The Yankees' modern failures were on full display as their season fittingly ends with sweep

The Rays swept the Yankees in the 2026 ALDS, and there was a sense of inevitability in the Bronx on Wednesday night NEW YORK —When it was over, the Yankees' clubhouse hardly reflected what manager Aaron Boone had suggested in the immediate aftermath of New York's loss. Inside, it didn't resemble the sanctuary of a team that had just been swept on its home field by a relentless Rays club that took it to New York at every opportunity this season. It didn't seem to carry the weight of a second consecutive ALDS exit, with celebratory champagne once again spilling from the visitors' clubhouse into the bowels of a stadium where legends traversed.

Some Yankees players sat with their feet kicked up inside the home clubhouse. They were comfortable. There were some smiles. From the first pitch to the final out on Wednesday — from the players on the field to the sellout crowd in the stands — there was little sense of life. Instead, there was an air of inevitability. They can get to the postseason. They can win a division. Solidify themselves as the first wild card and win those glorified play-in games. They might even make it to a World Series, punching down on two lowly AL Central clubs to get there. "I think that we all