-game sweep. New York managed just five runs in the series, lost Game 1 1-0 when Drew Rasmussen allowed one hit over eight innings, and made four errors in a 5-2 loss in Game 2 at Tropicana Field.
The biggest swing of Game 3 came in the sixth, when Anthony Volpe’s apparent two-run homer was taken off the board by replay and changed to an RBI double. The Yankees never scored again.
The result fit an increasingly familiar October script. Boone has now gone out in the ALDS four times in nine seasons, and the Yankees have not reached the World Series since 2009.
Last year, the division-winning Toronto Blue Jays beat them in four games in the ALDS. This time, the Rays needed only three.
The questions around Boone have been building even longer, going back to Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, when defensive mistakes helped the Los Angeles Dodgers rally for a 7-6 win to clinch the title. Boone has led the Yankees to the postseason in eight of his nine seasons, and his regular-season record is 790-565, but none of that has quieted the pressure.
Still, the noise outside the stadium may be running into a hard business reality. Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, and multiple reports say a lockout is widely expected after that.
If that happens, clubs would be frozen from making transactions or contacting players on their 40-man rosters. That gives the Yankees a complication if they were considering a managerial change.
Joel Sherman wrote this week that a hire made by mid-November would leave only about two weeks for a new manager to meet his roster before contact shuts down, and he warned about a compressed “shotgun spring training” if labor talks drag on. Sherman also noted that Steinbrenner is among the owners most involved in labor negotiations, making it unlikely the Yankees would want to place a new manager into that situation. Boone is signed through 2027, the final year of his two-year extension, and Brendan Kuty wrote Friday in The Athletic that “it’s unlikely there will be a change before 2027.”
Boone, for his part, did not get drawn into contract talk after the elimination. When asked about his future, he brushed it aside.
“That’s for another day,” Boone said. “Right now, it’s about trying to reflect on this, trying to connect with guys right now as much as I can.”
Pressed again, he stayed in the same lane.
“I’m appreciative of a lot of things, but those conversations and things are for another day,” Boone said.
The clubhouse response was more direct. Aaron Judge, who missed the series because of a right calf strain after appearing in only 66 regular-season games, backed Boone in comments reported by SNY: “He’s our manager,” Judge said.
Cam Schlittler also came to his defense: “I think Boonie’s been amazing,” Schlittler said. Brian Cashman, whose contract expires at the end of this season, called Boone “a really good manager” before Game 3, Fox Sports reported.
There is also precedent for the Yankees letting the clock shape these decisions. Their last managerial search began when Joe Girardi was let go on Oct. 26, 2017, and ended when Boone was hired on Dec. 4, more than five weeks later.
A similar timeline this fall would land right as the expected lockout begins. The last work stoppage started Dec. 2, 2021 and lasted 99 days, pushing back spring training and moving Opening Day to April 7, 2022.
The Mets hired Buck Showalter during that freeze on Dec. 18, 2021, and he could not speak with players until the lockout ended in March, though the team still won 101 games.
As of Sunday, the Yankees had not announced any decision on Boone. Before the elimination, Jim Bowden of CBS Sports HQ said Tuesday that Boone and Cashman “will be back next year.”
For now, the chants in the Bronx are loud. The deadline may be louder.
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