Yankees miss playoffs for first time since 2016 - ESPN

NEW YORK — The end has officially arrived for this year's New York Yankees.

While a bevy of key injuries and a season's worth of offensive struggles long made it seem that their run of six straight postseason appearances was likely going to be halted, that conclusion mercifully and officially arrived on a soggy Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Under a steady, relentless rainfall and amid powerful, gusty winds brought on by nearby Tropical Storm Ophelia, the Yankees lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1, falling out of contention for the American League's final wild-card spot.

«It sucks,» Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. «That's what you work hard toward all year round — the wintertime, spring training, on through the season — for an opportunity to play in October and compete for a championship.

»So the reality of that not being in play sucks."

Yankees captain and outfielder Aaron Judge said he plans to take a vocal and proactive role this offseason in ensuring the organization trends back to where it was prior to this season.

«It's not going to happen overnight,» Judge said. «So we got to hit the ground running, especially when the season ends. We've got a lot to work on, a lot of things to change and a lot of stuff going on around here that needs to be fixed.»

Asked what some of those things were, Judge declined to answer, saying they'd stay «in-house.» He added that he has some ideas of changes that need to come, and he plans to work with key decision-makers throughout the major and minor league parts of the organization to ensure they take hold.

With regard to the AL wild-card race, now that the Yankees are out of the picture, the final spot remains a toss-up between the Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros and