Stephen A. Smith called for change within the New York Yankees organization Thursday after the Tampa Bay Rays completed an ALDS sweep Wednesday night. The latest Yankees playoff failure extended the franchise’s World Series championship drought to 17 seasons.

First Take took to X, formerly Twitter, Thursday with a segment of Smith reacting to the Yankees’ 4-3 Game 3 loss and questioning whether the organization’s current direction has delivered enough.

“What is it, 17, 18 straight years without a World Series championship? Only one World Series victory is unacceptable. Here's the reality, and I'm not sitting up here personally calling for anybody's job or anything like that, but there needs to be change. I don't like doing that. Aaron Boone is a good man; he's a damn good manager. But at some point in time, did you get it done?”

"There needs to be change."@stephenasmith comments on the Yankees' 17th-straight season not winning the World Series 😬 pic.twitter.com/rYURNInWMs

— First Take (@FirstTake) October 8, 2026

Smith’s “17, 18” reference was imprecise. New York has now gone 17 straight seasons without a World Series championship since beating the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.

The Rays completed the sweep after winning Games 1 and 2. The Yankees never held a lead across 27 ALDS innings despite entering the series after sweeping the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series.

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Victor Mesa Jr. broke a 2-2 tie Wednesday with a two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth inning. Anthony Volpe appeared to answer with a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom half, but replay overturned the call because a fan interfered with the ball over the field of play. Volpe received an RBI double instead, cutting Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-3.

Smith had said Wednesday that he expected the Yankees to fire Aaron Boone if New York lost the series. On Thursday, however, he stopped short of explicitly demanding Boone’s dismissal while still calling for organizational change.

The Rays advanced to their first ALCS since 2020. New York now enters the offseason with its championship drought tied for the franchise’s longest since its first World Series title in 1923.