ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan wants New York Yankees fans to pump the brakes when it comes to their “World Series champion or bust” mentality.
WFAN’s Gregg Giannotti stands by their expectations because, well, they’re Yankees fans.
Passan, who has never been afraid to call out a Major League Baseball team or its fans, took Yankees fans to task during a recent appearance on The Max Mannis Podcast.
“It’s also why when I hear Yankees fans complain, I’m like, ‘Shut the f*ck up,’” Passan said regarding the Bronx faithful not being able to handle the championship-or-bust mentality. “Listen, would you rather have a team that is competitive every year and might not win a championship, or a team that stinks? Would you rather be a Yankees fan or a Pirates fan?”
If we know anything about New York sports fans and the media who cover their teams, that comment wasn’t going to go unchecked.
Gregg Giannotti responds to Jeff Passan’s critique of Yankees fans: “This is a typical guy from Kansas City… there is a standard and the Yankee fan is allowed to complain if they haven’t won a World Series since 2009, since they are the Yankees…” https://t.co/3PE5h1eGuW pic.twitter.com/NpFPHV6bel
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 3, 2025
“This is a typical guy from Kansas City,” started WFAN’s Gregg Giannoti when discussing the comments on Tuesday’s episode of Boomer & Gio. “I understand he covers baseball. He might have lived in the Northeast at some point.
“There is a standard, and the Yankee fan is allowed to complain if they haven’t won a World Series since 2009, since they are the Yankees, and they hadn’t been to one, obviously, until last year, and then it was a terrible ending for them. They’re allowed to be pissed off. A lot of them now are right in the middle of their lives that grew up with the dynasty in the late ’90s, into the early 2000s. So that’s what they grew up like.”
Co-host Boomer Esiason went on to presume that, since he’s from Kansas City, Passan must have grown up as a Royals fan and is accustomed to rooting for a team that’s only occasionally successful. It’s worth noting that, although he now lives in Kansas City and is an avowed Chiefs fan, Passan grew up in Cleveland. But Esisason probably wouldn’t change his point with that knowledge.
The Yankees advanced to the World Series last season but were defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. Their last World Series victory was in 2009. At 48-38 at the time of this writing, they find themselves tied for first place in the American League East with the Toronto Blue Jays and only a half-game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays.
While Passan’s advice might make sense in a vacuum, there’s simply no convincing Yankees fans that they should find happiness beyond championships. It’s just not how they are built. And to be fair, it’s not how the Yankees roster is built either.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.