NEW YORK —When it was over, the Yankees' clubhouse hardly reflected what manager Aaron Boone had suggested in the immediate aftermath of New York's loss. Inside, it didn't resemble the sanctuary of a team that had just been swept on its home field by a relentless Rays club that took it to New York at every opportunity this season. It didn't seem to carry the weight of a second consecutive ALDS exit, with celebratory champagne once again spilling from the visitors' clubhouse into the bowels of a stadium where legends traversed.
Some Yankees players sat with their feet kicked up inside the home clubhouse. From the first pitch to the final out on Wednesday -- from the players on the field to the sellout crowd in the stands -- there was little sense of life. Instead, there was an air of inevitability.
Because these are the modern Yankees, after all. They can get to the postseason. Solidify themselves as the first wild card and win those glorified play-in games.
They might even make it to a World Series, punching down on two lowly AL Central clubs to get there. "I think that we all [pulled] each other here," Yankee outfielder Cody Bellinger said following his team's season-ending loss. "I thought we had great talent, but we just couldn't pull it out." And as the Dodgers mock New York, demonstrating how a true big-market powerhouse is supposed to operate and build a winner, and the Rays prove that fundamentals remain paramount in October, the Yankees remain steadfast in their convictions, relying on slug while neglecting the nuances of the sport that separate talented teams from great ones.
This is what general manager Brian Cashman built. This is what their player development system has produced. New York, much like a number of teams across baseball, has deemphasized fundamentals within its minor league development apparatus.
Instead, the emphasis is on bat speed. Range in the field instead of making the routine play routinely. Out conversion has taken a back seat.
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