Yankees manager Aaron Boone opens spring training with some shade for the Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series. It was not particularly close, and the Dodgers certainly made people aware of that after the fact.
As it turns out, Yankees manager Aaron Boone didn't enjoy that part. Speaking at the opening of New York's spring training, Boone said he hopes that it's the Yankees who win the World Series this year — and that they do it with "a little more class."
The full context of that shade:
“I don’t like hearing [the Dodgers' trash talk], but the reality is, we didn’t play our best in the series, and they won. They have that right to say whatever. Hopefully, we’re in that position next year and handle things with a little more class. The reality is it's a great team, it's a great organization with a lot of great people I happen to know and respect, too. A few people sounding off isn’t necessarily how I would want to draw it up, but they’re the champs. They have that right.”
Grace against their opponent was certainly one of the few areas in which the Dodgers didn't succeed last fall.
Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor had some of the harshest words on Bleacher Report's "On Base With Mookie Betts" podcast following the World Series parade, noting the Yankees' defensive woes:
"Everybody saw it. They kinda s*** down their leg ... It was like one thing after the next. I think our energy in dugout was kinda feeding that. It was like, 'All we've got to do is put the ball in play right now.'"
Reliever Joe Kelly, who is currently a free agent, also enjoyed the difference in execution between the Dodgers and Yankees:
"We were saying it every single game, just let them throw the ball to the infield. They can't make a play. I mean, you saw, Shohei got an extra base going to third off a sloppy Gleyber [Torres] play. It's well-known. We all knew. We're the Dodgers, we know every little detail. But past that, it was a fun series. They almost snagged a couple of wins ... It was just a mismatch from the get-go. If we had a playoff re-ranking, they might be ranked eighth- or ninth-best playoff team."
Those are the comments Boone might have been referring to, and he responded by pointing out that Taylor and Kelly weren't exactly the guys who won the game for the Dodgers:
“You didn’t hear that from the [Freddie] Freemans, [Mookie] Betts, [Shohei] Ohtanis and [Clayton] Kershaws or whatever in the world. Sometimes, you’re coming off the drunkenness of winning a world championship, and some guys are more inclined to spout off and be a little more colorful than others. Again, that’s their right. They won. Hopefully, we’re in that position and do things a little better.”
Of course, the Dodgers' trash talk is a symptom of a bigger issue for the Yankees and Boone in particular. All the mockery that has come out of Los Angeles is a product of the fact that the Dodgers were specifically told that the Yankees were so bad at baserunning and defense that they just had to stay the course and let the mistakes happen.
That doesn't reflect well on the manager of said team, and over the winter, the Yankees didn't provide much reason to expect that to change. They did add some talent after losing Juan Soto, but their coaching staff is virtually unchanged.
The Yankees have things to work on this spring, though it's worth remembering that they were an out away from winning Game 1 of the World Series, a hit away from winning Game 2 and any of three plays from ending that fifth inning in Game 5. Instead, the Dodgers executed, and here we are. It's clear the Dodgers are going to loom over the Yankees until New York finds some way to surpass them, though that clearly won't be done by outspending them.
Per BetMGM, the Yankees are currently +800 to win the 2025 World Series, the best number in MLB behind (you guessed it) the Dodgers at +250.