Aaron Boone The Latest Yankee To Criticize Dodgers

After the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in five games to win the 2024 World Series, several Dodgers players said that they expected the Yankees' poor defensive play.

Joe Kelly said that part of the Dodgers' scouting report on New York was to force them to make plays on defense. That the series was a "mismatch," and the Yankees might have been the eighth or ninth-best playoff team. Out of the 12 teams that made it. 

An inebriated Chris Taylor at a post-championship parade party said the Yankees "s*** down their leg" on defense, which they undeniably did. 

Yankees player Jon Berti came out and said he and his teammates weren't too pleased hearing those remarks, and now manager Aaron Boone has confirmed it. At spring training, Boone addressed the Dodgers' comments, saying that he hopes they'd handle it with "a little more class."

"The reality is we didn't play our best in the series and they won, so they had that right to say whatever," Boone said. "Hopefully, we're in that position next year and handle things with a little more class. But the reality is it's a great team, it's a great organization with a lot of great people that I happen to know and respect, too. So a few people sounding off isn't necessarily how I would want to draw it up."

TAMPA - New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone talks with media during a press conference as spring training starts at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Feb. 11, 2025. Photo: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Aaron Boone Criticizes Dodgers For Telling The Truth

Yes, the Dodgers players could have avoided mentioning the Yankees' poor defensive play in the World Series. But it was an obvious fact that New York played a horrible defensive series. As Kelly also mentioned in a podcast interview, it wasn't just the fifth inning of Game Five. Shohei Ohtani took an extra base in the 8th inning of Game One on a poor defensive play that led to a Mookie Betts game-tying sacrifice fly.

Oswaldo Cabrera misplayed a groundball in the 10th inning that could have been a game-ending double play, letting it kick off his glove and allowing Freddie Freeman to hit his historic, game-winning Grand Slam.

Then there's the fifth inning, where the Yankees made terrible play after terrible play, handing the Dodgers a five-run comeback. If you don't like hearing about playing poorly, play better, as the old adage goes.

The Yankees might have actually been the eighth or ninth-best postseason team, but they benefited from a woeful American League. To get to the World Series, the Dodgers had to get through a dangerous Padres team that was favored by most prognosticators, then a hot Mets team that'd been among baseball's best in the second half. 

The Yankees played the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians. 

Boone thinks the key for his team to return to the series is to maintain the "hunger" the 2024 group had. Something he intends to work towards.

"You can have a great situation, a great culture, a great closeness about your team, a great professionalism about your team," Boone said. "I think sometimes the separators where a team that's good can be great, a team that's great can be a champion, is that hunger that is not a given even with the best of people and the best of teams. There's no question in my mind. Last year we had that edge, we had a hunger maybe in part due to coming off the season in which we didn't make the postseason for the people that experienced that here. I think that showed itself very early in camp, but we got to work at that. That's not a given."

Yes, but some high quality defense would help too.