Hal Steinbrenner suggests Yankees aren't 'World Series or bust'

New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner doesn't agree with passionate fans who believe any season ending without a World Series parade is a complete disappointment. 

"I’ve always said our ultimate goal is to win a championship, and if that doesn’t happen, we have failed in that goal," Steinbrenner explained on the latest edition of "The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman" podcast, per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "But no, I’m not gonna look back at the season and say it was a failure. I’m not gonna look at last year and the amount of games we won and say it was a failure, or that we won a Division Series. I’m not gonna say that’s a failure. But in our ultimate goal, we clearly failed." 

The 2022 Yankees went 99-63 but needed five games to get past the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series. New York's postseason run ended via a four-game AL Championship Series sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros. 

Steinbrenner left little doubt during the podcast he still backs manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman despite the fact the Yankees haven't returned to the World Series since they won the 2009 Fall Classic. While George Steinbrenner, Hal's father, famously embraced a "World Series-or-bust" mentality, the Yankees' current boss isn't quite as demanding even though he assembled the AL's most expensive squad.  

"My family puts a lot of resources every year in trying to accomplish that," Steinbrenner said of winning the franchise's 28th World Series title. "If we don’t accomplish that, then we did fail in that goal. But that doesn’t make the whole season a failure. We differ in that." 

Steinbrenner isn't overly fond of his Yankees beginning May 18 in fourth place in the AL East standings, but it's also clear he defines success somewhat differently than his predecessor.