Author: Deesha Thosar

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NEW YORK — The feeling of heartbreak consumed the Yankees as they said their goodbyes.

Players were still in full uniform 55 minutes after they saw their championship dreams come to a halt, giving long hugs and clapping hands with the trainers, staff members, coaches, and clubhouse attendance who were on the 170-game journey with them. Some players had tears in their eyes as they embraced each other, others were still in shock. Some of them smiled in gratitude for how far they had come, others were static and pissed off at the bitter end.

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“I think falling short in the World Series will stick with me until I die,” Aaron Judge said.

“This is as bad as it gets,” Gerrit Cole said. “It’s the worst feeling you can have.”

“I’ll remember the way I feel right now for the rest of my life,” Anthony Volpe said.

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

The loss desolated the clubhouse. A special season that started 5-0 effectively ended in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the Fall Classic. The worst defensive inning in World Series history will stick in the minds of the Yankees and their fans for however many more Octobers it will take for the club to follow through on its promise to deliver the franchise’s 28th championship. Yes, the cracks that led to their tragic ending were that unforgettable, that unforgivable.

Judge’s dropped catch on a routine fly ball to center field. Volpe’s fielding error at shortstop. Anthony Rizzo’s unhurried reaction to a ground ball. Cole’s failure to cover first base.

The Yankees became the first team in Major League Baseball history, across the regular season and the postseason, to blow a five-run lead, surrender at least five unearned runs, commit three errors, a balk and a catcher’s interference all in the same game. Any one of those misplays would be bad enough in the excusable setting of a 162-game season. But this was a World Series game where the Yankees were facing elimination, and they embarrassed themselves out of a chance to extend the series back to Los Angeles. The Dodgers will be enjoying a championship parade on Friday, the same day Game 6 of the World Series was supposed to occur.

When asked what the Yankees have learned from the World Series, Giancarlo Stanton said: “Just never to have this feeling again. Any type of focus, miscues, or anything, just to up the level in all aspects.”

The 2024 Yankees entered the postseason as one of the worst defensive teams in the major leagues. Their 93 errors were the third-most in the American League, and seventh-highest overall. All year long, we saw New York’s stars take bad angles on fly balls and commit fielding and throwing errors in the outfield and the infield. Judge had the worst metric on the team for Outs Above Average with -6, and Juan Soto was right behind him with -5. Gleyber Torres‘ 18 errors were the most among all qualified second basemen in the majors. Judge’s -9 Defensive Runs Saved ranked 14th out of 16 qualified center fielders in MLB. Their .984 fielding percentage as a team ranked 24th in MLB.

The Yankees left the World Series showing the national audience that, until the very end, they were incapable of playing sound fundamental baseball. 

“I think from a PFP (Pitchers Fielding Practice) standpoint we’re pretty good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on that horrific fifth inning. “It’s always magnified when obviously in a moment it doesn’t happen. I’d have to look for sure, but from a pitching standpoint, we’re pretty good at those kinds of things. Those are tough plays to be super consistent at, especially when you have 12, 15, at times 20 different pitchers kind of rolling through with different skill sets. Some we work hard at. Obviously, we had a rough inning tonight.”

Where do the Yankees go from here?

They can start by cleaning up their act. As much as Boone is beloved in the Yankees organization, his response to his team’s inability to play sharp baseball is as much a problem as his apparent indifference to their lack of discipline and preparation. The Yankees need a fearless leader and a coaching staff that will criticize their misplays and help fix the smaller details that can prevent a meltdown like the fifth inning of Game 5. We saw too many mental mistakes and lapses in focus this season that could’ve been avoided. The Yankees need someone to keep applying pressure in order to maximize their efforts, not someone who will nonchalantly accept the status quo.

This was the final guaranteed year of Boone’s three-year deal. The Yankees have a team option on him for 2025, and it remains unclear if they’ll take it.

Beyond leadership, the Yankees face questions about the strength of their roster with key players hitting free agency.

Soto, the guy who had the best OPS (1.085), the highest batting average (.313), drew the most walks (7) and scored the most runs in the World Series for the Yankees no longer has any loyalty to the team. It will be brutal for the Yankees if they lose him to another club (worse still, if he goes to the crosstown rivals) this winter. Outfielder Alex Verdugo could also leave in free agency, so the Yankees could be faced with the task of replacing both of their corner outfielders, with only top prospect Jasson Dominguez as an obvious alternative.

Torres has been involved in trade rumors seemingly every offseason in his seven years with the Yankees. He’s now a free agent, and even though he was solid in the final month of the regular season and in the playoffs after moving up to the leadoff spot, it has always seemed likely that he would sign with another team. Rizzo likely played his final game in pinstripes, too. With the calamity of that fifth inning fresh in their minds, it would be in the Yankees’ best interests to prioritize a younger, faster, and more athletic first baseman to post up every day.

Cole could theoretically opt out of his contract and reach the open market. But since he’s in line to continue earning $36 million every year through 2028, he seems likely to stay with the Yankees. It’s tough to imagine a scenario where another team matches or tops that average annual value. Right-hander Clay Holmes is now a free agent, and after the Yankees demoted him from closer duties for the more lights-out performances of Luke Weaver, it’s unlikely there will be a reunion in the Bronx.

There will be a lot of changes this offseason. 

“The way we handled ourselves in the clubhouse, I think it was really special for me,” Soto said. “That was one of the things I enjoyed most. Coming in every day and hanging out with guys that I literally can call them family.”

The 2024 Yankees family went through it all this year. Volpe broke out in the playoffs, and he and rookie catcher Austin Wells provided hope for the future. Stanton became the first Yankee player ever to hit seven home runs in a single postseason. Weaver’s unexpected late-game dominance was a welcome surprise. Right-hander Luis Gil could be an important staple of the Yankees rotation for years to come. Jazz Chisholm Jr. fit right into the mayhem that is the Bronx scene, and he’s under team control for two more years.

So, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Yankees, even though it might feel that way for a while. But they have a lot of work to do this offseason and beyond to get back to the World Series and try and close the gap with the Dodgers. Once pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a few months, the Yankees will have no choice but to turn their pain into motivation and try to move on from a feeling they said they’d remember forever.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports