About Last Night: A Series of Thoughts on the Loss

by Paul Semendinger

October 1, 2025

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I'm going to handle the Game Summary a little differently than usual. The following are my thoughts on last night's loss to the Red Sox.

• I am not a fan of creating new match-ups in the post season to try to gain an advantage that often doesn't come to fruition. Sitting Jazz Chisholm and Ryan McMahon, going with a completely different set-up, is never good practice. A team should go with the players that got them there. The Yankees didn't.

• I've said on two different podcasts in the last 24-hours as an example of this that I also didn't like when Joe Torre did stuff like this - starting Enrique Wilson because he had a very small sample size "advantage" against Pedro Martinez, for example. When managers try too hard to look smart, they often don't.

• I understood sitting McMahon to try to gain an extra bat, but I would have started Jazz Chisholm at second base.

• I understand that Austin Wells is the better defensive catcher. That being said, I think Ben Rice needed to start. I understand the decision to start Wells, but a team can't lose a 3-1 game with one of its best hitters never getting into the game.

• Max Fried was a beast. He was great.

• The Yankees had two hits to begin the game and did nothing with it. That's a sure fire way to lose.

• Aaron Judge made a bad decision on the base hit in the seventh inning that allowed the runner to go to second, and then score the go-ahead run. Judge was coming across his body to the ball. He backhanded the ball. He then threw weakly. The runner reached second easily. Trent Grisham was behind Judge coming in front of the ball. That was Grisham's play. He could have charged in to grab the ball and make the throw. The runner might still have made second, but the play was Grisham's every day of the week, especially since Judge's arm isn't what it was. It's plays like that those lose games and series. Judge needed to know better - especially his own limitations, but even if his arm is strong, Grisham was in a better position to make a strong throw to second base. On that play, the Red Sox were aggressive, the Yankees were not.

• We hear from so many in the media and all-over, "Stanton has another gear in the post season." I guess not last night. Players are made out to have super powers that they simply don't have.

• Anthony Volpe had a great night with the bat and his glove.

• Aaron Judge did make a great catch in right field to end the 7th inning.

• Aaron Judge had two hits. Both should have been parts of big innings.

• While Judge's play on the hit noted above wasn't good, in the end it didn't cost the Yankees the game.

• When the Yankees allowed Garrett Crochet to throw only six pitches in the seventh inning to retire the side, they did a terrible job. That inning they need to grind at bats and get Crochet out of the game. That inning contributed greatly to the loss.

• Luke Weaver was bad. That's a bad sign. The Yankees need Luke Weaver to be better than good if they want to have a chance in the postseason. He's one of the few pitchers the Yankees have in the bullpen who can dominate. The Yankees' chances to win a World Series take a huge hit if Weaver isn't effective.

• David Bednar giving up the run in the 9th didn't help. Nonetheless, it was still the right move to go to him there.

• Championship teams find ways to win. Championship teams score runs when they have the bases loaded and no one out in the bottom of the ninth down 3-1 with their 4, 5, and 6 hitters coming up. The Yankees didn't.

• There is always talk about "momentum." I have never believed in it. If ever there was momentum, it was the bottom of the ninth. Three hits, bases loaded, a pitcher who choked often for the Yankees on the mound now against them, Giancarlo Stanton at the plate, in Yankee Stadium... and... nothing came from that. Not one run.

• The Yankees lost because they couldn't get the job done in the game's biggest spots. Bednar couldn't keep the score at 2-1. The big hitters couldn't get a run in with the bases loaded and no outs in the ninth.

• (This was Andy Singer's point in the game thread, but...) How is Jasson Dominguez not running for Paul Goldschmidt in the ninth inning? Did Aaron Boone forget he was on the bench?

• If Jazz Chisholm had started, Amed Rosario would have been a threat off the bench to pinch hit for Chisholm or Trent Grisham in the ninth inning. The Yankees used up all their cards with the pre-game lineups. That's the opposite way of using bench depth to one's advantage.

• Again, they needed Ben Rice in that game.

• Small things make the difference in big games. The Yankees didn't do the small things.

• I have given Aaron Boone a ton of credit in a ton of articles over the last many weeks, but, again in a big game, he was out-managed.

• Bruce Bochy, who is widely considered one of the best managers in the game, was fired by the Texas Rangers. Aaron Boone deserves a ton of credit for getting the team to the playoffs. I still think they can win the World Series, but if they fall short of that, especially because they got out-managed, again, the Yankees need to do whatever it takes to have Bochy in pinstripes next year. It's about time for the Yankees to have the best manager leading the team.

• If the lineup decisions came from the analyitics team or Brian Cashman that's also a problem. If those decisions came from them, the Yankees need to be honest with themselves and admidt they need to operate differently.

• This was a game the Yankees should have won. It was right there in front of them.