Aaron Boone says Yankees are ‘best team in the league' after getting swept from first place

New York Times

8 hours ago

TORONTO — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was blunt in his assessment of his club after it was swept in a four-game series by the Toronto Blue Jays.
'It sucks when you get your ass kicked in a division rival series on the road,' Boone said.
The Yankees were outscored 36-23 and played fundamentally poor baseball in all areas. Their infield defense was a mess. Their bullpen imploded. They finished 9-for-50 with runners in scoring position. Add all of that up, and the Yankees suffered their first four-game sweep in Toronto in franchise history. By losing all four games to the Blue Jays, the Yankees are now one game back of Toronto in the American League East. It's important to note that the Yankees must win five of their final six games against the Blue Jays this season to secure the tiebreaker, if it comes into play at the end of the year, over their division rival.
Advertisement
After the Yankees lost 8-5 on Thursday, Boone quickly addressed his team.
'That we're the best team in the league,' Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said Boone told them. 'We knew we were going to hit a speed bump. Just block out the noise and go out there when we get back home in New York and do what we do.'
The first 4-game sweep at home vs. the Yankees in FRANCHISE HISTORY 🧹🧹🧹🧹 pic.twitter.com/tpsGNwg4Lv
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 4, 2025
The Yankees are in fourth place in the American League, and they have the eighth-best overall record in MLB. They've lost 14 of their last 20 games. According to Stathead's Katie Sharp, it's the first time since 1990 that the Yankees have had a 20-game stretch with at least 14 losses, 159 runners left on base and 79 or fewer runs.
Boone said he liked the way his team swung the bats in the Blue Jays series, and he hopes it's a sign 'of us kind of really getting it rolling a little bit.' The Yankees are averaging eight stranded runners per game in this stretch. There are two ways to look at it: 1) The Yankees are getting plenty of opportunities to score, and it should turn in their favor eventually, or 2) The Yankees not being able to cash in is costing them winnable games.
Since the start of June, no team has had more at-bats with runners in scoring position than the Yankees, and yet they've scored the 18th-most runs. That stat alone can be pointed at when someone asks why the Yankees have fully blown their seven-game lead in the AL East.
However, Boone does not want his club to feel any level of concern for the way they've played of late.
'For the most part, I'm looking for unfazed,' Boone said. 'I don't want us to flinch. I want us to come here ready to prepare. We're preparing to go out there and compete our asses off. I know if we do that well enough over time, we're going to win.'
Advertisement
Yankees captain Aaron Judge echoed Boone's sentiments. Judge said panicking is not going to help their situation, and he still believes that the Yankees are the best team in the league.
'That doesn't change no matter the record or what's happening, no matter if we win 10 in a row or lose 10 in a row,' Judge said. 'I'm still gonna believe that.'
The Yankees usually resort to some different phrasings of 'that's baseball' to describe their poor play. But a deep dive into their frequent swoons shows that it isn't 'just baseball' with what the Yankees are going through. Since 2020, there have been 41 other teams that have won at least 90 games. Entering Thursday's game, only five of those teams had lost 13 of 19 games, and none of those teams had repeat instances of such a lull in their season. This is the sixth straight season the Yankees have had as bad a stretch as they currently have. It's become inevitable.
'In my career as a Yankee, I can think about this happening almost every single year, and it feels like around June and July where we kind of grind a little bit,' Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt said. 'We're going through it. We're being tested.
'To me, it's so consistent that it happens. It's almost, like, just baseball. I think you can chalk it up to you not seeing teams coming out here and winning 120, 130 games. You're going to go through stretches where you lose and wins don't come easy in this league.'
Chisholm said he feels like there's not much to stress about. He has a right to feel that way. He hasn't been here a full calendar year yet, and he saw that the Yankees were able to make the World Series even with a stretch of awful baseball.
'For the fans, I just feel like they shouldn't panic because I feel like if we were just striking out every at-bat and not having 10 hits a game with guys lining out at 110 (mph) every inning — I feel like there's no panic at all,' Chisholm said. 'I feel like we're going to be just fine. It's just a little speed bump.'
Advertisement
There's at least one player in the Yankees' clubhouse who does feel like he can't sit around and feel happy about the team's situation: Reliever Luke Weaver. Since coming off the injured list, Weaver has allowed three home runs, including a two-run homer to George Springer in Thursday's game.
He was told that Boone said he wants his group to feel unfazed. While he understands the message in the big picture, it's not what he's feeling.
'I'll be very raw and honest that I do feel slightly fazed right now, personally, but that's not going to escalate to a point where it's going to affect me further,' Weaver said. 'I feel like I'm throwing it well and it's coming out well. It's hard not to look at the stint off and to come back and just be like, 'Well, this guy kind of stinks right now.' That's an easy cop out in a way because I do feel like I'm doing things well, but it's also just the truth. Sometimes, the truth hurts and we just got to do a better job.'
The Yankees head back to New York to play three games against the New York Mets, who have also dealt with struggles of late. The Subway Series buzz might be gone at the moment, but the Yankees are simply looking for wins no matter who they're facing. Their season is spiraling at the moment.