Another year, another early football season for the Yankees, who swept the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Division Series after another heartbreaking loss on Wednesday night. The Bombers haven’t won it all since 2009, and have clearly fallen short of other organizations in recent years despite a large payroll.
What prevents the Yankees from lifting the World Series trophy? What prevents him from going toe to toe against the best? It’s a long, complicated question, but from this particular writer’s perspective, five reasons stand out. This is not meant to be an order, but a complete system of possible causes. No one is everything; most, if not all, will need to be addressed in 2027.
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Underachieving in the regular season
Since 2021, the Yankees have failed to win at least 90 games once, while they were 82-80 in 2023 and missed the postseason. But two of those six seasons they just took the division.
Home-field advantage is great in October, and they don’t get the division’s fortunes if they advance to the Division Series. Of course, winning on the road is a must for any ranked contender – the 1996 Yankees famously went 8-0 on the road en route to their championship – but higher-seeds, who also play most of their games at home, are notoriously difficult to beat, as the Yankees have found time and time again.
The Yankees haven’t enjoyed home-field advantage in any of the last series they’ve lost, dating back to the start of this run with Aaron Judge in 2017. Houston has had somewhat lousy appearances in 2017, 2019, and 2022 ALCS battles; Boston had it in 2018 and 2021; Tampa Bay had it in 2020 (although Petco was empty) and 2026; The Dodgers had 2024; and the Blue Jays had it in 2025. It’s clear the Yankees have had issues defeating top playoff foes in their ballpark anyway, but they’re also all falling behind eight hundred balls in a hurry in so many of those first series games.
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Failure to consistently put the ball in play
Unlike the Jays-Yankees 2025 AL Division Series, the home runs of both the Rays and Yankees in this year’s matchup were quite close, with Tampa Bay winning the battle 3-2. However, they struck out 18 times, and the Yankees 31. New York also lost the hitter battle in that 2025 series vs the Blue Jays, 37-24. Those are some lopsided sums. You can’t shake a lot and expect to win, especially if there is no production you want.
Even in the great eros. Almost always a judgmental element. But in the examples in which they are so well placed, the details count. They put the ball in play, and this is the part in which the 2026 Yankees often failed: in the regular season they were second in home runs, but 26 in batting average (.235) and fourth in hitting percentage (K% at 24.7 percent).
No elite up-middle defense and athleticism
Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda and Ryan Vilade – just to name a few – are not very good defenders (Caminero has taken some steps this year). But they are all corner guys. In the middle, they have the most elite defenders such as shortstop Taylor Walls, second baseman Richie Palacio, and outfielders Chandler Simpson and Jonny DeLuca.
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Walls finished the 2026 campaign with 21 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) at shortstop, while Simpson left the field playing mostly eight DRS and eight Outs Above Average (OAA). DeLuca had five DRS and 13 (!) OAA in 787 innings in the outfield.
The Yanks had Trent Grisham and -8 DRS and -6 OAA, clearly losing much more than a step in center. Spencer Jones was able to get something out of there too. The promising, but still inexperienced and erratic George Lombard Jr. was at shortstop. And well Jazz Chisholm Jr. He doesn’t always make the best decisions on the field.
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Real contenders must have elite athletes making plays on the field and helping the pitching staff.
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Flaws in a player’s judgment
At this point, it is clear that the radios have a clear edge here and make excellent use of their resources and modern approach to the analysis and evaluation of players. The Yankees, on the other hand, seem to be a step behind the elite and need words, methods, and practices. While they have a good handle on the starting line-up with Matt Blake, the work of James Rowson, taking over the job at the start of 2024 has been a mixed bag, especially since Aaron Judge was not available. No team plays at its best without its top player, but the Yankees were a top-10 offense as of June 1. Their ALDS was the worst of any franchise offense in history.
You see the difference between the two organizations in things as ‘small’ as selecting the right manager, lineup construction, defensive alignment, player development practices, coaching, and more. They are certainly not small.
No basics
You make it: The Yankees lack a foundation. We are not talking about playing small ball, carrying bags of soup, running runners, moving runners, or things like that. We mean making plays, leaning toward pitches with purpose, hitting them out of the zone, running to first base and getting pressure from pitches, practicing the right defensive (and smart) route, and practicing controlled anger on the bottom line.
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Really elite teams rarely give out on the ledge, like Austin Wells did in Game 1. They don’t commit four errors in a postseason game (and even more cheating) like the Yankees did on Monday. Don’t try to force games where they just don’t exist, or just expand the strike zone.
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For years, the Yankees lacked fundamentals. Time, energy, resources change.