AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES VS RAYS

October 7, 2026

Aaron Boone

Yankee Stadium

New York Yankees

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Rays, 4 - Yankees, 3

Q. Aaron, clearly this is not the way you wanted your season to end. Just how disappointed are you not only in the outcome, but by some of the play over the last three games throughout this series?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. I mean, look, the ending is terrible. You know, there's one team at this time of year that is going to go home happy.

First of all, congratulations to the Rays. They beat us. They've obviously had a great season and get to continue on. But for us, there's just no easy way. It's a broken clubhouse. It's what you go through as a team, as a family over the last eight, nine months getting ready for this, and there's just -- it's the worst. It's the worst.

You know, you just -- for those experiencing it for the first time and then those of us that have been there and been in a lot of these situations and had opportunities, this is what you want to play for. This is where you want to be.

And hopefully for everyone, whether it's going through it for the fist time or those of us that have been through a lot of these, you know, it's gotta be fuel to the fire and motivation for everyone to get better and get back to this position and ultimately meet the standard that's expected of us, and that's being the last team standing and winning the championship.

So went through a lot as a group this year. Had a lot of challenges and a lot of people in there met those challenges and answered, but obviously not enough, and today is the worst.

Q. Aaron, ultimately why do you think you weren't able to meet those standards this year and get over the hump?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. Look, obviously we dealt with a lot of adversity throughout the year, you know, from injury front, but guys stepped up all year, and we were able to win a lot of games and give ourselves an opportunity. And then just came up short.

You know, thought we bounced back and played a pretty good game overall tonight and played clean. We just, again, just didn't hit enough ultimately to score enough, and they did. And they were a little bit better than us.

Hopefully that's fuel for everyone to get a little bit better.

Q. You were in that clubhouse for over 30 minutes before coming out here. Just what was your final message to that team?

AARON BOONE: You know, the ending is just like it's -- you know, you try to have perspective. I know everyone in this room has real life things that are very real that offer perspective. And I certainly have those in my life with my family. So you try and maintain that perspective, but when it's -- when you pour so much into it and it's your livelihood, it's hard to describe how awful of a feeling it is to go home again.

So appreciate everyone in there. I appreciate the grind that everyone -- I appreciate a lot of guys getting up off the mat a lot this year, whether it was from injury, whether it was bouncing back from tough performances to get whole at the end. You know, so I'm so appreciative of everyone in there and the efforts people make, but it never dampens this feeling.

Q. With how the final at bat transpired, is there any regret of not having Rice lead off today instead of Grisham?

AARON BOONE: No. No. I mean, look, obviously we really struggled to score runs in the first two games. And I was pretty convicted on trying to find a way to be able to get Benny maybe a chance to come up with runners on or be in a position to do that more often.

He was able to hit with a runner in scoring position and drove in our first run of the game obviously. And obviously hate when Benny doesn't get to hit there in the end, but it's a decision I made to try and create a little bit of traffic. And obviously it didn't work, but you're going to live with that.

Q. And then from last year to this year, the offense took a pretty considerable drop from where it finished last year. Is it just as simple as not having Judge?

AARON BOONE: I think we had a number of people down, certainly more so than last year, and went through a stretch, you know, for probably, what, two months in kind of that June, July or August in there where scoring runs was a real challenge for us. Probably struggled to score runs for an extended period more so than I've experienced here with the guys.

But to their credit, they also rallied, too, and I felt like started to play some really good offense the final five, six weeks of the season. Obviously had a really good Wild Card series offensively, but obviously then for the most part, got shut down.

I thought we had some good at-bats tonight. Gave ourselves some opportunities, hit some balls on the screws again, but ultimately not enough. We gotta be more complete offensively, defensively, pitching. We did a lot of really good things this year, but ultimately not good enough to beat a really good Rays team tonight.

Q. You had said a few days ago how much of a close call it was to activate Aaron. Now that he's scored five runs in three games, did you wonder if he could have made a difference? Do you regret not --

AARON BOONE: No. I feel it was the right thing.

Q. And also with your message in there, one of the toughest things about it is you know that this team as is will not be the same. There's ultimately going to be changes, maybe big changes. You just know it's not going to be the same guys?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. I mean, yeah, look, you go through battles with guys. We say it's a family. It is. I mean, you're together, what's it been now, eight months since we get together in February, and you become incredibly close. You fight. You spend time together. You share some really tough moments and some really great moments as well.

So you go through a lot as a group and then it's just sudden end. It's the worst fricking feeling in the world. You know, again, offering that perspective with all due respect. And I have that perspective of we are playing a game. I understand that.

But it doesn't lessen the pain of the ending, you know, and hopefully that's something that again continues to fuel guys that are going through this for the first time and then those of us that have been through it a lot.

Q. With the Volpe fan interference, what was your view of that and were you satisfied with how it was handled?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. I thought they did a good job with it. When he hit it, to my eye looking out there, I was a little concerned right away because it felt like something, I wasn't sure. And then seeing the replay and seeing it unfold, I thought they did the right thing. I thought they got it right.

Q. Do you allow yourself to think how different it would turn out with a healthy Aaron in the lineup?

AARON BOONE: Oh, I don't know. Look, every year is not perfect as far as you get to the finish line -- there's been some years where -- I remember '22 where we were really good all year and then just got decimated in the final month with some really key guys going out, and we weren't quite the same going in.

There's other years, like last year I felt like we were kind of peaking and really coming together at the perfect time and then you go home. Obviously '24, you get to the World Series.

So every year is different, and it's not going to be perfect ever at the end, whether it's -- and, look, it's Aaron Judge, the greatest player in the world. And that's a huge -- huge person to be missing. But every team tends to deal with different attrition that they gotta face every year, and unfortunately that was for us much of this year.

But the guys met the challenge, I thought, really well a lot of the way. Again, just ultimately not enough. And, you know, we went into this postseason wanting to win a world championship and we're going home.

Q. And the last few years you've talked about just can't wait to get back on the field in February to try it again. Given the labor situation, would it be very frustrating if it's a year or two to get back on the field?

AARON BOONE: You know, that'll all play out, obviously. I'm not there yet. Just -- I'm not there yet. That'll be for another day, and a lot of people will be involved be involved. Hopefully, there's a good ending to all of that, but right now you're just in the moment and feeling for guys and trying to pick up the pieces.

Q. In your initial answer you mentioned, you've been through a bunch of these now. Each of your playoff teams have lost to a team that outplayed you at least record wise during the regular season.

Do you have any thoughts on a commonality about when the competition has risen at this time of year, why you guys haven't been able to get over that hump?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. Every year is different, Joel. Again, we could go analyze each year, and I could tell you like I said '22 where I felt like we were a really great team, but then in August, we lost three, four integral pieces to our team and kind of went into the postseason not the same. '24, we get to the World Series and fall short.

Last year, I felt like we were really good at the end and really complete at the end only to go home. This year, you know, obviously we're missing a couple of key guys, including Aaron, but we also did that all year, and it doesn't mean you can't go win, win big.

I was pleased that we bounced back and played a really clean game today. I thought there were three or four really outstanding defensive plays on top of everything after a first tough inning the other night, but ultimately we didn't swing the bats enough in this series to move on. So ultimately it wasn't good enough.

Q. A followup on that a little bit. You've had really similar type seasons, a lot of great regular seasons, gotten through them, overcome a lot. This year obviously Judge and many others. You've beaten the Red Sox in the playoffs a few times and you've beaten all the teams you should have beaten, but obviously the ending has been similar and disappointing.

Is there something you could point to maybe intangible or spark, anything you can think why the team hasn't really gotten over that hump?

AARON BOONE: No. Again, I think every year is different. It really is. Like every year is very different. The landscape is different. The team you go in, how you're playing, all those kind of things.

I could speak to the series. We didn't play a clean game in Game 2, but ultimately didn't swing the bats enough and put enough runs on the board to move on or to extend the series. So that's what it comes down to.

Q. Just to follow up a little bit more. Great regular season again. But you mentioned you didn't meet the standard. Obviously the standards are very high here and you've got a job that's judged every day, which is unlike almost any other job.

You do have a year to go on your contract. Do you expect to be back? And I assume you want to be back. You have the contract, but do you expect to be back?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, of course. Again, that's for another day. Right now is about trying to reflect on this, trying to connect with guys right now as much as I can. Appreciative of a lot of things, but those conversations and things are for another day.

Q. I know you're probably not looking ahead that much, but when you see the at-bats that Lombard and Jones have in a game like this and you see the defensive plays that Lombard makes, is there some consolation in that looking forward, and also, what do you want those guys to take from this experience?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. I mean, look, there's always really good takeaways in these seasons and the ending. And one of the story lines for us is the emergence of some really good young players and promising young players.

We got probably four or five, six guys that are 25 and under that you can see having like not only starring roles, but integral roles on the team moving forward. And that's exciting.

Yeah, Spencer I thought had a couple really good at-bats tonight. George the same. I feel like the last few weeks has really had a lot of good at-bats and turned in some really nice plays tonight.

Volpe, what he's able to do, talk about facing adversity, and like what's it tell you about him and his character and his make up and his ability, the way he's come back and the level of at-bats he's throwing up there tonight, getting off the mat. Austin Wells, the season he went through the first half offensively struggling like he did.

I could go on and on with things that are really exciting and promising for the future, and hopefully we can continue to grow those things.