The New York Yankees’ thought-pattern has long been World Series or bust for most of the past two decades. But after winning only one championship in the past 25 years, I feel they lost the right to legitimately think that way.
If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, then the Yankees have clearly gone insane. They’ve entered each season for the past decade with the same philosophy and have expected to win it all. Instead, for the fourth straight year, they watched the opposing team, during playoff time, celebrate in their stadium.
It’s the same formula, year after year, generating the same outcome. The Yankees took an identical route this October as they have every postseason under manager Aaron Boone. They look unstoppable for one playoff round, then they get dismantled in the next round. They constantly make critical mental and on-field mistakes while their big bats go silent in the biggest moments.
They were embarrassed on the field against the Tampa Bay Rays, Embarrassment aside, the front office sees nothing wrong with their process because they win 90-plus games and make the playoffs every year. This team isn’t built to win it all; it’s built to make money. Ticket prices are astronomical and no one makes more TV money than the Mighty Yanks,
The Yankees used to have a stable of stars on their roster. Now, they have one. The often-injured Aaron Judge. Today, their roster features two players with a World Series ring, Max Fried and Cody Bellinger. You guessed it. Both won titles while playing for other teams.
The below average roster had four errors while being swept in three games and had the franchises lowest in history bat time average in a multi-game playoff series in their 124 year history. Opposing teams no longer fear the Yankees like they once did.
There is no excuse for this team not to not have won a championship in recent years. No one, not even the hated LA Dodgers, has spent more money this past decade.The problem is that they play undisciplined baseball and make questionable lineup decisions.
Nothing illustrated the organization’s years of incompetence more than the recent playoff series against the Rays. Here are some examples at the top of my head. They gave Giancarlo Stanton his first at-bat since April in the ninth inning of Game 1, trailing by one run. Then, with the season on the line, they went with the worst leadoff hitter in baseball, Trent Grisham, in the elimination game. Grisham went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, including one that ended the season in Game 3.
The Rays and Milwaukee Brewers, who could likely meet in the World Series, prove that the Yankee way isn’t correct. A team doesn’t need infinite funds to win; it needs a good roster. The Yankees can out slug teams in the regular season, but those hitters become inefficient in the playoffs.
Change is needed in the Bronx.
Soon, I will address another professional team in another sport with similar issues. The Dallas Cowboys.
