Boone now faces the challenge of managing in Showalter’s shadow

NEW YORK — Aaron Boone spent last season — and a few weeks after — on the hot seat. The Yankees manager led the Bombers to 92 wins this season, but the championship drought

(which runs long before his tenure) and the team’s disastrous loss in the American League Wild Card Game to the hated Red Sox had the chorus calling for his canning.

The Mets are giving their fans exactly what they want this holiday season. They got an ace in Max Scherzer to go with their own home-grown Cy Young winner Jacob de Grom to highlight a free agent signing frenzy before the MLB owners instituted the lockout. Now they get respected veteran skipper — and former Yankees’ manager — Buck Showalter.

It’s making Yankees fans a little green with envy. And with Showalter less than 10 miles away, the comparisons could become a little tough for Boone.

Boone didn’t really have a shadow from Queens to manager under in the past like he will now.

This is the first veteran manager who will be at the helm of the cross-town rival during Boone’s time as the Yankees skipper. He was hired at the same time the Mets went the same novice route with Mickey Callaway — and was able to shine in that comparison. During Luis Rojas’ two years at the helm in Queens, the country was preoccupied by the coronavirus pandemic and then the Mets being purchased by billionaire Steve Cohen, they were a secondary thought to the Yankees fans.

But the situation is ripe for some rough comparisons for Boone, particularly as the Bombers have done nothing to get their fan base excited so far this offseason.

While in the Bronx, from 1992-95, Showalter went 313-268 helping rebuild the Bombers and leaving them at the doorstep of their 1990s dynasty after losing to the Mariners in the 1995 American League Division Series.

In mid-october, when Yankees GM Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner finally came out and endorsed Boone by giving him a three-year extension, the Bombers faithful were vocally calling for the team to move on from the former MLB infielder.