Aaron Boone knows Yankees face hunger test entering new season

TAMPA — An 82-80 season in 2023 provided the Yankees a built-in edge for 2024 that got them all the way to the World Series.Now the challenge will be turning their shortcomings in that World Series into fuel that makes for a different ending this October — though they have a long way to go to get there.A year ago, the Yankees arrived at spring training coming off the embarrassment of their 2023 campaign that drove their offseason work and carried over into the season.On Tuesday, pitchers and catchers reported to Steinbrenner Field in a much different position, though the bottom line remained the same: Another year without a championship.And while the Yankees will not just be able to duplicate the edge they came to work with last year, manager Aaron Boone has his sights set on making sure they find another one.“I’ve been thinking a lot about this really over the last month.

I think you can have a great situation, a great culture, a great closeness, a great professionalism about your team,” Boone said Tuesday on the eve of the first workout for pitchers and catchers.“Sometimes the separator — where a team that’s good can be great, a team that’s great can be a champion — is that hunger.

That is not a given, even with the best of people and the best of teams.“There is no question in my mind, last year, that we had that edge.We had a hunger.

… But we got to work at that every day.We got to fight for that every day.

That’s the thing you hold each other accountable.We want to walk into these doors every day with a hunger that can be a difference-maker, especially in a long, tough season.”There should be plenty of areas in which the Yankees can find it.First and foremost, the last time they took the field, they saw the Dodgers celebrate a World Series championship in The Bronx, with a disastrous defensive inning being the final nail in their coffin in Game 5.

A handful of Dodgers then spent the offseason taking shots at the Yankees and their...