A-Rod, Jeter Explain ‘Philosophy’ Change Yankees, Who Got ‘Exposed,’ Need

The World Series drought is now at 17 seasons. On the heels of sweeping the American League East-rival Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild Card Series, the New York Yankees were swept by the fellow division rival Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Divisional Series. Now what? FOX Sports MLB Studio Analyst and former Yankees superstar third baseman Alex Rodriguez has some blunt advice. “They [the Rays] beat them [the Yankees] like a drum. They beat them during the season, and they swept them in October. Something has to change. I’m not talking about personnel. I’m talking about a philosophy. There has to be a philosophy change,” Rodriguez said about the Yankees following their season-ending loss to the Rays on Wednesday night. “You’ve won 27 titles one way. I’m not saying anyone should lose their job. Let me make that clear. But [Yankees general manager] Brian Cashman has to surround himself with people who know baseball, who understand baseball and can value both sides of the ball. It’s unthinkable in a game where your season is on the line and of the nine positions, you don’t know who’s going to play five positions: first base, second base, third base, center field and right field because Aaron Judge is out. “If something doesn’t change, you’re going to have the same results, and we’ve been watching the same movie for over a decade, and nothing changes. They’ll use the excuse that Judge wasn’t there, but Judge had nothing to do with that first inning in Game 2, which is one of the craziest innings I’ve ever seen. It’s getting late.” Prior to a four-game series in the last week of the regular season, the Rays, who won an AL-best 98 games, went 6-3 against the Yankees in the regular season. As for the first inning of Game 2, Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon committed an error at third base, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a throwing error that brought home a run for the Rays and Austin Wells was called for catcher’s interference. The Yankees, who were held to one hit by Rays ace Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 and lost 1-0, would finish Game 2 with four errors. In all, the Yankees totaled just six runs and 12 hits in the series. They were without superstar right fielder Aaron Judge, who missed three-plus months due to a right rib injury and then suffered a calf strain roughly one week after returning. “They didn’t play well, and sometimes when you don’t play well in the postseason, everything is magnified, and they start dissecting things that have happened. In the regular season, you can’t get away with it. Over 162 games, you can have periods where you play poorly and periods when you play well. People tend to focus more on the times you play well, but when you get into the postseason, and you’re playing teams like the Rays, you cannot make mistakes because they’re going to capitalize on them,” Jeter said of the Yankees. “You can make mistakes against the Boston Red Sox and still overcome those mistakes, but you can’t do it against Tampa. They got exposed a little bit, and that’s the reason why they’re going home.” Jeter added that his dynasty Yankees teams (late 1990s-early 2000s) “focused on all the little things,” could win without hitting the long ball and never “beat themselves,” whereas the Hall of Famer stated the “Yankees beat themselves” against the Rays. For David Ortiz, the Yankees’ “culture” is off, and “they need to start paying attention to those little things.” “Yeah, the game has changed a lot, and there are a lot of different things going on in the game, but the culture is always going to be the culture. They are far away from being where they used to be culture-wise,” Ortiz said of the Yankees. New York won 93 games in the regular season behind arguably the best starting rotation in the sport, a unit highlighted by potential 2026 AL Cy Young Award winner Cam Schlittler (he led the AL with a 1.95 ERA, a 215 ERA+ and seven wins above replacement). The Yankees’ starting staff was first in MLB in ERA (3.30), second in strikeouts (908), third outright in opponent batting average (.223) and tied for third in WHIP (1.14). Meanwhile, their bullpen was second in ERA (3.13) and fourth in WHIP (1.22). Regarding the Yankees’ work with the bats, they were second in the sport with 223 home runs. First baseman/designated hitter Ben Rice had a breakout year, launching 41 home runs, driving in 97 runs and finishing with a .534 slugging percentage, which was second in the AL. The issue? They were feast or famine with the long ball. New York was 29th in hits (1,250), 26th in batting average (.235), 24th in on-base percentage (.311) and sixth among the 12 teams that reached the postseason with 739 runs scored. As for future expenditures, the Yankees’ currently have a $276.4 million payroll for 2027, which is fourth in the sport, per Spotrac. Chisholm, center fielder Trent Grisham, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and closer David Bednar are among their pending free agents. Under manager Aaron Boone, the Yankees have made the playoffs in eight of nine seasons but won the AL pennant just once, doing so in 2024. They’re 790-565 in the regular season and 27-30 in the postseason from 2018-26. Meanwhile, Cashman just wrapped up his 29th season as New York’s general manager.