How far must Yankees go in October for Aaron Boone to stay in Bronx?

In what used to be known as a uniquely Mets-ian misstep, Scott Servais found out Thursday that he had been fired by the Mariners by seeing the news scroll along the bottom of a TV screen. It was an unconscionable blunder by a spiraling Seattle team that hasn’t done much right — except on the pitcher’s mound — in blowing a 10-game lead in the AL West in the past two months.

Hard to believe these were the same Mariners who swept the Mets a little more than a week ago, outscoring them 22-1 during the three-game series at T-Mobile Park. But that was a rare highlight for Seattle, which built a 10-game lead over the Astros and Rangers on June 18 but had gone 20-33 since then when Servais was fired. Servais also had the misfortune of the resurgent Astros — left for dead in May — taking advantage of the sudden void atop the division.

How many times have we seen the Yankees sputter through similar swoons under manager Aaron Boone, only to have general manager Brian Cashman deliver a show of support and the Yankees self-correct during the stretch run? Servais was fired in the midst of his ninth year and had only one playoff appearance to show for it — the 2022 wild-card berth that snapped the franchise’s 20-season postseason drought, which at the time was the longest active streak involving the four major professional sports leagues.

In the wake of Servais’ firing, it seemed that the biggest regret for Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners’ longtime executive VP of baseball operations, was how the manager learned of his fate.

“In what has been one of my least favorite days in my professional life, the worst part of it was the fact that Scott . . . found out about this over the crawl of a news channel,” Dipoto said in a news conference. “It crushes me and I know it hurts a great deal.”

While Dipoto’s embarrassing gaffe brings to mind past Mets slip-ups, such as Buck Showalter essentially announcing his own dismissal last year during the season’s final weekend and Willie Randolph being flown 3,000 miles, only to be axed at 3 a.m. EST after winning the first game of a West Coast trip, the Servais situation more closely resembles Boone’s Bronx residency.

Not from a wins and losses perspective, of course. Boone, now in his seventh season, has a .586 winning percentage that ranks fifth among Yankees managers (minimum three seasons), right behind Billy Martin (.591). But none in that group has failed to win a World Series title, and Boone currently is 0-for-6 in that department during a 14-season skid that began after Joe Girardi won the 2009 crown.

Cashman’s standard alibi for the championship drought involves describing the playoffs as a crapshoot, exhibiting a randomness that flies in the face of $300 million payrolls and analytic projections. But in the Bronx, and still under the stewardship of a Steinbrenner — even the more mild-tempered Hal — the Yankees need to be a results-oriented operation, and Boone is entering the last five weeks of his expiring contract as manager.

So if the Yankees experience another empty October, what will the consequences be? Tough to say. There are no indications that Boone has fallen out of favor with Cashman’s front office, but if it weren’t for the Orioles’ own ineptitude, the Yankees would have been virtually eliminated from AL East contention a month ago.

During one plunge, the Yankees were among the worst teams in the majors with a 10-23 record, and they’re only 26-32 dating to mid-June. Incredibly, thanks to a 50-22 start, the Yankees still are atop the AL East with a half-game lead over the Orioles. They also have a relatively easier schedule the rest of the way, facing opponents with a combined .491 winning percentage down the stretch.

That means Boone’s fate rides on October, as a source indicated any talk of an extension will be put off until the Yankees’ playoff run is over. It’s standard operating procedure for Steinbrenner and Cashman, but the question remains: How far do Boone & Co. have to advance for him to stay the Yankees’ manager?

Anything short of a lengthy ALCS push would seem to be unsatisfactory. Boone has missed the playoffs only once but is 2-8 in the ALCS, including a sweep by the Astros in 2022.

This was billed as a World Series-or-bust season in the Bronx. The one-year rental of Juan Soto pushed the Yankees’ payroll to $313 million, easily the highest ever for the franchise, but that ultimatum will be tested by how Boone is evaluated at October’s end.

Girardi was fired after narrowly losing a seven-game ALCS to the Astros in 2017 in the second year of a retooling process, with rookie Aaron Judge headlining a group of Baby Bombers. While that firing was mostly attributed to a personality conflict regarding Girardi’s old-school handling of the young players, Boone’s ability to bridge the clubhouse and the front office — along with his front-facing media persona — has earned him high marks in all of the areas that Girardi flunked. The question of whether Boone is capable of managing — or motivating — a roster to a World Series title will be answered come October.

As Boone’s future remains up in the air, it’s interesting to note that his perfect successor just signed on across town with the Mets — and Carlos Mendoza is showing why the Yankees’ former bench coach was universally recommended for the job.

It’s been a tumultuous decade in Flushing — then again, when is it not? — and the Mets career of a manager or front-office executive tends to be only marginally longer than a mosquito’s lifespan.

Mendoza is the sixth manager since the 2017 season (counting Carlos Beltran’s three-month winter tenure), but his pairing with first-year president of baseball operations David Stearns — the guy who hired him — is shaping up to be a successful duo for the long haul. Mendoza has displayed an uncommon feel for the major-market media demands and his fast-track education involving a clubhouse full of new players, both attributes no doubt honed by his development within the Yankees’ organization — and working alongside Boone.

Mendoza has piloted the Mets through some dizzying lows, including an 0-5 start that was the perfect nightmare for a rookie manager with Yankees pedigree in Queens, and helped engineer a playoff run for a team that was 11 games under .500 (24-35) as late as June 2. In a crowded field for Manager of the Year candidates, Mendoza should be the front-runner, partly because of the fact that he’s helped the Mets exceed expectations on his first try — no small accomplishment for Flushing.

Threading the needle between holding players accountable and boosting them up has been one of Mendoza’s obvious strengths, along with a winning touch with the lineup card. While the lineup tends to be more of a collaborative effort with the front office (i.e. analytic input), elevating Francisco Lindor into the leadoff spot and Mark Vientos to No. 2 have been game-changing moves. In what was budgeted as a transitional season — with $64 million being paid to players no longer on the ’24 roster — Mendoza has been a big reason why the Mets are contending for a second playoff berth in three years.

It’s a welcome change in Flushing. With so much recent turnover, from the owner’s suite down through the manager’s office, the Mets should be one of MLB’s more stable franchises in the coming years.

Fame vote for Votto?

With Joey Votto announcing his retirement Wednesday, he’s likely to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when eligible in five years. Votto, a six-time All-Star who was named NL MVP in 2010, finishes his 17-year career ranked 42nd overall in on-base percentage, (.4094), 92nd in home runs (356) and 103rd in offensive WAR (59.6).

Votto signed a 12-year, $251.5 million contract with the Reds at the start of the 2012 season, and Cincinnati made the playoffs three times during the length of the deal — twice losing in the wild-card round and once in the Division Series. Votto batted .244 (10-for-41) in those 11 playoff games with zero homers and a .563 OPS.

The Reds declined their $20 million option on Votto for this season, and the Toronto native signed with the Blue Jays in the hope of wrapping his career with his hometown team. But Votto, 40, never made it out of Triple-A Buffalo before driving to Rogers Centre for Wednesday’s visit with the Reds after their 11-7 victory over the Blue Jays.

“This game is faster,” Votto told reporters. “I’m not fast. This game is about more dynamic defense. This game has changed over the course of the back quarter of my career. I’m slower. The one thing I could attempt to do is perform offensively and I’ve been awful, especially for my position. At some point, the writing is on the wall.”

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.