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Hal Steinbrenner is blaming the players.
The Yankees owner threw the 26-man roster under the bus for their ALDS debacle this year in his first comments since the Bronx Bombers got swept by the Rays, particularly the offense.
“The bottom line is the players didn’t live up to their end of the bargain in the playoffs,” Steinbrenner said Wednesday morning in a Zoom session.
He later added: “The offense, not the pitching, but the offense, had a big part … why we didn’t get to where we strive to get every year.”
Steinbrenner took aim at the players Wednesday after lauding general manager Brian Cashman and returning manager Aaron Boone for their performance this year.
He called the roster built by Cashman — who said Wednesday he’s agreed to a new contract — as good as any in baseball exiting spring training, and Steinbrenner believed that this roster could have won a World Series this season.
Steinbrenner also praised Boone for his performance during the season, particularly how he handled a rotation that dealt with injuries and a bullpen he labeled as “absolutely exhausted” by the end of the year.
He then pinned the blame for a 17th straight championship on the players and specifically called out the offense, which he labeled as “detrimental.”
The Yankees bats went cold against the Rays’ stellar pitching, slashing .130/.192/.239 with two home runs — both from Ben Rice — and totaling five runs, including a Game 1 shutout.
Cody Bellinger went 1-for-12 against the Rays, Trent Grisham went hitless in 11 at-bats, Luis Garcia Jr. hit 1-for-10 and Jazz Chisholm Jr. potentially ended his polarizing Yankees tenure by going 0-for-8.
Only one Yankee who appeared in more than one game — Rice — hit better than .250 in the series.
The pitching posted a 2.52 ERA, although starters Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler and Max Fried all took losses in the series.
Steinbrenner also noted how the Yankees didn’t hit Boston’s starters well in two-sweep in the wild-card round, although they beat up their relievers to turn close games into blowouts.
He further remarked that this offensive flop marked the second straight year in which the bats got sleepy in the postseason, after being stymied by the Blue Jays in the ALDS last year.
“The offense was a big disappointment for me,” he said. “It has to be better.”
When pressed whether “World Series or bust” is still the mentality for the franchise despite this lengthy title drought, Steinbrenner insisted that’s still the case.
The Yankees have only made one World Series in 17 years since their last title in 2009, and they lost in in embarrassing fashion to the Dodgers in five games in the 2024 Fall Classic.
“That is our mission, that is our goal,” Steinbrenner said. “Yes, we failed at the goal this year but that is always our goal, which is why we put so much resources into the roster every offseason to field a team that can accomplish that and I certainly we had that team this year. It just didn’t pan out.’
