Another season over, same old story for the Yankees
It’s only fitting that one of the most famous Yogi Berra quotes (or “Yogi-isms”) can perfectly sum up the 2026 season for the New York Yankees: “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
If you’re a keen X/Twitter user, you might have seen multiple predicting how this season would unfold as early as March. Here’s what those prognosticators would typically: The Yankees start out hot, endure a mid-season slump, head into the postseason in good form, maybe win a Wild Card series, and ultimately lose in the playoffs in embarrassing fashion.
Look no further than what transpired last season. New York began proceedings with a 42-25 record after June 12, then their record dropped to 62-56 on August 10 that included multiple six-game losing streaks. They built up some great momentum heading into the playoffs by winning 10 of their final 11 regular season games. They took down the Red Sox at home in the Wild Card Series before losing in four games to the Blue Jays in the American League Division Series.
For this year, you can practically take the previous paragraph and slightly edit the numbers and opponents, but you’d get a strikingly similar picture.
The Yankees had another strong start with a 46-28 record on June 19. They then lost 14 of their next 18 games and ceded the lead in the American League East to the Rays. They remained locked into the top Wild Card spot and had a productive final month of play with a 15-8 September record.
Instead of beating the Red Sox at home in three games in the Wild Card, it only took two games thanks to some outstanding pitching and being able to hit off of Boston’s bullpen. But instead of losing in four games to the top seed in the American League that’s also a division opponents, the Yankees couldn’t even muster up a victory in the ALDS.
After getting one-hit in Game 1 (which I discussed in last week’s column), it felt the Yankees were in must-win territory in Game 2 last Monday. They had to feel good about themselves with Cam Schlittler on the bump following his gem in the Wild Card Series. While it ended up not being his best performance—4.2 innings of two-earned run, six-hit ball—he was far from the reason why New York fell 5-2. Instead? The defense let him down, in a big way.
Right from the get-go, it was going to be a long night for the Yankees after committing three errors in the first inning. It only cost them one run, and Ben Rice’s solo shot tied things up in the fourth inning. But then the meltdown came with a four-run fifth inning, where a combination of Schlittler not being as sharp and more defensive miscues cost them dearly. When you end a game with as many errors as hits (four each), not a recipe for success, in the slightest.
There was still hope even in an 0-2 hole. The series was heading to the Bronx, where that would surely give the Yankees an extra pep in their step. I felt that they could at the very least win Game 3, especially with Max Fried on the mound. Who knows what could happen from there, but at the very least they would avoid getting swept by a division foe.
What occurred was a literal back-and-forth battle. Tampa takes a 1-0 lead in the third inning? How about another Rice bomb to tie the game? The Rays hit a short porch solo shot in the fourth inning? A Spencer Jones RBI double will draw the Yankees level again. A two-run homer from Tampa in the seventh inning? Well here’s Anthony Volpe with a deep drive to left field and… controversy.
In what felt like shades of Jeffrey Maier in 1996, a fan reached over the left field fence to reel in Volpe’s fly ball. After further review, it was not a game-tying two-run home run, nor was Volpe ruled out. Instead, the umpires ruled it a double, so only one run scored. It wasn’t so much a compromise as it was what probably would have happened if the fan did not interfere, so job well done to the umpires in that regard.
However, the Yankees weren’t able to plate Volpe and could not muster up the tying run in the final three innings. 4-3 the final score. Ballgame over. Series over. Season over.
There are two main perspectives that come to mind when reflecting on the 2026 Yankees season. There’s the “glass half full” view that despite not having a fully healthy rotation for most of the season, not having arguably hitter in baseball in Aaron Judge for a majority of the regular season and all of the postseason, the fact that they won 90-plus games again and win a playoff series is pretty solid. It just so happened that they ran into a better team and couldn’t hit the ball when it mattered most.
Then there’s the view that I’m sure most Yankees fans have: No World Series equals a failed season. They ran it back with essentially the same team from last season, and they got the same, expected result yet again.
Predictably plenty of fingers will be pointed at Aaron Boone for another shortcoming. Those frustrations are understandable. In his ninth season as manager, he only has one pennant to show for it. For an organization that has the highest of expectations that can be unrealistic at times, that’s not been good enough in many people’s eyes. Putting a struggling Trent Grisham as the leadoff hitter in an elimination game and him proceeding to 0-5 with three strikeouts (one of which was the final at-bat of the game) instead of a red-hot Rice does not reflect well on Boone.
Perhaps it is time for a new voice to lead the locker room. But sorry to disappoint Yankees fans, that will not happen for one big reason: the impending lockout. Given that there might not be a full season (or a season at all), it would be unwise to hire a new manager for a shortened season where he might not even get to talk to his own players until May or June. No matter how much of the 2027 season is played, they’ll almost certainly give Boone the reins for the final year of his contract.
2028 will be more of a question as to who leads the Yankees. One on hand, a lot of teams would bite the Yankees’ hands off for making the postseason almost ever year. But this is the New York Yankees we’re talking about, and just making the playoffs doesn’t cut it in the Bronx.
General manager Brian Cashman isn’t going anywhere, either. It’s on him to build an even better roster to finally get the Yankees to that elusive 28th World Series title. To his credit, the starting pitching is there. The bullpen is there. The homegrown talent of Rice, Schlittler, Volpe, Jones, George Lombard Jr., and others are there. Is it just about finding a few more pieces to get them over the hump, or is it a wider issue of culture? If it is culture, how do you fix something that can’t be as defined as finding new players to improve the team?
That’s what makes the Yankees’ postseason shortcomings so difficult to pin down. But it feels like once again, for better or worse, they’ll shrug their shoulder, say ‘oh well,’ repeat the cycle in the hopes that this time around it will finally result in glory. Maybe “Groundhog Day” was based on a true story, after all.
Bombers football blanks Rochester
It was a quite the exciting weekend on South Hill. Not only was it Homecoming Weekend at Ithaca College, there was also a big football game to be played at Butterfield Stadium.
The Bombers were looking to keep up their unbeaten start to Liberty League play against the University of Rochester. After obliterating their first two conference opponents in Hilbert (76-6) and St. Lawrence (66-0), they faced a bit of adversity at Hobart, nearly giving away a 17-point lead and ultimately hanging on 20-3.
It’s a good thing that the Bombers went through that contest and faced more of a challenge because the Yellowjackets made life challenging for them in the first half. That was especially the case for the offense, who turned it over on downs, missed a field goal, fumbled and punted on four of their five drives. The other drive resulted in the only points of the first half, a Michael Reed seven-yard keeper to make it 7-0 Bombers entering the break.
But just like in their home opener against Alfred, the offense came alive in the second half. An efficient eight-play, 71-yard drive ended with Chris Scully punching it in from four yards out to double the lead. On the Yellowjackets’ first play of the ensuing drive, Nicholas Garzarella brought the heat on Rochester QB Aniston Marsh and forced the ball out, and Davin Foote came up with the rock. The Bombers’ offense complemented that with another short Scully TD run, and just like that it was 21-0.
Ithaca would find the end zone two more times. It was completely unsurprising that one of those TD scorers was Nick Lang. What was a bit different was that it was 66-yard rushing score instead of his usual outstanding TD grabs. Either way, that’s now the eighth straight game in which he has gotten into the end zone. So what’s his secret?
“First of all, I would say [it’s] my preparation, watching film and understanding what the defense is giving us,” Lang said earlier this week on “Between The Lines.” “[It’s] also being in practice and having that trust with Mike [Reed] that he can get me the ball, and then when he does throw me the ball, I’m gonna go up and make the play.”
After Scully completed his hat trick of rushing TDs early in the fourth quarter (to go along with his 118 total rushing yards), that put an end to a 36-0 rout of the Yellowjackets to stay perfect in Liberty League play at 4-0. While the offense really picked things up in the second half, the defense was terrific from start to finish. That has continued to be the backbone of this year’s team as they recorded its second shutout of the season. It’s also the fourth time that they have not allowed a touchdown this year. A tip of the cap to first-year defensive coordinator Will Margraff for bringing the best out of a talented unit.
As all the Liberty League football teams head into the bye week, it’s shaping up to be a battle between Ithaca and RPI for top spot in the conference. The Engineers have started out 3-0 and they won their matchup against Hobart 33-7.
It was also apropos that the Bombers came out on top the day after the 1991 national championship-winning football team was inducted into the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame. Among those also inducted was Eli Gobrecht. The 2016 graduate and Ithaca native was a three-time All-American defender and has gone on to star in the Premier Lacrosse League, highlighted by winning the 2022 championship with the Philadelphia Waterdogs. You can check out the other inductees here.
Double Cornell hockey preview
While other college hockey teams have already gotten their campaigns underway, both Cornell hockey teams will finally hit the ice later this week.
For Cornell men’s hockey, Saturday night’s game won’t count towards their record. It’s an exhibition matchup against the University of Waterloo, a 7 p.m. puck drop at Lynah Rink.
The Big Red will embark on Year 2 in the Casey Jones era. Last season, Jones has the massive shoes to fill of Mike Schafer and maintain that standard of excellence that was on display for the past three decades. It was more of the same level success for the Big Red, putting up a 22-11-1 record and an astounding 15-3 mark on home ice. Those 22 wins, by the way, are tied for the most in program history for a debut season.
If there’s one aim that Cornell would like to strive for this year, it’s making deeper runs in the postseason. While the Big Red knocked out rivals Harvard in the ECAC quarterfinals at home, they fell at the first hurdle in Lake Placid, losing to Princeton (led by former associate head coach Ben Syer) in the semifinals. They then had an unfortunate draw in the NCAA Tournament as they ventured to Colorado for the regional semifinal, where they lost to the eventual national champions Denver 5-0.
“I didn’t really like how we finished,” Jones said on his season preview for Inside ECAC Hockey. “I don’t think we were prepared to play necessarily the exact style we have to play to win the games at the right time of the year. Maybe we learned that lesson. We talked about that in the offseason about how difficult we have to be to play against and how structured we have to be and how hard we have to play and just take it another level.”
If it’s one thing that the Big Red prided itself on under Schafer and has continued to do under Jones, it’s have plenty of depth. That will surely continue to be the case this year as it returns 10 of its top 12 scorers from last year, including senior captain and assists leader Ryan Walsh, sophomore Caton Ryan, junior Charlie Major and sophomore defenseman Xavier Veilleux.
While there are only a handful of key losses, they are pretty significant ones. Their top points scorer Jonathan Castagna is off to play in the pros with the Calgary Flames. As a very important aside, he made his NHL debut on Thursday night and even recorded an assist in the Flames’ 7-3 loss to Colorado Avalanche. That same night, recent graduate Hoyt Stanley also debuted for the Ottawa Senators in their 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. This was the first time in program history that two Big Red alums made their debuts on the same day. Shoutout to Cornell men’s hockey SID Marshall Haim for that tidbit.
One other notable change is in goal. After a phenomenal freshman season for Alexis Cournoyer, he ended up transferring to Wisconsin, who lost to Denver in last year’s national championship. The Big Red has three options to replace him in between the pipes this year. There’s sophomore Mathis Rousseau, who transferred in from Maine after one season with the Black Bears, as well as junior Justin Katz and sophomore Erick Roest, both of whom have yet to play in their collegiate careers.
Cornell enters the season ranked 13th in the preseason USCHO.com poll and were picked to finish third in the ECAC behind preseason favorites Quinnipiac and defending champions Dartmouth. With plenty of returning talent and a full year of Jones at the helm, the Big Red will be well in the mix of bringing home the Whitelaw Cup and progressing further in the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Red’s first competitive game will be October 30 at home against Sacred Heart.
As for Cornell women’s hockey, they dive straight into competitive games this Friday (6 p.m. puck drop) and Saturday (3 p.m. puck drop) as they welcome Vermont to Lynah Rink.
Last year was quite the roller coaster. Coming into the campaign with high expectations following a Frozen Four appearance the year prior and as the favorites to win the ECAC, the Big Red backed up that preseason hype by winning its first seven games. They then proceeded to have an up-and-down stretch where they went 7-10-2 before finishing the regular season strong with four straight victories.
That momentum heading into the ECAC Tournament paid off by taking down Colgate in the quarterfinals at home. But their trip to Lake Placid was also short-lived, falling to Yale 7-2 in the semifinals. They ended up not getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The women’s team will have to have a bit more players step up in the scoring charts than the men’s team. They lost five of their top eight points-getters from last year, all of whom were drafted into the National Women’s Hockey League in June: forwards Avi Adam, Mckenna Van Gelder and Georgia Schiff and defenders Grace Dwyer and Alyssa Regalado. Their top returning points scorers are seniors Piper Grober and Karel Prefontaine and sophomore Nora Curtis.
Arguably the biggest returning piece to the puzzle is in goal with Annelies Bergmann. The senior has established herself as one of the top shot-stoppers in the nation. If there’s one person who’s over the moon to have her for one more year, it’s head coach Doug Derraugh.
Other things that caught my eye
- For someone that writes as part of making a living, I still sit here at a loss for words as to what I had just witnessed in yesterday’s game between the Giants and Commanders. For three-plus quarters, it seemed like it would not be the G-Men’s day with Jameis Winston struggling under center and the defense unable to stop Jayden Daniels on the ground. But there’s clearly no quit in this Giants team this year sans Jaxson Dart. That’s what good coaching can do. Winston found Isaiah Likely and Malik Nabers in the end zone, and the game went to overtime. That’s where all the sloppiness unfolded: A third missed field goal of the game by Dominic Zvada followed by a three-and-out by Washington. The Giants drive down the field again in even better field goal range, only for Cam Skattebo to fumble the ball away. With no timeouts left, the Commanders got themselves into field goal range. But someone must have forgotten to tell either Daniels or head coach Dan Quinn that they had any timeouts, as they ran a play with 12 seconds left and were not able to line up in time to spike the ball and set up a surefire game-winning field goal. 27-27 it ended. That about sums up the dysfunction of the NFC East this year, throwing the Cowboys’ still-atrocious defense and the Eagles’ last-second meltdown in London. One of these teams will actually be in the playoffs. It’s still anyone’s guess as to who that will be, but right now… how about them G-Men?
- If you recall last week, one of my upset picks in our Pigskin Pick’em contest was taking the Jets over the Bears. That backfired as Gang Green put in a lifeless performance in a 23-12 loss to a Tyson Bagent-led Chicago team. Again our users picked against the Jets entering Sunday’s contest against the Browns, but I could not imagine a world where a Deshaun Watson-led Cleveland team could be 4-1. That’s why I stuck with the Jets, and it finally paid off. Braelon Allen needed to have a big game without Breece Hall, and he delivered with 116 rushing yards and a TD. The same could be said for Garrett Wilson without their second wideout AD Mitchell. He too had a nice day with nine receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. On defense, second overall pick David Bailey had a breakout performance with three sacks. It felt like a season-saving performance for Gang Green, but it will be quite the challenge heading to New England next, a place that has been a house of horrors for them for many years.
- The Bills have the standalone game tonight with a tough road test at the Rams. Of the countless Super Bowl predictions that were made before the season, this was certainly one of the most common matchups. With that being said, both teams have gotten off to shaky starts. LA has yet to fire on all cylinders at 2-2. As for Buffalo, their 3-1 record feels like paper over the cracks when it comes to their leaky defense. They’re in for a long night if Matthew Stafford gets back to his MVP-level form.
- At the same time that there was a big game on South Hill, there was an equally massive matchup on East Hill. Cornell football welcomed #18 Harvard to Schoellkopf Field in the hopes of pulling off another upset. It looked like lightning would strike twice through one quarter of play with the Big Red up 10-0. But the Crimson rattled off an astonishing 41 unanswered points. While the Big Red scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, that was not enough as Harvard prevailed 41-29. It does not get easier this Saturday for the now 2-2 Big Red. #5 Lehigh is next to visit East Hill, Cornell’s fourth ranked opponent in the first five weeks of the season.
- Week 6 of the Section IV football season means wer’re getting to the nitty-gritty of divisional play. In Class D, Trumansburg had what felt like a must-win game against Newark Valley to boost their chances of making the expanded eight-team playoff bracket. The Blue Raiders got the job done on Homecoming Night with a 28-13 victory powered by three rushing touchdowns from sophomore Chris Clarke-Cabezas. Groton bounced back from a tough loss to Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour with a 38-0 blanking of a winless Spencer-Van Etten/Candor team, with all points coming in the first half. Speaking of the Schuyler Storm they had a huge matchup at home against defending state champions Tioga, where they fell 43-12. In 8-man, Moravia prevailed in what is one of the lowest scoring games in the arcade-style nature of 8-man football: 16-0 at Unatego/Franklin. Newfield made history with its first-ever night game at Cancro Field with the new lights, but Dryden spoiled the party with a 22-6 victory. Lansing ventured to Thomas A. Edison for a state-ranked showdown, but the Spartans came out on top 34-21. And Ithaca suffered its third straight defeat after getting shut out 34-0 by Elmira.
- While the regular season for high school football is raging on, the postseason for Section IV soccer begins later this week. Ithaca boys soccer is the most in-form team in the section with 12 straight victories. That’s plenty of momentum heading into Thursday night’s STAC Large School Championship against Vestal. The Golden Bears gave the Little Red its biggest scare during that long winning run, taking them to overtime but falling 5-4. For the neutral’s perspective, they’re surely hoping for another goalfest like that. Then on Saturday, it’s one of the greatest days on the high school sports calendar: a quadruple-header of IAC Championship soccer. The schedule is as follows: Marathon vs. Odessa-Montour (IAC Boys Soccer Small School Championship, 11am at Tompkins Cortland Community College), Southern Cayuga vs. Odessa-Montour or Tioga (IAC Girls Soccer Small School Championship, 1pm at TC3), Lansing vs. Spencer-Van Etten/Candor or Elmira Notre Dame (IAC Boys Soccer Large School Championship, 4pm at Dryden High School), and Trumansburg vs. Spencer-Van Etten/Candor (IAC Girls Soccer Large School Championship, 6pm at Dryden).
