It's trendy to be mad or consider a season a failure if another World Series title isn't added to the mantle. However, I'm not upset at all. I'm very happy to have October baseball, and to get what is essentially a Game 7 on Tuesday night. Win or go home. Do or die.
I am disappointed that a large division lead was lost. That did stink. But at the same time, many, myself included, did not think this team was capable of making the Playoffs way back in April. There were so many question marks heading into the season. And for the most part, things went right.
We all waited for Masahiro Tanaka's elbow to blow out. It didn't. He threw 154 solid innings.
Big Mike had a great start and put the staff on his back through June. Although he did experience an injury and didn't pitch well at the end of the season, he still threw 157 above-average innings.
Right there, that's over 300 innings from guys the Yanks didn't know if they'd get 100 from.
Who would close with David Robertson gone? Andrew Miller, that's f'ing who.
Didd Gregorius showed that he's a Major League shortstop after an abysmal start.
Where would the power come from? Well, Mark Teixeira and A-Rod both hit over 30 HRs. Teixeira's season came to an unfortunate end after fouling a ball off of his leg. However, he was replaced in the lineup by Greg Bird, who has 11 HRs in 43 games since Teixeira went down.
That brings me to another point. The Kids.
The amount of meaningful innings played by Yankees farmhands was impressive. Bird is a legitimate force in the middle of the lineup. Luis Severino has held down the rotation. Slade Heathcott blasted a huge in an important September game. John Ryan Murphy is the best backup catcher in baseball at the age of 24. From Chasen Shreve to Mason Williams to Robert Refsnyder to Brandon Pinder to Nick Rumbelow, the Yanks got more production from their farm than I can remember.
Not everything went right. CC Sabathia was horrid. Stephen Drew, while hitting for some power, batted under .200 for most of the season...again. Ivan Nova wasn't good in his return from Tommy John surgery. Jacoby Ellsbury was an MVP candidate before he got hurt. Nathan Eovaldi developed into a legit starting pitcher, only to be shelved for (likely) the rest of the season with an injury.
It's been a fun season, and I really hope the Yanks can win on Tuesday night and have a shot in the ALDS. All you have to do is get to the Playoffs, and anything can happen. I'd rather have that shot than no shot at all.
I'll have to keep Murphy on my fantasy radar for next year. You know, at least until Torrens is ready to take the helm.
ReplyDeleteHere's to October baseball!
CC has really picked it up in the last month, and I'm thinking that he would be the #3 starter if the Yankees make i past the wild card. Watching the Yankees clinch just the other day, really gets me excited for the postseason, just watching how excited Alex was, and pretty much the whole Yankee team; Murphy, Headley, Sabathia, McCann, Tanaka... Three days until the wild card game!
ReplyDeletePersonally I consider this year a success. Had the "experts" been right the Yankees would've been fighting for a protected draft pick in next year's draft but now they're fighting for a shot at winning the world series.
ReplyDeleteI'll take what I can get with the Yankees this year in the postseason. They really have exceeded expectations, but I'm not feeling too good about this Wild Card Game. But who knows, anything can happen in one game. And with the talent we have, they've got as good a shot as anyone.
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