Yankees' Aaron Boone hasn't won a World Series, but he isn't going anywhere

At approximately 11 p.m. Wednesday, roughly a half-hour after Cody Bellinger’s swinging strikeout ended the Yankees’ season, Aaron Boone was asked if there is any reason to think he won’t be back managing the team.

“No,” Boone said. “I’m under contract, so I don’t expect anything.”

And with that simple response, Boone should have put to rest any speculation about his job status. Because short of walking away on his own, there’s really no basis to believe he won’t return for 2026.

As Boone mentioned, he’s signed for two more years after getting an extension in February that takes him through the 2027 season. Since Hal Steinbrenner took over as the Yankees’ principal owner in 2008, the team has employed only two managers. The previous one, Joe Girardi, was not retained at the end of his decade-long tenure when his contract expired, a decision made by general manager Brian Cashman.

There is no such conflict with Boone, who has built a seamless, collaborative relationship with Cashman’s front office and is respected in the clubhouse, helped by his rapport with captain Aaron Judge.

As for Boone now being 0-for-8 in delivering a World Series title, extending the Yankees’ championship drought to 16 years, Cashman has never pinned that organizational failure on this manager, and it’s hard to imagine him doing that now, especially mid-contract.

Look at Boone’s body of work this year. The Yankees overcame a 20-31 midseason plunge to go on a 32-12 closing sprint, winning their last eight games to match the Blue Jays for the AL’s best record (94-68), although they lost the head-to-head tiebreaker for the division title.

Once in October, Boone finally got past Alex Cora’s feisty Red Sox — granted, an inferior team, but the Yankees had not beaten Boston in the playoffs since Boone’s walk-off homer in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

Then came disaster, when Boone’s pitching moves deserved some scrutiny during the first two blowout ALDS losses to the Blue Jays, who outscored the Yankees 23-8 at Rogers Centre.

It wasn’t Boone’s fault that Max Fried, the $218 million stopper, couldn’t even slow down the Blue Jays, lasting only three innings and being charged with seven earned runs during the 13-7 rout in Game 2. You could say that having Will Warren make his ’25 relief debut poured gasoline on that bonfire, but we’re not sure if any bullpen strategy would have cooled the sizzling Jays on their home turf.

Even in the Yankees’ Game 3 victory, they had to rally back from a 6-1 hole dug by 18-game winner Carlos Rodon, who was pummeled for six runs in 2 1⁄3 innings.

Overall, the Yankees’ 8.47 ERA in the Division Series was their worst in any playoff round in franchise history, but does that mean pitching coach Matt Blake should be axed?

After the rotation had the second-best ERA (2.89) in the majors during the final six weeks of the regular season, the starters combined for a 10.67 ERA in the Division Series, and that was trimmed significantly by Cam Schlittler’s Game 4 performance (6 1⁄3 innings, two earned runs).

And what of the offense? The Yankees led MLB in runs (849), homers (274) and OPS (.787) during the regular season but still couldn’t solve Jays rookie Trey Yesavage, who struck out 11 in 5 1⁄3 hitless innings in Game 2, and got shut down by eight Toronto relievers in Wednesday night’s clincher. Should hitting coach James Rowson have a bull’s-eye on his back for that October funk?

Bowing out in the Division Series obviously is not a great look after making it to the World Series last season for the first time since the 2009 title. Even worse, Steinbrenner spent a franchise-record $340 million on the 2025 Yankees, the third-highest payroll in baseball, and Boone repeatedly described this year’s team as the best one he ever managed.

Taking those things into consideration, that doesn’t leave Boone much of an alibi for falling short. But he did begin the season without Gerrit Cole, who was lost to Tommy John surgery in spring training, and Luis Gil — the ’24 Rookie of the Year — missed the first four months. Giancarlo Stanton also didn’t join the team until mid-June and Clarke Schmidt went down with a UCL tear a few weeks later.

Throw in the alarming regression of Anthony Volpe, whom Boone unflinchingly covered for on a daily basis, along with the volatile nature of too many high-leverage relievers, and it’s not as if the manager didn’t earn his money in getting these Yankees to 94 wins.

“It was a tough year,” Boone said. “But also very rewarding to go through and see what these guys became.”

Girardi led the Yankees to their only World Series title of the past 25 seasons but was let go after his 10th year, which ended with an ALCS loss that still pushed the cheating Astros to a Game 7. While Boone appears safe for a ninth season, he could be looking at an expiration date in 2027. Sitting at No. 7 on the Yankees’ all-time win list — right below Girardi — Boone is the only manager among the top eight without a championship on his resume.

“It’s hard to win the World Series,” Boone said. “Been chasing it all my life.”

He’s expected to continue that pursuit wearing pinstripes, but for the Yankees, it really shouldn’t be quite this hard.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.