There’s nothing that puts me in a good mood quite like the first 24 hours after Yankee Elimination Day! Birds (probably Blue Jays) are singing, the leaves are turning a rich tapestry of colors, and there’s more playoff baseball on the way today that doesn’t involve the Yankees. (Just typing that out put a smile on my face!)
It’s not just me either — People all around baseball are celebrating Yankee misfortunate. Here’s some of my favorites, starting with David Ortiz and Vladimir Guerrero celebrating on
the Fox postgame show last night, while A-Rod and Derek Jeter were forced to just awkwardly sit there and watch:
Ortiz also brought hats to further spice things up:
Meanwhile, in the Blue Jays clubhouse:
Inside the stadium, Yankee fans were leaving the game early before the final out was even recorded because they didn’t want to be part of the Yankee Elimination Day festivities again.
Online, Blue Jays fans were reminding Michael Kay of when he chided them this summer for “hanging on the rim” after they swept New York and moved into first place in July. Seems like that series was more of a harbinger than Kay gave it credit for.
Our own Fitzy Mo Pena also gave some insightful commentary on how the Fox broadcast handled things.
I’m really, really glad he brought this up. The Yankee honks in the media are so anxious to shift the narrative around Aaron Judge in the postseason that the push back comes off as forced and inaccurate. You can’t write the script in October, only the baseball gods can, and the love to make people look like idiots. For now, Judge’s most memorable postseason moment will remain his dropped fly ball in the World Series last year.
(Now, to be fair. Was Judge good this October? Yes. Was that three-run bomb a sweet moment for Judge and the Yankees? Also yes! Was it clutch? Absolutely! Is it going to stick the way it would have if the Yankees made it much further into the postseason? Hell no! Better luck next year.)
Meanwhile, the trolling online from every corner of the sports world continued.
But beneath all the fun, we’re actually also getting close to the bone of an issue that has some huge stakes as Max Mannis touches on below.
Legacies are on the line for a bunch of big name Yankees as we move into the next couple of seasons. The last time the Yankees won a five or seven game playoff series against a team that wasn’t in the AL Central was in the 2012 ALDS against the Orioles. They just haven’t come through in October in a monumental way in more than a half a generation now, and if it doesn’t change soon, it will forever define this group.
Let’s just put it this way: George Steinbrenner died in 2010 and they haven’t won the World Series since 2009. You can say what you want about how his schtick would play in the modern MLB landscape, but a zero in the World Series column since his death is a glaring number for the Yankees and what they’ve become as a franchise.
And what makes all this even more compelling is that this critical and defining moment for the Yankees is coming right at the same time the Red Sox are on the rise and the Blue Jays have stamped their supremacy on the AL East in 2025. (Who knows, maybe Toronto even walks away with the World Series trophy this year.)
Yankees fans viewed the Wild Card series win against the Red Sox as a big turning point in their struggle to beat Boston in a big moment ever since 2004. Meanwhile, Red Sox see this young, exciting core and think they’re on the verge of a new era after failing to finish with a better regular season record than the Yankees in any year since 2018 (they tied in 2021). This is a clash waiting to happen, and it all comes with the Blue Jays flying over the top of it. What a wild few years we’re in store for in the AL East!
And that’s all before we even get to the Cam Schlittler layer of this. After telling Red Sox fans to “start preparing for the Bruins” season last week, Red Sox fans were coming back at him last night.
Now to be fair, Schlittler also made his background black and gold this morning, so he’s unfortunately charming and gets it.
Upon seeing all of this, I can’t wait for the first time Hunter Dobbins and Cam Schlitter get matched up against each other. That level of theater is box office material.
In other words, the Red Sox vs. Yankee rivalry is as strong right now as it’s been in years. So happy Yankee Elimination Day to all who celebrate, and keep an eye on where all of this is going. Next year could be quite a ride!
