After winning 99 games in the regular season, The New York Yankees made it to the American League Championship Series (ALCS), only to be swept by the Houston Astros. Baseball fans around the world thought that the Yankees were going to win 120 games this season, which would have set a new world record, but everything fell apart in October. In the past 8 seasons, the Houston Astros have eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs four times.
The Yankees completed the season with a record of 99-63, the most victories they’ve had since 2019. Aaron Judge, the Yankees star player, had a historic MVP season. After hitting 62 home runs and setting an American league record, Judge has officially become a free agent. He rejected the Yankees highest offer of an increase of 213.5 million dollars, which was made public by the team. “If we’re not the last team standing, it doesn’t matter what you do or what happened. It’s a failure. We came up short,” said Judge.
“They beat us, and we ended up second in the American League. We've got to keep working to get better.”
He is still undecided what he’s going to do as a free agent. The first game of the new MLB season is on Thursday, March 30, 2023, and nobody knows yet if the Yankees will get Judge back. When asked about what he thought about the ending of the season, Aaron Boone, the Yankees manager, said, “They beat us, and we ended up second in the American League. We've got to keep working to get better.” In the end, the Yankees couldn’t “slay the dragon”. Boone added that he doesn’t even want to think about the team without Judge.
"We have a really good team here, a special team. I feel those four games, we didn’t hit really well. We missed too many opportunities”
In the game that ended the season for them, the Yankees made some crucial errors. The Yankees shortstop, Gleyber Torres, made a major mistake in the seventh inning that resulted in two runs. Soon after, the Houston Astros took the lead. Nestor Cortes, the Yankees pitcher, had to leave in the third inning due to a groin injury. “Every mistake we made, they took advantage, every time. We have a really good team here, a special team. I feel those four games, we didn’t hit really well. We missed too many opportunities,” said Torres.
“They beat us in every facet"
Many people had already lost their confidence in the Yankees, and didn't even want to come to the game. “They beat us in every facet. I watched the series and didn’t really see an area where we played better than them,” said Gerrit Cole, another pitcher for the Yankees. Nobody is even sure if Andrew Benintendi, an outfielder for the Yankees, is healthy. He has a broken hamate bone, and had to get surgery.
“It’s an awful day, just an awful ending. It stings. It hurts."
At the end of the season, Brian Cashman, the general manager of the New York Yankees, had his contract expire as well. The Yankees are currently a complete mess. Although they lost, Boone still said, “It’s an awful day, just an awful ending. It stings. It hurts. There’s no one I would rather do it with than those guys in there and how together they are.” Hopefully, this statement raised some people's spirits, and it showed that even in a big loss like this, the team members still have each others backs.
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