There's Something Different About This Yankees Team
I grew up spoiled. I'll admit it. I spent my adolescence watching the Yankees dominate baseball in the late 90's and continue to compete into the 2000's. I've experienced many postseasons where the Yankees were expected to win.However, this was a year where nobody expected the Yankees to do much. Many preseason projections had them finishing below .500. My optimistic self hoped for a Wild Card push at the very least back in April. We've gotten that and so much more. And still it continues.
The Yankees were able to make that Wild Card push. In fact they ran away with the Wild Card and even made a last gasp effort at the division title going into the last weekend of the season. The 2017 regular season was an unexpected, fun-filled ride with some ups and downs but mostly lot of ups. Ups that the Yankees were never expected to reach.
Yet here we are on October 17 and the Yankees are still playing baseball. Correct me if I'm wrong but the Yankees weren't supposed to be playing past October 1; the date the regular season ended. Then they weren't supposed to get past the division series against Cleveland. Yet they're still playing.
As far as I'm concerned they've been playing with house money since they beat the Twins in the Wild Card game. They were expected to win that game after the way the regular season played out and did; albeit in unorthodox fashion after falling behind early. However, everything after that has been icing on the cake. It would all be playoff experience for the young players like Judge, Sanchez, Bird, and Severino to build on. The kind of invaluable experience the dynasty team of the 90s acquired when they lost to Griffey's Mariners in 1995.
Not many people outside of New York gave this team a chance to win going into the Indians series let alone when they fell behind 2-0 in a five game series. They let game 2 slip away after Girardi's non-challenge. They blew their chance. They were done. But they weren't.
The series went back to the Bronx and somehow the Yankees resurrected the ghosts that used to reside in the Old Yankee Stadium across the street. The House that Ruth Built. That hallowed ground where no team wanted to come face the Yankees in the playoffs. The Yankees won the two games at home and then went work in game 5 in Cleveland to win the series.
This team had no business winning that series but they did. More icing on the cake. Next up the Houston Astros. The best team in baseball early in the season. The 101 win team that just handled Boston in a four game series and never looked in any danger against the AL East Champs.
In games 1 and 2, the Yankees bats were silenced by Astros aces Dallas Kuechel and Justin Verlander, losing both games 2-1. Those games hurt and it was disappointing to see the Yankees powerful bats shut down. But there was a silver lining. The Astros didn't hit either. Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino, and the bullpen almost matched the indomitable performances of Kuechel and Tanaka. Maybe the Astros lineup was vulnerable as well.
The Astros couldn't stay at home forever and with game 3 looming the series shifted to the Bronx. The ghosts were awakened again; led by the performance of the Yankees resident senior citizen, CC Sabathia. Like he has done all year Sabathia followed a New York loss with a solid performance and combined with the 'pen to silence the Astros bats again. Meanwhile, the Yankees bats went to work. Finally! All finally rose for the Judge as he started to look his MVP candidate self. An 8-1 victory. There was life.
That takes us to tonight. Just about an hour ago these Yankees resurrected some more ghosts and injected life back into this series. The Yankees were down 4-0 in the seventh. Things looked bleak. Lance McCullers had shut down the Yankees for six innings and looked to continue it into the seventh. They couldn't solve his curveball. He was cruising. Then all of sudden...BOOM! All Rise! Court was in session. The Judge had returned. It was only a solo home run but the stadium erupted and the rest of the bats came to life. They scored one more in the seventh but were still down 4-2.
Then the eighth arrived and the Yanks went off. Frazier. Headley. Gardner. Judge. Gregorious. Sanchez. It was like an assembly line and it didn't matter who was throwing heat at it. Not even 100 mph fastballs from Houston's closer Ken Giles could stop the run production. In the blink of an eye the Yankees went from having their backs against the wall to punching Houston in the gut. It was 6-4 and Chapman made sure it stayed that way.
The Yankees went from facing elimination tomorrow night to having a chance to take a series lead into Houston on Friday night with another win. I don't know what it is about this team. I'm still trying to figure it out. But they are different from any Yankees team that I can remember in my lifetime. For once the Yankees are the underdogs and they've embraced the role. The suffocating pressure of being expected to win is no longer squeezing the life out of them. In fact, this team is full of life.
I don't know if it's because the young guys are too young, naive and stupid to know when they should give in. Maybe it's the veterans like Todd Frazier who are just too desperate to finally experience winning. Maybe it's the old men like CC who are just trying to hang on a little longer. Maybe it's the few players in their prime like Didi and Castro who are trying to create a legacy after they were traded to New York as afterthoughts. Who knows. Whatever it is; there's just something different about this team.
They just don't give up or give in. They have a fighting spirit that didn't exist on the big money teams of the 2000s. This team also have fun. The youth has injected new life and the fever has spread to the veterans. They're re-energized. It's created the perfect mix.
I don't know what will happen the rest of this series. Maybe the Yankees will again get shut down by Kuechel and Verlander. Maybe they'll win another game and finally cede to the "superior team" in seven. Maybe they'll keep the magic going and return to the World Series after what has felt like an eternity for Yankees fans. Only time will tell. All I know is I wouldn't want to be in this team's way right now or possibly for the next few seasons. They're only going to get better.
Houston you have a problem!
The Yankees were able to make that Wild Card push. In fact they ran away with the Wild Card and even made a last gasp effort at the division title going into the last weekend of the season. The 2017 regular season was an unexpected, fun-filled ride with some ups and downs but mostly lot of ups. Ups that the Yankees were never expected to reach.
Yet here we are on October 17 and the Yankees are still playing baseball. Correct me if I'm wrong but the Yankees weren't supposed to be playing past October 1; the date the regular season ended. Then they weren't supposed to get past the division series against Cleveland. Yet they're still playing.
As far as I'm concerned they've been playing with house money since they beat the Twins in the Wild Card game. They were expected to win that game after the way the regular season played out and did; albeit in unorthodox fashion after falling behind early. However, everything after that has been icing on the cake. It would all be playoff experience for the young players like Judge, Sanchez, Bird, and Severino to build on. The kind of invaluable experience the dynasty team of the 90s acquired when they lost to Griffey's Mariners in 1995.
Not many people outside of New York gave this team a chance to win going into the Indians series let alone when they fell behind 2-0 in a five game series. They let game 2 slip away after Girardi's non-challenge. They blew their chance. They were done. But they weren't.
The series went back to the Bronx and somehow the Yankees resurrected the ghosts that used to reside in the Old Yankee Stadium across the street. The House that Ruth Built. That hallowed ground where no team wanted to come face the Yankees in the playoffs. The Yankees won the two games at home and then went work in game 5 in Cleveland to win the series.
This team had no business winning that series but they did. More icing on the cake. Next up the Houston Astros. The best team in baseball early in the season. The 101 win team that just handled Boston in a four game series and never looked in any danger against the AL East Champs.
In games 1 and 2, the Yankees bats were silenced by Astros aces Dallas Kuechel and Justin Verlander, losing both games 2-1. Those games hurt and it was disappointing to see the Yankees powerful bats shut down. But there was a silver lining. The Astros didn't hit either. Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino, and the bullpen almost matched the indomitable performances of Kuechel and Tanaka. Maybe the Astros lineup was vulnerable as well.
The Astros couldn't stay at home forever and with game 3 looming the series shifted to the Bronx. The ghosts were awakened again; led by the performance of the Yankees resident senior citizen, CC Sabathia. Like he has done all year Sabathia followed a New York loss with a solid performance and combined with the 'pen to silence the Astros bats again. Meanwhile, the Yankees bats went to work. Finally! All finally rose for the Judge as he started to look his MVP candidate self. An 8-1 victory. There was life.
That takes us to tonight. Just about an hour ago these Yankees resurrected some more ghosts and injected life back into this series. The Yankees were down 4-0 in the seventh. Things looked bleak. Lance McCullers had shut down the Yankees for six innings and looked to continue it into the seventh. They couldn't solve his curveball. He was cruising. Then all of sudden...BOOM! All Rise! Court was in session. The Judge had returned. It was only a solo home run but the stadium erupted and the rest of the bats came to life. They scored one more in the seventh but were still down 4-2.
Then the eighth arrived and the Yanks went off. Frazier. Headley. Gardner. Judge. Gregorious. Sanchez. It was like an assembly line and it didn't matter who was throwing heat at it. Not even 100 mph fastballs from Houston's closer Ken Giles could stop the run production. In the blink of an eye the Yankees went from having their backs against the wall to punching Houston in the gut. It was 6-4 and Chapman made sure it stayed that way.
The Yankees went from facing elimination tomorrow night to having a chance to take a series lead into Houston on Friday night with another win. I don't know what it is about this team. I'm still trying to figure it out. But they are different from any Yankees team that I can remember in my lifetime. For once the Yankees are the underdogs and they've embraced the role. The suffocating pressure of being expected to win is no longer squeezing the life out of them. In fact, this team is full of life.
I don't know if it's because the young guys are too young, naive and stupid to know when they should give in. Maybe it's the veterans like Todd Frazier who are just too desperate to finally experience winning. Maybe it's the old men like CC who are just trying to hang on a little longer. Maybe it's the few players in their prime like Didi and Castro who are trying to create a legacy after they were traded to New York as afterthoughts. Who knows. Whatever it is; there's just something different about this team.
They just don't give up or give in. They have a fighting spirit that didn't exist on the big money teams of the 2000s. This team also have fun. The youth has injected new life and the fever has spread to the veterans. They're re-energized. It's created the perfect mix.
I don't know what will happen the rest of this series. Maybe the Yankees will again get shut down by Kuechel and Verlander. Maybe they'll win another game and finally cede to the "superior team" in seven. Maybe they'll keep the magic going and return to the World Series after what has felt like an eternity for Yankees fans. Only time will tell. All I know is I wouldn't want to be in this team's way right now or possibly for the next few seasons. They're only going to get better.
Houston you have a problem!
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