About Last Night: A Funny Thing Happened...

About Last Night - A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To A Rout

By Paul Semendinger

August 29, 2025

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A funny thing happened on the way to a rout.

First it was going to be one, then it wasn't... then it was.

In the end, the Yankees defeated the White Sox last night 10-4.

Created by Microsoft Copilot

Quick Stats:

WP - Will Warren

HR - Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm, Trent Grisham

The Game:

I teach college on Thursday nights. My final class ends at 7:45. Knowing I'd have to do the Game Summary, I went to my car after class and put the game on the radio. Rutgers had the ball. Rutgers?

WFAN's FM channel had Rutgers football on, not the Yankees.

I have made this point a million different ways, if fans can't find the games to listen to or watch, because they're on different channels all the time, fans will eventually give up chasing down their team down and they will stop caring. I understand Rutgers Football also deserves to be broadcast, but the general principle remains. One can't follow the Yankees if he doesn't know where to find them.

Alas, I found the Yankees game on the AM tuner.

And the game was looking to be a rout:

• Cody Bellinger hit a two-run homer in the first inning. (Yankees 2-0)

• Jazz Chisholm homered in the second inning. (Yankees 3-0)

• Ben Rice also singled home a run in the second. (Yankees 4-0)

  
  

The rout was on, until...

• Will Warren gave up a GRAND SLAM to Miguel Vargas. (TIE GAME 4-4)

  
  

The Yankees then added two runs in the fifth inning...

• Ben Rice singled and then ran around the bases on an Aaron Judge infield single. As Judge reached first, he ran into Miguel Vargas' wrist who went down in pain as the ball skipped away and lay there. (Yankees 5-4)

• Judge then scored on a sacrifice fly from Jazz Chisholm. (Yankees 6-4)

  
  

The score stayed a 6-4 until the eighth inning when, the rout that was supposed to occur, finally took place:

• Paul Goldschmidt reached on an error, Ryan McMahon doubled, Anthony Volpe hit a sacrifice fly. (Yankees 7-4)

• Trent Grisham homered. (Yankees 9-4)

  
  

In the ninth...

• Paul Goldschmidt hit a sacrifice fly. (Yankees 10-4)

My Take:

It has been a long and frustrating summer for Yankees fans. It has not been fun watching the Yankees play such a terrible brand of baseball. But that's over now. And while the Yankees aren't a strong fundamentally sound baseball team, they are winning. And winning and winning. Buckle-up my friends, the Yankees, the non-mighty New York Yankees, are going to the post season. Much of the remaining schedule for the Yankees will play out like this - the Yankees mostly play teams that are hopelessly out of it. It matters little that the Yankees have a few tough series as well. Before those those games, are a few more easy ones, and after those though games, it should be a cake walk. The Yankees have the second easiest schedule the rest of the way. Somehow, they did it, or, at least, for now, they're doing it. The 2025 Yankees are post season bound.

One can say, "Oh, the Yankees have too easy of a schedule," but to be fair, a team has to get the games in. If the remaining schedule is super easy, that means, by definition, that the schedule to that point was more difficult. A team can only play the games they are assigned. Wins are wins are wins. And the Yankees are taking advantage of the bad teams by winning and winning and winning.

The frustrating point in this is that a false narrative is going to develop. We're going to read that Aaron Boone kept the team together through the rough patches. Boone is going to be praised. Looking at the team objectively, it is clear that Aaron Boone is not a good manager. The evidence is there - we've seen it for eight seasons. But, that will not be the story. The story we're all going to hear is how much of a player's manager Boone is, how it was his approach that kept the team balanced and focused, and how he guided the Yankees through turbulant waters. No one is going to mention that it was Boone who guided them into the dangerous waters in the first place and that he does this season after season.

It's getting to the point where Yankees fans are going to have to accept that Aaron Boone will be the manager forever. This is hyperbole, of course, but it seems clear that Boone isn't going anywhere unless the Yankees somehow fall completely apart - and as bad as they have played, that is very unlikely.

Because of the talent on this team, it's also possible that they'll win the World Series. The starting pitchers should match up well in the post season against any team. The Yankees flawed approach to building a winner, just might work. "Be better than the bad teams and get hot in the playoffs" is a strategy I dislike greatly for the Yankees. It's been their philosophy for years. It's bound to work one day. This could be the year. I'll be happy if they do win it all, but the approach goes against everything the Yankees used to stand for.

Anthony Volpe had a good night with the bat. He went 2 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and a run scored. All the while, to me at least, he looked miserable. The player simply looks defeated. On the negative side, he also made another error in the field.

Ferdando Cruz pitched a perfect sixth inning with two strikeouts. Luke Weaver pitched a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts. Devin Williams pitched a perfect eighth inning with three strikeouts. Mark Leiter pitched a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout. A bullpen can't do any better than that.

Next Up:

Carlos Rodon takes the hill tonight at 7:40 p.m. against the White Sox.