The seeds of the Yankees playoff defeat were planted last winter

"It's not a short-term decision, it's a long-term effort," said Cashman at the press conference introducing Boone. "We bet on Aaron Boone's ceiling and what he brings."

Indeed, Boone, in many ways, seemed to be the ideal man for the job. He was easier to understand with his players, conveyed a loose and genuine trust and was less contentious with the media. But in the last two games of the division series, his inexperience has been revealed.

All the while, Girardi was criticized for running a mid-May match as if it were in October, Boone twice handled the October games as if it was the middle from May. He stuck with Severino and Sabathia long enough to put his team in holes where they could not escape.

At the end of Tuesday night, it was hard not to pit the Red Sox against the Yankees.

The Red Sox had a young, confident and relatable leader who was daring. About two months after the Yankees' big investment in Stanton, the Red Sox signed the contract with the independent agent J. D. Martinez, who had the ability to strike according to the requirements of the situation. In the first game of the Division series, he hit a three-run circuit and then managed a withdrawal that brought a runner who finally scored. In games 3 and 4, he hit the race with a sacrificial fly.

While Cashman was reluctant to sacrifice his best prospects in the trades, his counterpart in Boston, Dave Dombrowski, showed no hesitation of this type. His acquisitions in July and August – Ian Kinsler, Pearce and Eovaldi – each made a crucial contribution.

"I thought our playoff approach last year was a bit lacking," said John Henry, owner of Red Sox, at the visitors' clubhouse. "This year you saw that our approach was much more aggressive: from baseball operations to coaches, they did a great job. All year. "