Over the past 10 years, the New York Yankees have endured great success with eight postseason appearances and 32 playoff wins. However, each team has been different, leaving the door open for debate on which one reigns supreme.
10. 2023
This wasn’t only the worst Yankees team of the past ten years; record-wise, this was the worst mark a Yankees team had posted since 1992, the last season they finished with a losing record.
Initially, the returns were promising. After a 10-2 win against the Seattle Mariners on May 30, the Yankees sat 11 games above .500. Unfortunately, disaster struck days later when Aaron Judge injured his toe in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers and missed nearly two months. This killed all momentum, and the Yankees stumbled to the finish line with an 82-80 record.
Gerrit Cole did win the Cy Young Award, posting a 15-4 record and a 2.63 ERA. However, not even his heroics on the mound could keep the Yankees afloat as they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
9. 2016
Speaking of 2016, this was the final year before the Yankees went all-in on a youth movement. To start the season, the team was the eleventh-oldest in baseball, headlined by veterans Chase Headley and Carlos Beltran. Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira were also in their final seasons, as the Yankees tried to capture the magic left from their 2009 World Series team.
Unfortunately, that magic was all but gone as the Yankees’ season ended with an 84-78 record and no postseason appearance for the third time in four seasons. If nothing else, it forced Brian Cashman to get younger and reach into his farm system, a decision that would pay off in the long run.
8. 2021
At the halfway point of the 2021 season, things didn’t look great for the Yankees. On July 4, the Yankees sat at 41-40, with ESPN’s Jeff Passan suggesting the team could look to deal Aaron Judge and begin a rebuild.
In response, the Yankees went on a tear, ending the season as arguably the hottest team in baseball. With a record of 92-70 and a wild-card matchup against the Boston Red Sox on deck, the Yankees seemed primed for a deep postseason run.
Unfortunately, their 2021 postseason ended after one game. Against the Red Sox, Gerrit Cole lasted just two innings, allowing three runs on four hits. The Yankees’ offense managed just two solo home runs, losing 6-2.
7. 2025
Similar to 2021, the 2025 Yankees didn’t have much going for them at the halfway point of the season. On July 5, the team had lost its sixth straight game while clinging to a wild-card spot. But over the final few months of the season, the Yankees played elite baseball. After an August 13 loss to the Minnesota Twins, the Yankees won 30 of their final 41 games, finishing with 94 wins for the second straight season.
In the postseason, though, the Yankees fizzled out. After winning the Wild Card Series against the Red Sox in comeback fashion, the Yankees were bullied by the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS. After their offensive depth carried them in the regular season, Aaron Judge reverted to being a one-man show in the playoffs. In the end, he could only do so much as the Yankees lost in four games to their division foes.
6. 2020
In one of the strangest years in MLB history, the Yankees finished with a 33-27 record in 60 regular-season games. It was hard to judge the team after such a small sample size, but the 2020 Yankees didn’t appear to be anything special. Sure, they had players like American League home run leader Luke Voit, but postseason expectations weren’t high.
When October hit, everything changed. In the Wild Card round, the Yankees posted 22 runs in two games, sweeping the Cleveland Guardians. They took the eventual AL pennant winners, the Tampa Bay Rays, to five games in the ALDS, losing by one run in the rubber match.
It might’ve been another second-round exit, but taking the best team in the American League to five games was no small feat. For a team not expected to do much in the postseason, this group certainly impressed.
5. 2022
No team on this list got off to a hotter start than the 2022 Yankees. Winners of 49 of their first 65 games, they looked almost unbeatable. Aaron Judge was on his way to breaking the American League home run record. The rotation, headlined by the revival of lefty Nestor Cortes, was filled with quality pitchers.
Unfortunately, the Yankees cooled off considerably. After those first 65 games, the team barely played .500 baseball, going 50-47 the rest of the season. In October, they needed a come-from-behind series victory to move past the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS. In the ALCS, the Yankees embarrassed themselves by losing in a 4-0 series sweep against the Houston Astros. This team might’ve started hot, but they certainly didn’t finish that way.
4. 2018
The Yankees won one postseason game in 2018. So, why rank them higher than a 2022 team that won an entire series? There are two reasons.
To start, the 2018 team was much more balanced offensively than its 2022 counterpart. In 2022, the Yankees depended solely on Judge to carry the offense. If he didn’t have a good game, neither did the rest of the offense. But in 2018, the burden was shared between young bats like Miguel Andujar, Didi Gregorius, and Gleyber Torres.
But as good as this team was, they met an unstoppable force in the postseason.
The 2018 Yankees won 100 games, the second-most during these ten years. Unfortunately, they finished eight games out of first place in the division behind the Boston Red Sox, who they met in the ALDS. Boston needed four games to finish off the Yankees, as the team later won its second World Series title in six seasons.
3. 2017
Nobody expected this team to be competitive. Now fully committed to a youth movement, a .500 season would’ve been a success in many pundits’ eyes. However, this team defied every expectation.
On offense, rookies Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez mashed 52 and 33 home runs, respectively. Judge, in unanimous fashion, won the AL Rookie of the Year award. On the mound, Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery went a combined 23-13 with sub-4.00 ERAs.
As good as the rookies were in the Bronx, the veterans held their own. Todd Frazier and Matt Holiday both played meaningful baseball, while CC Sabathia had an impressive age-37 campaign.
Despite winning 92 games in the regular season, the Yankees’ 2017 postseason nearly ended after a few days. Down 2-0 to the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, the team was in deep trouble. However, as they had all season, the Yankees defied the odds and came back to win the series 3-2.
In the ALCS, the Yankees once more found themselves down 2-0 to the Houston Astros. Again, though, they ripped off three straight wins to go up 3-2 in the series. Unfortunately, the team’s magic ran out, as the Astros won games six and seven to advance to the World Series.
2. 2019
Simply put, this Yankees team was ravaged by injuries. Whether it was Giancarlo Stanton playing 18 games or Luis Severino missing the first six months of the season, the 2019 Yankees were dealt an awful hand.
However, they turned that hand into 103 wins, the third most in baseball. Players like Gio Urshela and Mike Tauchman answered the call on offense, helping the Yankees lead MLB in runs scored. It wasn’t pretty, but the team got the job done in the regular season.
The Yankees got off to a hot start in October, sweeping the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS before taking the first game of the ALCS on the road against the Astros. But after that Game One victory, the Yankees dropped four of the next five games to lose in the ALCS for the second time in three years.
1. 2024
Expectations were mixed for the 2024 Yankees going into March. On one hand, they were coming off their worst season in three decades. On the other hand, they had both Aaron Judge and Juan Soto headlining the batting order.
Thanks to a wide-open American League, the Yankees cruised through their side of the postseason. After finishing as the top seed in the AL, the Yankees won all but two games against the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians to reach the World Series.
In the Fall Classic, however, things didn’t go smoothly. A blown save from Nestor Cortes in Game One, followed by two consecutive losses, put the Yankees in a 3-0 hole. The team rebounded in Game Four, winning 11-4 at home. In Game Five, the Yankees seemed well on their way to a second straight victory as they entered the fifth inning up 5-0.
Instantly, the wheels fell off. Consecutive errors saw the Yankees blow a five-run lead, and the team heartbreakingly lost 7-6 to the Dodgers. But as much as it hurt, it was the closest the Yankees have come to a World Series title since 2009.
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