Aaron Boone gets testy with reporter after Yankees' ALCS Game 3 collapse

If the New York Yankees fail to make it to the World Series, it will be considered a decisive loss for the season. The collective defeat in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians should not be taken lightly. You can’t just “shake it off” and win so easily the next day. That's not how it works.

The Yankees wasted two of the most exciting home runs of the 2024 postseason due to bullpen overuse, poor management decisions, baserunning mistakes and poor defense. This was not an example of being outplayed. It was the embodiment of actively being worse and weaker than your opponent.

Aaron Boone seems to cover up this issue pretty easily…or at least he tried to at the start of his postgame press conference. But then he was asked a question that took offense.

A reporter asked if the Yankees felt they had the series “in the bag” after Judge and Stanton struck out Emmanuel Clase in a row, scoring three runs and giving New York a 4-3 lead. Progressive Field was completely empty. Fans couldn't believe what they had just seen. To be honest, the question was legitimate, even if it sounds unrealistic given the stakes in October.

Boone immediately brushed off the question with an attitude that perhaps suggested he was a little perplexed afterward. For a man who has been preaching about being “even” all year, he sure wasted a little emotional outburst on something very insignificant.

Aaron Boone gets testy with reporter after Yankees' ALCS Game 3 collapse

Do we blame him? Not really. Emotions are running high. You are a professional in the field, surrounded by other professionals, and therefore know exactly what the attitude is like. Nobody dances around the dugout celebrating a win with two outs in the top of the eighth inning with a one-run lead.

However, there is a certain level of confidence where after a moment like that you shift gears and go into kill mode — something the Yankees famously never do and didn't do on Thursday night. Boone called in three assistants to do the job, and all failed in different ways.

Tommy Kahnle loaded the bases in the eighth, forcing Boone to walk to Luke Weaver. Despite getting out of trouble, Weaver gave up a double and the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth despite backing up Lane Thomas with two outs to make the score 0-2. Just one more shot to secure the 3-0 lead in the series. Then Clay Holmes took the ball in the 10th, immediately gave up a leadoff single and got the next two outs before giving up a two-run walk-off home run to David Fry.

In between, the offense scored just one run in the top of the ninth after runners on second and third with no one out. Austin Wells struck. Gleyber Torres hit a sac fly. Juan Soto struck and looked. In the top of the 10th? The judge dismissed it. Stanton left. Jazz Chisholm was devastated. Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked. Anthony Volpe struck and swung out of his shoes. Overall, they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, left eight runners on base, struck out 10 times and recorded just six hits.

And to top it off, Boone essentially spoke out of both sides of his mouth at this press council. He insisted the Yankees would be back and ready to play on Friday while deflecting a question about the rollercoaster of emotions. Then, minutes later, he responded abruptly and disgustedly to the reporter's question: “Series in the bag.”

So, yeah, we'll see how the Yankees “react” on Friday, when everyone tries to act as if this singular crushing loss doesn't have much of a chance of completely turning the series around.