Aaron Boone reacts to damning Yankees scouting report from Dodgers after World Series

Yankees manager Aaron Boone has heard the damning scouting reports from certain Dodgers players that circulated on social media after the World Series.
He understands where those comments are coming from. The Yankees’ sloppy fifth inning in their decisive Game 5 loss to Los Angeles was the “ultimate disappointment,” to use Boone’s words.
But the manager thinks the narrative that the Yankees aren’t fundamentally sound is overblown.
Speaking to reporters on a Zoom call Monday morning, his first presser since the Yankees picked up his option for the 2025 season, Boone pushed back on those critiques.
“I think it’s a story that blew up too much, and understandably,” Boone said. “We had a really, really tough inning. But I think if you go back throughout the course of the season, and especially for those of you that covered us on a regular basis, 2024 was a year in which we had a very good offense, but if you go back and look at storylines throughout the season, I felt like there were a lot of times that we were winning games because of … little things that we did well over the course of the year.”
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By little things, Boone is referring to defensive plays, small ball, quality baserunning and more.
That goes against what Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly and shortstop Miguel Rojas proclaimed in podcast interviews following their win over the Yankees in the Fall Classic.
Kelly called the matchup with the Yankees a “mismatch from the get-go” on the Baseball Isn’t Boring show, insisting that the Yankees would be eighth or ninth in a re-ranking of the teams that made the postseason this year.
Rojas then added that the Dodgers were preparing to face a team that played “lazy defense,” an inferior opponent when it comes to fundamentals.
“Their weakness was the way they make outs on the bases, the way they didn’t take care of the baseball,” Rojas said on the Chris Rose Sports podcast. “We [knew we] could be better [in terms of the fundamentals] and that was the difference in that series.”
Boone was asked specifically about Kelly’s comment and if it bothered him.
“I mean, a little bit, but the bottom line is we didn’t play as well as we could’ve,” he replied. “I try never to get too caught up into what other people are saying or doing, especially when it comes from certain places. Everyone’s going to have their opinions and be entitled to things. Certainly I am very proud of what we do as a group. Obviously, there’s always areas to get better and I feel like no one works harder or leans into that more than our group to try and constantly get better and move the needle forward. That will continue to be the case, but proud of the people that I do it with and what I know is our preparation and skill and talent walking around this building.”
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Max Goodman may be reached at [email protected].