The Only Way To Win It All, Is To Put The Best Guys On The Field

The Yankees’ late-season charge is no mirage, folks. This thing is real, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The difference? Leadership. Not from Aaron Boone—let’s be clear, the man couldn’t lead a parade with a marching band in front of him—but from the players. Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Trent Grisham… they’ve taken the wheel while Boone is still fumbling with the turn signal. Boone’s word salad press conferences say it all: he doesn’t know how to manage, let alone articulate what needs to be done. Thank God the players do.

Take Stanton’s fifth-inning at-bat on Thursday. Bases loaded, teammates half-watching the out-of-town scoreboard, the weight of the season hanging in the balance. Stanton ripped a three-run double down the third-base line, the swing that carried the Yankees to a 5-3 win and a sweep of the White Sox. That’s leadership. That’s clutch. 

Carlos Rodón did his part, too, limiting Chicago to three runs across six innings, earning himself a career-high 18th win. Pair him with Max Fried and you’ve got a one-two punch nasty enough to make opposing hitters fake a hamstring injury. The problem, of course, is who pitches Game 3 of a playoff series. That question has haunted this team all season. The Yankees have been crossing their fingers, hoping for an answer, but “hope” doesn’t usually translate to postseason success.

Now the standings are a drama all their own. With three games left, the Yankees and Blue Jays are tied atop the AL East. Toronto owns the tiebreaker, which means New York has to gain one game in the final series to snag the division crown. If the Yankees sweep and the Jays slip just once, champagne will pop in the Bronx.

Thursday’s win at least secured home-field for the Wild Card round—or, if they pull off the division, a bye straight into the Division Series. Either way, it didn’t have to come down to this. Boone’s incompetence, coupled with his bizarre obsession with “analytics experiments,” left the Yankees playing catch-up. Anthony Volpe has been Exhibit A: an everyday starter who turned in yet another 0-for-4, adding four free outs for the opposition. Multiply that across the season, and you start to see the wasted opportunities.

Here’s the point: put the best players on the field and go win the AL East. Period. It’s not rocket science—it’s baseball. If the Yankees don’t roll out their best lineup in October, they’re not making a deep run. Everyone knows it. Everyone sees it. Everyone gets it—except for our stupid manager.