Yankees can't blame Aaron Boone for their shortcomings, which makes ALDS more depressing

It turns out that this time wasn't really so different after all.

The New York Yankees' come-from-behind triumph over the Boston Red Sox in last week's AL Wild Card series engendered plenty of hope that this team had finally gotten over the hump, that the issues that had plagued it in postseasons past — a reckless approach at the plate, a complete inability to hit situationally, a downright maddening abandonment of even the most basic fundamentals — had been left behind. And then New York traveled to Toronto, where the Blue Jays promptly nuked them from orbit across the first two games of the ALDS.

One day after letting a winnable game unravel into a 10-1 loss, the Yankees somehow managed to one-up themselves. Rookie Toronto righty struck out 11 batters while taking a no-hitter into the sixth, while New York's erstwhile ace, Max Fried, got rocked for seven runs in three-plus innings of work. It was as complete and total a destruction as you'll ever see in October, much less between teams that each won the same number of games in the regular season.

Of course, the series is not officially over just yet. The scene will shift to New York for Game 3 on Tuesday, where the Yankees will have the chance to dig itself out of this hole. But come on: Spiritually, New York has packed its bags for Cancun already. And so the question becomes: Just what the heck happened over the last couple of days, and how can Brian Cashman and Co. — if you think Hal Steinbrenner is ever getting rid of Cashman, we have a bridge to sell you — prevent it from happening again?

The problem is that we're now going on almost a decade of this organization coming up painfully small in the biggest moments, and with each passing year, that question becomes more and more difficult to answer. This wasn't about a dropped fly ball, or a failure to cover first base, or a roster hole that needs to be filled, or a manager who didn't know how to deploy his bullpen. This was a failure on every level and in every way; what was Aaron Boone supposed to do here exactly, remind his team to actually show up to the park?

This faceplant can't be pinned on Boone, or any of the easy scapegoats that Yankees fans have had to fixate on in years past. And that might be the toughest thing of all about this most recent debacle: It feels like the only way to fix it is to become a different organization entirely.

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There are no easy answers for the Yankees after latest October meltdown

Seriously, what other conclusion are Yankees fans supposed to come to? How else can you explain arguably the greatest right-handed hitter in baseball history — from March through September, at least — becoming a completely unrecognizable player once the postseason begins? What are we supposed to do with the fact that a team that consistently ranks among the best offenses in baseball has slashed .211./297/.371 in the playoffs dating back to 2021? The Yankees spend the entire regular season doing certain things at an elite level; then October rolls around, and they immediately become terrible at all of them.

Maybe there is in fact a logical explanation for this that I'm simply not smart enough to wrap my head around. But from here, it sure seems like whatever is wrong with the Yankees lives in the walls at this point. It seemed like last year's ALCS breakthrough may have finally exorcised the demons, only for the World Series to end in disaster — and the player who actually delivered the crucial swing to get them there, Juan Soto, opting to head across town in free agency. In hindsight, it feels foolish to have thought that anything might be different moving forward.

I would probably fire Boone at this point, if only because something has to change. Again, this is the postseason collapse he's probably least responsible for over his eight years at the helm in New York, but sometimes a situation simply demands a scapegoat, and he's the nearest one to hand. Beyond that, though, this will be an offseason of existential crisis and no easy answers.

Sure, back up the Brinks truck for Kyle Tucker, in hopes that finding Judge a new running mate will take some pressure off of him in October. Then again, Tucker himself has a track record of playoff struggles, and it's not like Soto unlocked a new level in him last season. No matter what, the Yankees will once again be on paper among the most talented teams in the sport in 2026, especially with Gerrit Cole returning at some point next summer. None of it's going to matter, though, and none of it will pacify a fan base that has run out of patience and belief.