Aaron Boone’s New York Yankees love to get walked off on the road. They live for this stuff. And if any fan entered the late innings of Tuesday’s game wondering if the devastating loss of Oswaldo Cabrera might give them a little nudge when push came to shove in the one arena where they continually falter, the answer was resounding. One-two-three. One-two-three. See you Wednesday afternoon.
At home, the Yankees do a competent job of navigating Rob Manfred’s ghost runner, often finding a way through a scoreless top of the 10th before finding a way to scratch a dramatic run across and send the crowd home in hysterics.
In the modern game, a late tie — with a free runner for each side — feels like a coin flip proposition, no matter what stadium you’re playing in. The pressure is even somewhat skewed towards the home team. After all, the road club has first crack. They can pile up runs. They can serve first.
And yet … a 50-50 proposition would be wonderful for the Aaron Boone Yankees, who can’t seem to comprehend the advantage of a road club in these situations. When it comes to road extra innings games, there is nobody worse. No one. They are the worst team in baseball.
Yankees prove once again they’re the worst road extra innings team in the world under Aaron Boone vs. Mariners
Nothing changes, year-over-year. If anything, they get worse. This season, the Yankees have faced five total extra innings on the road across three games. Not only have they not won any of those three games, but they have not scored a single one of those runs. The runs that start freely on second base.
If I had to diagnose the Yankees’ problem here — and I don’t, but I will! — it’s that they inordinately seem uncomfortable with the idea of piling up multiple statement runs at a time. Which is so odd, considering the regularity with which the 2025 team does that in innings one through nine. The objective in the bottom half of a Modern Extra Inning, if you’re able to escape the top one unscathed, is to manufacture a run. It’s all laid out for you. Move the runner over, get him in. If you’re playing the top half, it’s a lot less regimented. It’s all about being loose. Attack the ball. Make the pitcher pay. Cash in the freebie, then do it again.
These Yankees have had an impossible time being loose under pressure in these situations — and, again, it’s not just these Yankees. It’s since 2020.
These Yankees (the 2025 team) have been incredible at piling up big innings. They posted 12 five-plus-run innings in their first 41 games. That’s the second-most in franchise history. Of course, that’s now 12 in 42, considering that when they were handed an opportunity to make noise twice on Tuesday, they instead went down meekly. One-two-three. One-two-three.
It’s almost comical, at this point. It has to stop, but it won’t. It logically will end, but it seemingly can’t. And, as little sense as it makes, the common thread is Boone’s leadership and culture. Sure, it’s easier to attack and ambush a fading starter in the fifth inning than it is to put up a crooked number against a bullpen ace. But something has got to give sometime, and it never does for these Yankees. Boone’s Yankees.
0-3 this year in the same situation, the same test they’ve failed before. How low can they go?