Yankees Eliminated from Playoff Contention

By Ben Roach Last updated Sep 28, 2023

The New York Yankees will miss the playoffs in 2023. This is their first time missing the playoffs since the 2016 season. PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE WAY’S SUBSTACK

With the conclusion of their 9/24/23 game against the Diamondbacks, the Yankees are officially eliminated from the postseason. The game, a 7-1 loss for the Yankees, marked the conclusion of the regular season run that had high hopes, and even higher expectations. Yet at the end of it all, neither of these goals were met; rather, they were missed by quite a lot.

In somewhat fitting fashion this last game-losing pitcher was none other than Carlos Rodón. A promising acquisition by the Yankees, he was set to be the next Yankees ace following the likes of current Yankee and Cy Young award hopeful Gerrit Cole. Coles’ earned run average (ERA) sits at 2.75, while Rodón’s sits at 5.76. Now not all fault can be blamed on Rodón and his pitching ability alone, he was out with injury for a good chunk of the season, and sometimes as history has shown sometimes does not bode well for previously prevalent pitchers.

Singular people aside, the Yankees are out of the playoffs, something that hasn’t happened since 2016. In 2017, the Yankees made the playoffs as a wild card team, and made a surprising run all the way to game seven of the American League Championship Series, where they lost to the eventual World Series Champion Houston Astros. This Yankees team had a lot of talent and potential, and many considered this to be just the start of a new Yankees dynasty.

Now, six years later, this 2017 season was still the furthest in the playoffs the Yankees have made it since they won the World Series back in 2009. It has definitely been a disappointing past few years for the Yankees, as they have been labeled as a top World Series contender pretty much every year recently, and they haven’t even made it past the American League Championship Series in 14 years.

Much needs to change with the organization to return them to the dynasty that they once were. Not all is lost, however, as this season, especially late season we saw the emergence of some great young talent from the Yankees. The likes of Jason Dominguez, Austin Wells, and the continued dominance of Aaron Judge, someone who is becoming if not already the face of the Yankees organization.

Things will most certainly need to change for this next season to be more up to expectations for a hopeful Yankees organization, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel with the emerging talent that is coming up into the big leagues, and fans are getting excited for it.

All in all, are the Yankees lost? Maybe, but that doesn’t mean that there cannot be hope for the future of this team especially with the reemergence of some talented youth on the team. Now only time will tell of what comes of the New York Yankees.