Hal Steinbrenner Rips Yankees Players After Major Collapse Against Angels

New York Yankees brass isn’t shying away from the team’s current situation.

After the Bronx Bombers were swept by the Boston Red Sox for the second time this season, general manager Brian Cashman told The Associated Press that the Yankees “suck right now” and were “as bad as you can be.” The situation didn’t really improve in the series against the Los Angeles Angels, which was bookended by a pair of losses.

Wednesday’s result was embarrassing, to say the least. The Yankees looked like they would come away with a series win when they held an 8-4 lead in the ninth inning. But closer Aroldis Chapman had an unusually bad outing, and Lucas Luetge didn’t do any better when he tried to stop the bleeding. That resulted in an 11-8 win for LA that dropped the Yankees to 41-39 on the season. The loss put New York 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox.

Chairman Hal Steinbrenner said Thursday that the season “has been tough to watch. Rather than place the blame on manager Aaron Boone — he instead opting to endorse him as manager — Steinbrenner said the onus is on the players.

The full quote is pretty intense:

Expectations were high for the Yankees entering the season. DraftKings SportsBook had them as a clear favorite to win the AL East.

But at this point, perhaps the only consolation for New York is that it would take a catastrophic collapse to fall into last place, where the Baltimore Orioles are 27-54 and 23 games out of first.