The Los Angeles Dodgers won their eighth World Series title in franchise history last season by eliminating the New York Yankees in five games.
The Dodgers took a 3-0 series lead most notably overcame a five-run deficit in the clinching game after the Yankees imploded amid multiple defensive miscues.
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The collapse prompted harsh criticism from Joe Kelly and Chris Taylor, among others, on respective podcast appearances. Their comments drew the ire of several members in the Yankees organization, including general manager and senior vice president Brian Cashman.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was also frustrated by the Dodgers’ trash-talk, and reiterated that during an appearance on the “Breakfast Ball” show while also downplaying their comments possibly serving as motivation:
“I don’t know. We kind of looked at it as they beat us and we didn’t play our best. So that’s their right to say whatever they want. I think it’s annoying, I’ll say that. I think it annoyed some guys. But at the end of the day, if we want to not hear it, we’ve got to play better and be the team standing.
“I don’t know about motivation. If you need that to motivate you going into a 162-game season, I don’t really think that’s what should be motivating us. It should be to be the best we possibly can be. You go to Spring Training to start that, and hopefully we can get back there and punch through this time, and hopefully have some more respectful comments when we do it.”
Boone previously said he was upset with how several Dodgers players critically discussed the Yankees after winning the World Series.
However, Boone stopped short of saying his team will use the comments as motivation for the 2025 season. The Yankees are looking to get back to the World Series after adding the likes of Cody Bellinger, Max Fried, Paul Goldschmidt and Devin Williams during the offseason.
However, they also saw Juan Soto sign with the crosstown New York Mets and will be without Gerrit Cole after he underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Dodgers free agent Joe Kelly responds to Aaron Boone
Kelly, who remains unsigned as the 2025 season begins, responded to Boone’s comments last month and continued to poke fun at the Yankees.
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