Sep 30, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) takes out New York Yankees pitcher Luke Weaver (30) during the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox during game one of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
BRONX, NY — Aaron Boone overmanaged, and it burned him.
Starting pitcher Max Fried had been untouchable on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium for Game 1 against the Boston Red Sox, keeping the Bronx Bombers’ arch rivals scoreless through six innings, although he had been laboring as the night progressed.
Working with a 1-0 lead and needing just 37 pitches to get through the first three innings, a missed strike-three call on a walk to Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez helped create a 24-pitch fourth inning. He needed 18 to get through the fifth after walking Rob Refsnyder. Another missed call on Narvaez extended his sixth inning to 20 pitches.
At 99 pitches through six innings, Boone gave the southpaw ace one more batter in Boston’s Jarren Duran, a lefty, whom Fried disposed of in just three pitches by getting a groundout to first.
One out in the seventh, no runs allowed on just four hits with six strikeouts and three walks. Even at 102 pitches, the opener of a best-of-three postseason series warrants the stretching out of a starter’s workload.
But not for Boone, who yanked Fried despite his stellar night.
“They pressured him pretty good in the fourth, fifth, sixth,” Boone said of his decision to pull his starter. “I felt like he cruised through the first few, and obviously, he ends up pitching great, but I felt like he had to work pretty hard.”
It was a decision that Fried teased disappointment in, even while attempting to be diplomatic after the game.
“I definitely exerted a lot of energy trying to get out of that,” Fried began. “But I definitely had enough in the tank for whatever the team needed… I definitely felt good at the end… I’m going to stay in until I get the ball taken from me. I want to pitch as long as I possibly can.”
Boone decided to go with reliever Luke Weaver, who posted a 9.64 ERA in September, and the decision went exactly as expected.
Within three batters, the Red Sox had the lead. Weaver walked Ceddane Rafaela and gave up a double to Nick Sogard before pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida singled home a pair.
“I felt good about him going through there,” Boone said. “Just trying to shorten [the bullpen] with Devin Williams and David Bednar behind.”
Alex Bregman would bring home a third run for Boston in the ninth inning off Bednar before the Yankees became the first team in MLB history to load the bases with no outs in the ninth inning of a postseason game, not score, and lose.
Much of the Yankees’ lack of offense can be chalked up to the brilliance of Garrett Crochet, who went 7.2 innings, allowed one run, and struck out 11. But Boone’s decision-making has a part to play in all this.
Preaching that he was going with the proper matchups against the superstar southpaw, he left 57 home runs on his bench by not starting Jazz Chisholm Jr. or Ben Rice. Instead, Amed Rosario and Austin Wells combined to go 0-for-6 and came up empty in key situations.
Rosario’s groundout to end the seventh inning helped keep Crochet’s pitch count low enough to go out for the eighth inning, having only needed six pitches to get out of the frame. After Anthony Volpe picked up his second hit of the night with one out in the second, Wells struck out looking to quell any Yankee momentum.
The analytics might suggest one thing, but the eye test is increasingly blunt. The Yankees are now facing elimination, and Boone has to start pulling the right strings or else the season, and potentially his tenure as New York’s skipper, could be over.
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