The Athletic | Brendan Kuty and Chris Kirschner: Well, the magic had to run out at some point. The Yankees went on a tear to end the season with 94 wins and finish in a tie for the American League East. Then, after dropping Game 1 of the Wild Card, they bounced back and won the next two to become the first team to advance after falling into a hole in the Wild Card Series era (since 2022). Finally, with their backs against the wall in the ALDS against a team that seemed uniquely designed to beat them,
the Yankees mounted an impressive comeback to force a Game 4. In the end, though, that final comeback fell short last night, and the Yankees’ season came to an end. Now, a long offseason of reflections and questions await, with Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham’s free agency chief among the latter.
CBS Sports | Mike Axisa: As soon as the final out was recorded — honestly, the broadcast booth began during the game — sportswriters begin crafting their post-mortem on the season, trying to answer the question, “What went wrong?”
Noting that the Yankees have used just three managers and on general manager since the late ‘90s, Axisa starts by asking the question, “Is too much continuity a good thing?” The Yankees have had almost three decades of winning seasons, something that is surely a success, but have fallen short every year. The Yankees may not be the only top team that has failed to reach the top in recent years (hello, Philadelphia), the fact that only one team goes home happy every season does not stop question marks being raised in the New York media.
Defector | Barry Petchesky: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Shohei Ohtani. Kyle Schwarber. Cal Raleigh. This year’s playoff field was filled to the brim with home run hitters. But, with apologies to this year’s home run champ Raleigh, there was no bigger home run hitter in the world than Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge. After knocking an 0-2 pitch off the foul pole to keep the Yankees’ season alive on Tuesday night, he finally has a signature playoff moment all his own, one that may finally put to rest a “not an entirely fair” reputation — and, in signature Judgian style, he did so on a pitch so fast and so far inside that it had no business even being put in play, let alone being sent over the wall.
FOX Sports | Associated Press: Eighteen pitches into his Yankees career, Devin Williams was serenaded with boos from the Yankee Stadium faithful. That would become the norm, as the once-dominant closer that the Yankees acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers over the winter would regularly make the trek from the bullpen in right field with the Bronx jeer as his walk-in music. Those struggles made the cheers he has heard this October, in which he has been a dominant stabilizing force late in ballgames for manager Aaron Boone, that much sweeter. While it remains to be seen whether or not the Yankees will retain him in free agency, it’s nice to see Williams find himself once more when the team needed it most (last night notwithstanding, in part due to the Jazz error).
New York Times | Michael Paulson: When you’re Haley Swindal, the granddaughter of George Steinbrenner and the proud owner of a Tony Award from last year’s production of Sunset Boulevard, there’s only one way to marry your two main interests: a production of the 1955 musical Damn Yankees. And so, as her family’s team has attempted to defend their American League pennant and return to the World Series for the second consecutive season, she has been spending time in Washington, D.C., producing a newly modernized production of the classic musical at the non-profit Arena Stage. If the show proves successful, it may eventually move to Broadway, where Major League Baseball will become more involved as consultants on the production.
