Jorge CastilloOct 9, 2025, 02:45 AM ETCloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.Follow on X
Aaron Boone expects to be back at Yankees’ helm (0:18)Aaron Boone says he has no reason to expect he won’t be manager of the Yankees next season. (0:18)
NEW YORK — Late Wednesday and into early Thursday, as clubhouse attendees taped together boxes for players to pack and everyone said their goodbyes for the winter, a sense of disbelief hovered over the New York Yankees.
From manager Aaron Boone to superstar Aaron Judge on down, the Yankees believed this team was more talented, more complete, better equipped to handle October than the club that went to the World Series a year ago.
But the 2025 Yankees will not reach the World Series. They will not even reach the American League Championship Series. Their season ended Wednesday night with a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 4 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium to extend their championship drought to a 16th season, the third longest in franchise history.
“It’s tough to describe,” Judge said. “We didn’t do our job, didn’t finish the goal. We had a special group in here, a lot of special players that made this year fun, but we didn’t get the ultimate prize, so we came up short.”
Standing in the Yankees’ way to the championship series was the team that stood in their way of the AL East title. Toronto went 8-5 against the Yankees during the regular season to claim the tiebreaker that proved to be the difference in getting a bye through the wild-card round when the teams finished with identical AL-best 94-68 records.
Schlittler did not resemble the dominant force that held the Boston Red Sox scoreless in an elimination game the previous week, but he pitched well enough to give New York a chance to stave off elimination. However, the Yankees fumbled the opportunity, managing just the two runs on six hits. They stranded two runners on base in the sixth and seventh innings, and left the bases loaded in the eighth.
“It’s brutal,” said Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, who finished the series 1-for-15 with 11 strikeouts. “I’m kind of in shock.”
“They didn’t miss and they scored, it felt like, every time they had a guy in scoring position,” Yankees catcher Austin Wells said. “They did whatever they could to put the ball in play. And they were ready. They were on it from the first at-bat. It was impressive.”
For the final month of the regular season, as his club rounded into form and the wins accumulated, Boone did not hesitate to share that he believed this year’s club was the most talented in his eight seasons on the top step. It boasted power, speed, an improved defense, a stout rotation and a bullpen featuring several proven veterans. He envisioned a path to the World Series. He wasn’t the only one.
“We all thought we were the team to win the World Series,” Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “But baseball is baseball. We all know baseball can take a turn in any way, any time. Baseball favors nobody.”
Aaron Boone expects to be back at Yankees’ helm (0:18)Aaron Boone says he has no reason to expect he won’t be manager of the Yankees next season. (0:18)
CloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.Follow on X
Aaron Boone says he has no reason to expect he won’t be manager of the Yankees next season. (0:18)