There’s no denying that the New York Yankees are one of the most iconic teams in Major League Baseball. They had a plethora of iconic moments and players in their century-plus long history. I’ve been writing baseball-related topics on Vocal since 2023, and I’ve shared my mostly brutally honest opinions about anything that had to do with the league. From players to managers, no one was off limits. Whether people agreed with my takes or not, I refused to sugarcoat anything or apologize for telling the truth. Uncomfortable and unpopular truths are a way for people and baseball fans to face reality. In this story, I’ll be going over the New York Yankees postseason failures, why they’re no longer relevant in the American League East in my opinion, thoughts about Aaron Boone, and ripping a new one on another man named Aaron. If you’re easily offended by my harsh takes and being brutally honest, this is your opportunity to exit stage left.
Since the year 2000, the Yankees have made it to the World Series a total of five times, lost three, and won two (2000 and 2009). Out of the last 25 years, they’ve only missed the playoffs five times and had a total of 16 playoff exits. That’s not a good ratio and it doesn’t equal success. 16 playoff exits in the last quarter century isn’t admirable. They won 41 American League pennants, 21 AL East division titles, and 10 Wild Card berths. Sure, they have 27 World Series titles (the most in MLB history), but they’re not the same team that I enjoyed watching 15-20 years ago. The Yankees are the MLB version of the Dallas Cowboys. Relevancy alone doesn’t mean an MLB team is always successful. Aaron Boone has been the manager since 2018 and is under contract through the 2027 season. Speaking of 2027, there’s a chance that a lockout will happen next season. Going back to Aaron Boone, as a former player, he’s faced calls and pressure from baseball fans over the years to be fired. I feel like he’s acts too much like a friend to his players than being a manager. One thing I’ll give him credit for is that he’ll stand up for his players to umpires if needed. However, he’s not my favorite Yankees manager of all time. I prefer Joe Girardi, who won World Series titles as both a player and manager. If you’ve seen his fiery temper and animated ejections by umpires on YouTube, then you’ll see the reasons why many Yankees fans liked him so much and still do today. Boone, on the other hand, has yet to win a World Series title as a manager. In my previous stories where I made my division title and Wild Card predictions, I didn’t have the Yankees achieving either one of those objectives. They can have the best players, yet they get knocked out of the playoffs early. If they have a losing season and don’t make the playoffs this season, Aaron Boone’s time as manager may come to an end. Yankees fans can’t coddle and defend him forever. As long as he’s the manager, the Yankees will never win a World Series.
Finally, let’s talk about another man named Aaron. Aaron Judge, that is. Last year, I wrote a couple of stories last year regarding the End of the Year Awards and expressed my frustrations that Judge won the American League MVP for the third consecutive year. His win caused some controversy, because baseball fans and die-hard fans of the Seattle Mariners were certain that catcher Cal Raleigh was a shoo-in for the award. During the 2025 season, Raleigh broke numerous records and helped the Mariners win the American League West for the first time since 2001. Despite his record-breaking season, he was robbed of an award from a player who, in my opinion, wasn’t deserving of it. I and another Vocal creator agreed with this sentiment in our stories, which I’ll link down below. Aaron Judge winning that award was what I would describe as stolen honor, because he’s one of the most selfish and entitled people in the league. This made me heavily dislike him for the second time. Cal Raleigh was disrespected and overlooked, because of one selfish and greedy player. I stated in my previous stories that the Mariners should reward him with some sort of incentive, because the selection process of who wins these year-end awards have become a joke and heavily biased towards certain players. Also, I’ve previously expressed that MLB and the people managing their social media pages were pushing a Yankees agenda, favoring Aaron Judge over other players in the league by showing highlights of him. They’re constantly push an East Coast-West Coast agenda, showing heavy bias towards certain teams. Raleigh previously signed a multi-year contract extension, but when he does win the AL MVP, I would congratulate him. The Mariners may have missed their chance of winning their first AL pennant and making their first World Series appearance in franchise history, but there’s a good chance they’ll return in the 2026 Postseason. Hopefully, they’ll win their first World Series title at some point. I gave high praise to Cal Raleigh in one of my previous stories and I hope that he has an even more successful 2026 campaign. As for Aaron Judge, I’ll never respect him, nor have his back again because he stole an award from another player. A huge congratulations to Venezuela for winning the World Baseball Classic. I made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t give him any props. He gives off, “I’m so much better than you” vibes. He’s another egotistical and entitled player who’s on my list of players I despise the most. I’m not going to wish him well in any capacity. He’s highly overrated and I don’t care if you’re offended by that. Everything isn’t always about him and he’s talking over other players. I don’t care how good or nice of a player he is. He displays the same kind of toxic attitude as that player from that California team. Y’all know who I am talking about. He’s fowl for stealing an award from Cal Raleigh. Aaron Judge is overrated, selfish, and a joke. Plain and simple. Don’t let his nice demeanor fool you. Yankees fans, if my harsh assessments about Aaron Judge sounds unfair, that’s because it is. I refuse to tone down my criticism of certain players, including Judge, to fit your comfort level. Everyone isn’t going to like him. Hell, I heavily dislike many of these modern-day players, due to them feeling and acting entitled and spoiled. Defend Aaron Judge all you want, Yankees fans and everyone else, but I’ve already seen through his BS. I tried so hard to be on his side and support him, but what he did to Cal Raleigh makes me not like him anymore. He’s not a nice person at all and you’ll never convince me otherwise.
https://vocal.media/unbalanced/the-biggest-joke-in-mlb-history
https://vocal.media/unbalanced/cal-raleigh-should-have-been-al-mvp-opinion