The Red Sox embarrassed the Yankees this weekend, sweeping New York in the Bronx. Boston has now won eight of nine matchups between the storied rivals, outscoring the hapless Yanks 54-24 in those games.
"They've kicked our ass," a defeated Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Sunday after Boston's latest triumph.
In the process, the Red Sox might have put the 2023 Yankees out of their misery. Despite a $277 million Opening Day payroll -- second to New York's other underachieving disappointment, the Mets -- the Yankees are now fully moved into the basement of the American League East. New York sits 17 games back in the division, nine games back in the wild-card race and are now a whole six games behind Boston for fourth place in the division.
This thing is over, as the Yankees have moved on to big-picture discussions about calling up prospects to play down the stretch.
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As you might expect, the Yankees are under siege in the Tri-State area. The New York media is passing around the bat to take whacks at the pinstriped piñata, though they've all had plenty of swings amid this drain-circling eight-game losing streak.
For instance, New Yorkers woke up to a back page of the New York Post on Monday morning that proclaimed "Eighth Blunder" amid the skid that shows no signs of letting up. A column from longtime baseball writer Joel Sherman went to print with a headline of "Check the math: Even the thing Yankees love most is completely now," noting New York's 0% chance to win the World Series, according to FanGraphs' latest odds, the same odds that now give Boone's club just a 0.4% chance to even make the playoffs.
The New York Daily News and Newsday, meanwhile, zeroed in on a game-changing call in the eighth inning Sunday where the Yankees found themselves on the wrong end of a replay review. The play at the plate went in favor of the Sox, setting the table for Justin Turner's ninth-inning heroics. As such, the Daily News went with "Upon Further Review: Yer Out!" while Newsday opted for the simple "Out At Home."
David Lennon, a baseball scribe at Newsday called Sunday's loss the "knockout blow to the season."
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The Yankees have orchestrated no shortage of conquests in their tremendous history, but finding a way to dig themselves out of this mess would be an unprecedented miracle.
Featured image via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images