NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series Wednesday night and the New York Yankees lost it in the most 2024 Yankees way possible. A comedy of errors in the fifth inning resulted in five unearned runs, turning a 5-0 lead into a 5-5 game. The Dodgers rallied against New York’s bullpen late to clinch the title.
Following the Game 5 loss, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked about his job status, and he gave a succinct answer: “We’ll see. I don’t know.” There’s nothing more that can be said, really. Boone was speaking less than 30 minutes following the Game 5 loss. No major decisions are made that quickly after a World Series loss.
Boone, 51, just completed the final year of his contract, though it includes a club option for 2025. The Yankees could pick up the club option, or they could decline it and move in a different direction. That would be a clean break without technically “firing” Boone. His contract would be ending. He wouldn’t be getting fired, so to speak.
This was New York’s first pennant under Boone. They have not won the World Series since 2009. The 15-year championship drought is the second longest in franchise history behind 18 years from 1903-20, and they weren’t even the Yankees some of those years. They were the New York Highlanders prior to 1913.
The Yankees have won three division titles under Boone (2019, 2022, 2024) and his .584 winning percentage is one of the highest in baseball history. That said, the sloppiness that doomed the Yankees in Game 5 has been a constant in the Boone era. After seven years, that reflects poorly on the manager.
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