The wounds of a devastating sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays are still fresh for the Yankees, as they come to terms with another disappointing end to a season this week. As we begin what’s likely going to be a long and dreadfully boring offseason with the impending lockout, it’s time to look back.
Every year, we at Pinstripe Alley look back at the best and worst moments from the past season in the immediate aftermath of its conclusion. After Andrés helped us remember some of the low points,
it’s time to remember that there were, in fact, some good moments from this season.
Honorable mentions
Jordan Romano’s Two Meltdowns (April 13/15th vs LAA): As part of a weird, early-season split with the Angels, the Yankees trailed after eight innings in all four games, but won two of them. Against their former Blue Jays adversary, the Yankees came back to win both games, first via a Trent Grisham game-tying homer and a walk-off wild pitch on the 13th, and then a two-run double by José Caballero on the 15th after an odd dropped pop-up. It was a good, early-season vibe boost.
A 13-Run Third Inning (May 31st @ ATH): This game is more notable for being the final one that Aaron Judge played before finally reporting the stress fracture in his rib, but it was one of the more surreal innings of the season. After Will Warren gave up three runs in the first and Jacob Lopez flummoxed the Yankees through two innings, they scored 13 runs in the third on 11 hits, four walks, four stolen bases, and zero home runs. It was tied for the biggest inning the franchise had seen since 1920.
Three Comebacks In The Nation’s Capital (July 10-12th @ WSH): A lot of these moments are based on vibes, and the trio of comebacks against the Nationals before the All-Star break were incredibly needed for a reeling Yankees team coming off a 4-15 slide. Two of the comebacks came off former Yankees in Matt Krook and Clayton Beeter, while the latter was driven by a massive two-run triple by Ben Rice late in the game.
David Bednar Caps Bullpen Day Victory (July 19th vs LAD): David Bednar had a ton of big saves this season, but none were greater than his five-out save to prevent a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium right after the All-Star break, especially after Yoshinobu Yamamoto wrecked a depleted offense in the day game of that doubleheader.
Luis Garcia Jr., Welcome to the Bronx (August 3rd vs STL): In the immediate aftermath of an underwhelming Trade Deadline, the Yankees fell behind 6-0 early to the Cardinals, but hit four home runs to fight their way back, including a picturesque bomb from García in his Yankees debut. This would be in the top five if they won, but Angel Chivilli imploded approximately five minutes later.
The Final Series Against Boston (August 28-30th vs BOS): Aside from a sleepy opening to the Saturday doubleheader, the Yankees put together three inspiring performances to effectively clinch the top wild card and end the Red Sox’s mad dash towards them in the standings. Cody Bellinger’s incredible throw on Friday night and Warren’s mastery on Sunday amidst a 16-1 blowout were great moments on their own.
The Final Day of True Hope (September 14th vs MIN): The Yankees clinched the playoffs and popped bottles in Minnesota, a place that they have dominated for the last 25 years. Clinching does nothing for this franchise, so the real cathartic moment was seeing Judge, amidst a post-injury slump, finally get going with a titanic home run that made you believe he was back. Two days later, he suffered a season-ending calf strain. This game embodied the fleeting hope of the season.
5. A Rare, Well-Timed Triumph In Extra Innings
August 7th vs. ATL
When you look at a 162-game season for best moments, what should you look for? What felt best in the moment, or what was best for the season? In that week alone, the debut of George Lombard Jr. and García’s mammoth home run against the Cardinals that was immediately wasted, were some of the most exciting moments of the season, but neither meant much in the grand scheme of things.
Some moments are more in-the-moment vibes-based, but others look more like the bigger picture. Put yourself back in the headspace of where the Yankees were entering a three-game weekend series against the NL East-leading Braves. They entered the day just a half game ahead of the blisteringly hot Red Sox, who had won 31 of 36 entering play. That night, Boston destroyed the hapless Athletics, 13-1, putting the pressure on the Yanks.
Even more daunting? That outcome was explicitly known well before this one entered the late innings. A nearly two-hour rain delay meant Boston was well on their way to victory at Fenway by the time the game started. The Braves broke a scoreless tie with an Austin Riley home run off Fernando Cruz in the eighth. The reality was setting in: the Yankees were about to fully blow a 15.5-game lead on the Red Sox… in 44 days.
As midnight approached, with one out against lockdown closer Raisel Iglesias, Lombard, in his third major league game, dribbled a chopper back to the mound and beat it out for an infield single. He was able to scamper all the way to third after a wild throw from Iglesias sailed over Matt Olson at first. There’s the spark.
After Ryan McMahon struck out, the Yankees were down to their final out. Two pitches later, Austin Wells ripped a double down the right-field line to score Lombard and get into scoring position as the tying run. Amed Rosario, who never takes at-bats against right-handed pitching, drew a gritty, eight-pitch walk to bring up Rice, who was in a dreadful 0-for-17 slide to start August.
With the weight of the Bronx on his shoulders, the Yankees’ DH smoked a ball 103.4 mph to right field. A little higher and it’s a walk-off home run, but it was hard enough and high enough to spook Acuña into playing it conservatively off the wall instead of trying to leap for it to end the game. Wells scored the tying run, but Rosario was held at third. He’d be stranded shortly after, but the Yankees had life into extras.
The Yankees are terrible in extras. Even at home, where they’ve been pretty good since the Manfred Man was introduced, they didn’t get a single hit in extra innings all season. They needed David Bednar to be crisp, and he was to get Sean Murphy and Jim Jarvis. With two outs and the go-ahead run on second, Acuña blooped a ball into no-man’s land in right field. García, in just his fourth game as a Yankee, made one of the best defensive plays of his career to keep this game tied.
Tyler Kinley was tasked with getting through the 11th for Atlanta and almost did so. A horrendous bunt attempt by Caballero resulted in a foul-bunt strikeout. An intentional walk to Spencer Jones and a six-pitch walk by Lombard loaded the bases with one out for McMahon, the team’s worst hitter all season, with major contact issues. Needing him to just lift a fly ball, that’s exactly what he did to walk it off with a sac fly.
Baseball is unfortunately a game of momentum. Who has it, and who doesn’t. The Red Sox had it; the Yankees absolutely didn’t. If Boston passed them that night, I’m not so sure that this season wouldn’t end in embarrassment at Fenway Park in the Wild Card Series, even if the mirage that was the July Red Sox came to light eventually.
4. Ben Rice’s Ultimate Redemption
August 16th @ TOR
Some things don’t need that full-season perspective. Some things can just feel cathartic, as they did in the rubber game of a three-game set in Toronto in mid-August.
The Yankees were winning another one of those low-scoring games they made their signature for much of this season, doing just enough against Dylan Cease to hold a 2-1 lead after eight (that was almost 3-1 after Caballero’s unique rundown). All they needed was three outs from Bednar.
It was rare in the second half that you’d see Rice play first base, but in the immediate aftermath of García’s game-losing throwing error against the Jays two nights earlier, maybe Aaron Boone thought to give Rice some reps. Bednar got ahead 0-2 on Josh H. Smith, who chopped a ball to first. It took a weird hop on Rice, as is usual on the turf, and he booted it for a leadoff E3.
As we know, playing the Blue Jays, that came back to bite the Yankees. Alejandro Kirk worked a walk, Ali Sanchez failed to block a splitter in the dirt allowing both runners to advance with one out, and Ernie Clement tied the game with a sac fly. An unearned run would force the Yankees to play in road extras, their kryptonite.
Fortunately for Rice, he got to immediately rectify it at the plate. After a sac bunt by Caballero, Rice lit up a 2-0 slider and deposited it into the right-field seats for a go-ahead 437-foot home run.
In a place that was a House of Horrors for them in 2025, it was extremely satisfying to see the team win a game in this fashion to contribute to what would be a last-place Blue Jays team. You usually get a chance to redeem your defensive mistakes, if only the Yankees had embraced that in some of their recent playoff exits.
3. Bellinger and Schlittler Finish Fenway Sweep
April 23rd @ BOS
Sweeping a rival is fun. It doesn’t happen for the Yankees very often because of how hyper-competitive the AL East is, but it did happen a few times this season, which led to some extremely satisfying games to watch. One of those series came in April against a then-spiraling Red Sox team. Dominant starts from Luis Gil and Max Fried generated a pair of low-scoring wins to start the series, but the finale would be the most satisfying of them all.
Cam Schlittler was making his first career start in Fenway, the ballpark he grew up idolizing as a child, just six months after he joined all-time Boston infamy with his Game 3 start in last year’s Wild Card Series. It got off to a shaky start, but the likely Cy Young winner settled in around an RBI double by Marcelo Mayer and a home run by former Yankee Carlos Narvaez to eventually get through eight strong innings in his Fenway debut.
Against the powerful lefty, Payton Tolle, the Yankees were completely silenced for much of the night. A fifth-inning homer by Jazz Chisholm Jr. briefly tied it, but the Yankees entered the seventh inning with a 2-1 deficit, as Tolle exited for a Boston bullpen that would eventually rank as No. 1 in baseball.
But at that point? They were vulnerable. Danny Coloumbe came out for the seventh and allowed three singles to his first four hitters, but he rebounded to strike out Wells to bring them within an out of getting out of it. Hunting a matchup with Rosario, Alex Cora made the move to Greg Weissert with the bases loaded and two out, only for Boone to counter with Bellinger.
In what would be the start of his year of torturing the Red Sox, the legacy Yankee ripped a two-run single to give the Yankees the lead. Three pitches later, Judge followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2. A five-single inning for a team that usually relies on the long ball only further buried the Red Sox in the dread they were in.
Schlittler and Bednar combined to retire the final nine batters they faced to secure the sweep, in which the Yankees allowed three total runs. The rare Fenway sweep sunk the beleaguered Sox to 9-16 and almost certainly served as the final nail in the coffin for Cora, who was unemployed three days later. It’s satisfying to know your team caused a rival to purge an entire coaching staff.
2. Bullpen Holds On For Dear Life on Emotional Day in the Bronx
September 11th vs. NYM
This game kinda sucked, but the only thing that mattered was that the Yankees won the Battle of New York in an emotional night in the Bronx on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. It was one that the Yankees took control of early with a big second-inning blast by Bellinger and a fifth-inning opposite-field blast by Rice against the Mets’ young ace, Nolan McLean.
With a 5-1 lead in the seventh, Carlos Rodón wrapped up a great outing with 6.1 strong innings, but was removed after a one-out single by Carson Benge. The ever-reliable Paul Blackburn entered, but he was one of several Yankees relievers who didn’t have it that night. A walk to Marcus Semien, an RBI single by A.J. Ewing, and a walk to Francisco Alvarez loaded the bases with two outs for Francisco Lindor, the go-ahead run at the plate. Brent Headrick came in, battled a distraction with a streaker on the field, and won a seven-pitch at-bat by catching a scorched comebacker to end the inning.
The drama wouldn’t end there, though. After getting a quick first out in the eighth, Headrick allowed a single to Bo Bichette before issuing back-to-back walks to load the bases again with one out. It forced Boone to go to Bednar earlier than he wanted, but the Yankees’ closer got the last two outs, only allowing one run on a sac fly.
The Mets sent Jack Weisenburger for the ninth to clean things up, but the Yankees added some needed insurance. Singles by García and Jones and a sac bunt by Lombard put two in scoring position with one out to set up McMahon, who blooped a shallow fly ball to left field in front of Juan Soto. Never a good defender, the former Yankee let it drop for an RBI single that made it 6-3.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be easy in the ninth. Ewing blasted a home run to lead off the ninth against Bednar, and Lindor singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate, who was, of course, Soto. The former Yankee, being relentlessly booed every at-bat, stepped up as the tying run in the Bronx on 9/11 against an All-Star closer. This was the type of baseball you dream of. In a satisfying ending for the Yankees, Soto bounced into a game-ending 3-6-3 double play, partially due to a balky calf that forced him to take it easy with the game on the line. Oh well.
1. Belli Sends Boston To Cancun
AL Wild Card Series, Game 2 vs. BOS
The Yankees didn’t win a game in the month of October this year. Their early exit for the second straight year has ultimately made this season another tremendous failure, but there were meaningful games in September against a hated rival that allowed everyone, regardless of how they felt about the roster or management, to relish in its beauty.
Schlittler dominated in Game 1, and the Yankees blew it open late. That was fun, sure, but the most fun part about playing a rival in the playoffs is the ability to eliminate them. It was a tall task against the MLB’s win leader in Sonny Gray, but the Yankees rode a great start from Max Fried and some questionable managing from Chad Tracy to a late lead.
Up 2-1 in the sixth, the Yankees rallied against two elite guys named Garrett: Crochet and Whitlock. A dropped third strike, stolen base, and error got Spencer Jones to third; he scored on a Lombard RBI single, and the Yankees grew the lead to 5-1 with productive outs by Wells and McMahon. An intentional walk to Rice put two on with two outs for Bellinger. Just as he did to end Cora’s managerial tenure in Boston in April, it was his swing that ended the Red Sox’s season, blowing the game open and turning the final few innings into a party in the Bronx.
There was no better moment than that. No matter what happened after, there’s no more true bliss than that.
