TAMPA — An 82-80 season in 2023 provided the Yankees a built-in edge for 2024 that got them all the way to the World Series.
Now the challenge will be turning their shortcomings in that World Series into fuel that makes for a different ending this October — though they have a long way to go to get there.
A year ago, the Yankees arrived at spring training coming off the embarrassment of their 2023 campaign that drove their offseason work and carried over into the season.
On Tuesday, pitchers and catchers reported to Steinbrenner Field in a much different position, though the bottom line remained the same: Another year without a championship.
And while the Yankees will not just be able to duplicate the edge they came to work with last year, manager Aaron Boone has his sights set on making sure they find another one.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about this really over the last month. I think you can have a great situation, a great culture, a great closeness, a great professionalism about your team,” Boone said Tuesday on the eve of the first workout for pitchers and catchers. “Sometimes the separator — 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 is no question in my mind, last year, that we had that edge. We had a hunger. … But we got to work at that every day. We got to fight for that every day. That’s the thing you hold each other accountable. We want to walk into these doors every day with a hunger that can be a difference-maker, especially in a long, tough season.”
There should be plenty of areas in which the Yankees can find it.
First and foremost, the last time they took the field, they saw the Dodgers celebrate a World Series championship in The Bronx, with a disastrous defensive inning being the final nail in their coffin in Game 5. A handful of Dodgers then spent the offseason taking shots at the Yankees and their poor play.
“You don’t like hearing that,” Boone said. “But the reality is we didn’t play our best in the series and they won. So they have that right to say whatever. Hopefully we’re in that position next year and handle things with a little more class.”
Next came an offseason in which the Yankees offered Juan Soto $760 million and still could not bring him back, as their star right fielder turned out to be just a one-year rental who now calls himself a Met.
They will have to answer questions about how they can live without him and whether they did enough to survive his absence.
“We’ll judge it in the end, right?” Boone said. “But really proud of the pivot, as people would say, whether it’s from ownership on down to our front office.”
And then there is the fact that every year is World Series or bust for the Yankees.
The drought since their last title in 2009 is only getting longer, and their core (led by Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole) is only getting older.
So the Yankees have some options for what they want to fuel them. Boone, who is entering the final year of his contract, wants it to come organically rather than forcing something on them.
“There certainly has to be a tone set at the top, without question,” Boone said. “But true edge, true hunger comes internally from guys. You’ve got to have that drive day in and day out. Now, I’m part of setting that tone and hopefully pulling some of that out — our coaches as well.”
Boone has been encouraged by what he has seen so far at the player development complex, where a crowd of regulars have been working out before camp.
On Wednesday, the journey will begin in earnest for pitchers and catchers before the first full-squad workout on Monday.
“We have high hopes and big dreams, rightfully so,” Boone said. “We’re going to go to battle here … with a talented group, capable of a lot of things. But right now, that’s what it is. We have a chance to be a really good club, which is usually the case year in and year out when you get to put on this uniform. But now it’s on us to go start doing the work.”
