Aaron Boone made a questionable decision during the New York Yankees’ loss to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night, and Stephen A. Smith is among those who believe the manager deserves to lose his job.
The Red Sox beat the Yankees 3-1 in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series between the two teams at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y. The Yankees were leading 1-0 in the top of the seventh inning when Boone decided to pull starting pitcher Max Fried after the left-hander got leadoff hitter Jarren Duran to ground out on three pitches.
Fried had thrown 102 pitches but was still dominating Red Sox hitters at the time Boone decided to go to reliever Luke Weaver. The move immediately backfired, as Weaver gave up a walk to Cedanne Rafaela, a double to Nick Sogard and a two-RBI single to Masataka Yoshida.
Boone was rightfully blasted over the decision. He was obviously concerned about Fried’s pitch count, but Red Sox hitters had no answer for the ace.
During Wednesday morning’s edition of “First Take” on ESPN, Stephen A. Smith called for Boone to be fired. The analyst said he is going to reach out to ESPN executives and make sure they save Boone a spot in the studio or broadcast booth “because he damn sure don’t need to be managing after the things he did yesterday.”
“You don’t start Jazz Chisholm when you consider what kind of year he’s had? You can’t do that to that man. You gonna bench him? … The guy that brought you there is the guy that you put in the lineup,” Smith said. “Oh, by the way, pulling Max Fried, who was pitching shutout ball? The Yankees haven’t won since 2009 and you do something like this?”
Stephen A. Smith calls for New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone to be fired on national television pic.twitter.com/vEb10hogDG
— Justin Hill (@Justinhillsport) October 1, 2025
Boone’s mismanagement of the game was magnified by the fact that Red Sox manager Alex Cora did the exact opposite. Boston starter Garrett Crochet was pitching just as well as Fried, and Cora brought the left-hander out for the eighth inning despite Crochet being at 100 pitches. Crochet struck out Trent Grisham, allowed a single to Anthony Volpe and then struck out Austin Wells before Cora pulled the All-Star at 117 pitches.
The Yankees are now one loss away from being eliminated from the postseason. If they cannot get past the Red Sox after the way Boone cost them in Game 1, the manager could very well lose his job.
