NEW YORK – Aaron Judge was still in his No. 99 pinstriped jersey, sitting on the chair in front of his locker, when Giancarlo Stanton wrapped an arm around his shoulders. 

Anthony Volpe stood there, cloaked in emotional turmoil, and he struggled to talk. Jazz Chisholm walked from his locker to the showers with tears pooling in his eyes. 

Ryan McMahon, still at his locker, sat drinking a beer. The loudest sound came from the heavy-duty packaging tape that clubhouse attendants rolled out to seal cardboard boxes.

The Yankees let themselves down. The enormity of another painful postseason ending filled the room. 

New York, eliminated. 

“Felt like we were just starting to get going here at the end,” Judge said. “Have a nice little postseason run. But it didn’t go our way.”

The sudden end to a season that was full of promise wasn’t yet being processed. When players walked into Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, they expected to win and send the American League Division Series back to Toronto. The Yankees felt confident their rookie starter, Cam Schlittler, would come through in another elimination game. On the other side, the Blue Jays deployed a bullpen game. The Yankees liked their chances against a collection of relief pitchers they’d already seen in the series. 

New York and Toronto finished the regular season with the same record (94-68). The Blue Jays won the division because they went 8-5 against the Yankees. Within the margins, Toronto was the better team all year. That didn’t change in the ALDS.  

“The baseball world as a whole looked at a bullpen game versus Cam as kind of a no-contest,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “We viewed it as an opportunity to do what we’re good at.”

Eight relievers held the Yankees to two runs on six hits. They struck out 10 batters. The Yankees — described as the most talented team Aaron Boone has ever managed — were outplayed by the feisty, pesky, attention to detail, contract-driven Blue Jays. The Bombers went down in a whimper. 

“It’s brutal,” Volpe said. “Kind of in shock.”

The Yankees had no margin for error, which is a bad place to be for a team that was prone to making them. 

Trailing Toronto 2-1 in the top of the seventh inning, second baseman Jazz Chisholm let the Blue Jays break the game open when he mishandled a tailor-made double-play ball. Chisholm’s fielding error ended Schlittler’s solid 6 ⅓ outing, and after Devin Williams struck out his first batter, he allowed his next, Nathan Lukes, to hit a two-run single to center field. 

Hours later, the image of Chisholm botching the ground ball was still replaying in his head. 

“I didn’t think it was going to play the way it played,” Chisholm said of his error. “I’ve been thinking about it since the play happened. Still thinking about it now. Still can’t get it out of my head. At the end of the day, gotta move on eventually. I got three months to move on now. I’m still going to be thinking about this, even probably when the season starts next year.”

It’s the same old story. 

“We didn’t execute when we needed to,” said Stanton, who made an identical statement after last year’s final Yankees game.

Mistakes and being unable to execute fundamentals is what ended the Yankees’ 2024 season, when they imploded in Game 5 of the World Series against the Dodgers. This year, they tried to clean up their defense by adding players with sharper gloves at the trade deadline. For a couple of months, it worked. The Yankees were a better product after July 31. But in an elimination game like Wednesday, when the stakes were highest and the Yankees were still flubbing routine plays, it cost them. 

Again.

“Once again, it comes down to the little things,” Judge said. “Make all the plays, come up with the big hits. If you don’t do that, give teams extra outs. We gotta clean a couple things up.” 

With just nine outs to work with, the Blue Jays’ three-run lead was overwhelming because the Yankees couldn’t muster the big hit. Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger, Chisholm, Paul Goldschmidt, Austin Wells, and Volpe combined to go 0-for-21 in Game 4’s season-ending loss. The only Yankees player to slug a home run was third baseman Ryan McMahon, their No. 9 hitter.

Judge, for his part, carried the offense this October. He slashed .500/.581/.692 with seven RBI, five runs scored, and a momentous home run off the left-field foul pole in Game 3 of the ALDS that Yankees fans will never forget. In his eighth trip to the postseason, he played his best. 

“I want to get back out there right now,” Judge said when asked how he’ll spend his offseason. “I wish spring training was in a couple of weeks.”

All year, Boone reminded his team that it’s “right in front of them.” All that’s ahead of the Yankees now are sleepless nights. 

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

Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.