Why the Yankees Aren't Going to Fire Aaron Boone Despite Postseason Implosion

The owner might still be a "Steinbrenner," but anyone hoping the New York Yankees will sack the manager or see any real change will probably be disappointed. The organization will operate in the deep waters of free agency—sometimes—and now and then, they may even shake things up on the coaching tree—occasionally—but these Yankees enjoy their status quo. As long as they keep their winning ways going in the regular season, Aaron Boone should be safe.

Postseason gates matter more than any tangible success, and even if they won't admit it, their actions say so. What happens in the postseason, to them, is a "crapshoot."

This Boone era had plenty of opportunities to end over the years, too. They could have concluded it after the 2021 season, when the team underperformed and was ousted in a one-game Wild Card. Another chance came in 2023, when the Yankees didn't even make the postseason.

Now, coming off a year when Boone led a team that won 93 games without its superstar, Aaron Judge, it feels unlikely this will be the season the skipper finally gets the axe. He could earn serious Manager of the Year consideration, and by most league standards, that is a success, even if he made a few head-scratching decisions and didn't finally decide to move with urgency during the ALDS until their backs were against the wall. Fans and some media members may have different ideas of what triumph is for the Yankees and have a higher bar because of years of being told otherwise by George Steinbrenner, but this isn't those Yankees.

Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash and New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone shake hands before game three of the ALDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The "run it back" Yankees

They may say all the right things about winning being the only thing that matters, but the way they operate says otherwise. The Yankees entered the last offseason watching a rival team celebrate on their home turf, decided to run it back in the winter, did a lackadaisical job at the trade deadline, and got the same two endings as the previous years. Just replace the Los Angeles Dodgers and Blue Jays with the small-market Frankenstein that is the Tampa Bay Rays.

They'll spin it as overperforming because they were without Judge. They might even pull up an old PECOTA ranking that had them ahead of the Rays. The organization will just want you to ignore the fact that this has been the ending every year with Judge there.

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge during the second inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in game three of the ALDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Nobody would be surprised if, in the days leading up to the lockout, the organization announced Boone's job was safe and that the team wasn't going to shake things up with the "uncertainty" ahead. It's hard to say whether they don't want to deal with future decisions down the line or whether they truly believe their process is the best and doesn't need to be modified. But either way, that isn't the type of team that fires its manager.

Some may hope the Yankees give Boone the boot and hire Alex Cora, but for a team that scoffs at any tangible shifts, it's hard to expect that—especially during a time of uncertainty in the league. This isn't the Yankees of old, who would fire a manager on a whim. For better or worse, Hal Steinbrenner's Yankees like to keep things steady and predictable. They'll get their 90-plus wins and hope for the best thereafter. They can get that whether the name of the manager is Boone or Cora.

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