This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch's Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here . And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK – Early in his press conference addressing the Yankees’ offseason, general manager Brian Cashman likened his club to “a prize fighter getting into the ring,” noting, “You’ve got to be on your ‘A’ game or you’re going to take a punch that’s going to knock you out.”

Sometimes that blow has come one win shy of the World Series. Other times -- like this year – it arrived in the early rounds. Either way, that knockout blow has been sending the Yankees to the canvas around this time every fall since their most recent championship in 2009.

If the Yankees are to script a different ending in 2026, they must continue

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