The New York Yankees are essentially running it back in 2026 with the same team which lost in five games in the ALDS to the Toronto Blue Jays as the club continues to chase an ever-elusive title.

In an MLB offseason that included massive deals, huge trades and the Los Angeles Dodgers continuing to flash their muscle over everyone else in the sport, the Yankees did very little to upgrade their team.

The Dodgers beat them out to superstar bat Kyle Tucker, the Blue Jays added multiple star pitchers to their roster, the Boston Red Sox landed the biggest pitcher in free agency in Ranger Suarez and the cross-town rival New York Mets snapped up Bo Bichette and last year's Yankees closer Devin Williams.

But the Yankees? They only re-signed every free agent they had - instead of upgrading - and traded for Ryan Weathers, who was the fourth man in the rotation for the 79-83 Miami Marlins.

Naturally, this left Yankees star Aaron Judge in a very tough spot - and he let the front office know that he wasn't happy.

'It was brutal,' the New York captain said Monday after the team's first full-squad workout. 'Early on it was pretty tough to watch. I'm like, "Man, we're the New York Yankees. Let's go out there and get the right people."' 

'Let's sign these guys right now and start adding more pieces because I'm seeing other teams around the league get better. 

'They're making trades. They're signing big prospects or big players. And we're sitting there for a while kind of making smaller moves.'

When asked if he voiced his concerns to higher ups, a grinning Judge replied, 'Yeah, oh yeah.'

He added, 'It was frustrating, but I think we're right where we need to be.'

The Yankees were rumored to be in for many of the top free agents in this year's class, but ended up signing none of them early on.

They kept outfielder Trent Grisham, but whiffed on plenty of others in the early frenzy of free agency. Even the re-signing of Cody Bellinger was a drawn out and complicated process that only came to an end in late-January.

The Yankees are in the midst of the second-longest World Series drought in franchise history - having not won a title since 2009.   

If they don't capture that elusive trophy this season, then this drought will tie the longest in the history of the ballclub (1979-1995).