<br><div><aside class="gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el" aria-label="Video - Yordan Alvarez and Dusty Baker have guided new era of Astros dynasty"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">NEW YORK – The end came not abruptly, but inevitably, another desultory loss that’s become customary for a New York Yankees team that just three months ago was peerless but now enters yet another winter unmoored and unsure of the future.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">The devil was not in the details on a grim Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, when the Houston Astros completed their four-game sweep of the Yankees with a 6-5 rain-delayed victory that capped a third <a target="_blank" href="/story/sports/mlb/2022/10/24/astros-sweep-yankees-alcs-reach-fourth-world-series-six-years/10585951002/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">American League Championship Series conquest</a> of the Bombers in six years.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">The Astros are the undisputed kings of the AL, more often using the Yankees as their steppingstone since 2017, and now the Yankees’ pennant-less streak stretches 13 years, a span in which seven AL teams have reached the Fall Classic.</p><aside aria-label="advertisement" class="gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">So begins months that will include a postmortem during which club officials will “take accountability.” There will be a laborious dissection of manager Aaron Boone’s maneuvering and a deliberation on his clubhouse viability. And there will be the unsettling notion of Aaron Judge: Free agent.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">That process that should culminate with him receiving a contract that begins with a 3 followed by many zeros, providing a marquee attraction for the club’s TV network, a reason for suiteholders to show up, and perhaps even a C on the No. 99 jersey, as <a target="_blank" href="/story/sports/mlb/2022/10/22/judge-should-be-next-yankees-captain-teammate-cortes-says/50862391/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">teammate Nestor Cortes suggested</a>.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><strong>Follow every game:</strong> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":body nav (mlb)|e|auto spike click:6|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" href="https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/baseball/mlb/scores">Live MLB Scores</a></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><strong>GAME 4:</strong> <a target="_blank" href="/story/sports/mlb/2022/10/24/astros-sweep-yankees-alcs-reach-fourth-world-series-six-years/10585951002/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">Astros complete ALCS sweep of listless Yankees</a></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><strong>NEWSLETTER: </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://profile.usatoday.com/newsletters/sports/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">Get the latest sports news straight to your inbox</a></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Yet all the...</p></div> <style> .wrapper { text-align: center; } </style> <div class="wrapper"> <a class="button" href ="https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMijAFodHRwczovL3d3dy51c2F0b2RheS5jb20vc3Rvcnkvc3BvcnRzL21sYi9jb2x1bW5pc3QvZ2FiZS1sYWNxdWVzLzIwMjIvMTAvMjQvbmV3LXlvcmsteWFua2Vlcy1yZXZhbXAtb2Zmc2Vhc29uLWFzdHJvcy1hbGNzLXN3ZWVwLzEwNTg1OTc1MDAyL9IBAA?oc=5">Read more <span>➤</span></a> </div>
