Yankees manager Aaron Boone is bothered a little by criticism of his team’s defense from Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly and defended New York’s fielding following a World Series of mistakes and mental errors.

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.

Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty was flat out of the gate, allowing back-to-back homers to Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm in the first inning and an RBI single to Alex Verdugo in the second, which led to him getting the early hook.

Aaron Boone doesn’t expect to ever get over how the 2024 World Series ended. “The sting of not finishing it off stays with you forever,’’ Boone said of the Yankees’ loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, capped by the misery of Game 5 in the Bronx.

Aaron Boone expresses no urgency to fix the New York Yankees' fundamental problems, proving why they lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone reacted to criticism of the team's disappointing performance in the World Series.

Winning the World Series has a way of making offseason dilemmas feel much less taxing. The New York Yankees do not have that luxury after falling in five games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They face significant pressure to navigate a plethora of obstacles,