Aaron Boone says Yankees can be a 'really special team' as spring training begins

The New York Yankees have 58 playoff appearances in franchise history. Unfortunately for those who back the "Bronx Bombers", last season didn't feature one.

In fact, the 2023 season was the first time since 2016 that the Yankees didn't make the playoffs. Joe Girard was still the manager then, and that team went 84-78 and finished fourth in the AL East.

Last season's Aaron Boone-led team went 82-80 and also finished fourth in the AL East, 19 games back of the division-leading Baltimore Orioles. 

The playoff miss was certainly a low point for the Yankees in recent memory, but Boone is looking for his team to put that disappointment behind them.

"Last year was not anything anyone in this organization wants or demands or expects," he said on the first day of spring training, per ESPN. "I would say we have poured into that. From ownership, to the front office, to the coaches and staff, all the way to the players, that I do feel like we have prepared properly. We are ready to roll."

Boone has gone 509-361 in six seasons in New York, so he certainly knows how to manage wins. He also made the playoffs in five of his first six seasons.

What's eluding him, and the Yankees (since 2009) is a World Series title, though, and that's what everyone in the organization is hungry for, per the soon-to-be 51-year-old manager from La Mesa, California. In fact, he told the media that the Yankees are "hell bent on being a champion".

"We've got to go prove it," Boone said. "So, I think we have a chance to be a really special team. That's all it is, right? We've got to go show the world that we're as good as we think we can be."