"Aaron Boone's big-game and postseason ledger is expansive between his game-winning home run in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox in 2003, playing in that ensuring World Series against the Florida Marlins, and then navigating the Yankees through six previous postseason appearances with an American League pennant to show for it last year."
"But it was Thursday night's winner-take-all Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series against those same Red Sox in which he felt the most strain in his entire baseball career."
"Honestly, going into the night for me personally, it felt like as pressure-packed a game as I have ever been in, Boone said. As a player, manager, going into the World Series, that's clinching to go into a World Series, just because the context in my brain of what I think our team is."
"It was the mercurial nature of the Wild Card Series, the sudden finality that it brings, and participating in it against their most hated rival that created this perfect storm within Boone's consciousness."
Aaron Boone carries a long postseason history, including a game-winning home run in the 2003 ALCS and guiding the Yankees through six postseason appearances with an American League pennant last year. Thursday night's winner-take-all Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series against the Red Sox produced the most strain Boone has felt in his career. The sudden finality of the best-of-three format, the intensity of the rivalry, and a Game 1 loss after being shut down by Garrett Crochet amplified pressure. Boone believes the current Yankees are legitimate World Series contenders poised to break a 16-year championship drought.
Read at www.amny.com
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