I know this should be a requiem of my beloved New York Yankees.
After all, their season came to a rather inglorious end in Game 7 Saturday night at the hands of the Houston Astros. They lost 4-0 and were dominated from start to finish by the Astros’ fabulous starting pitching.
So instead of watching my beloved Yankees taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series starting tomorrow night (how classic would that match-up be), I have to watch the Astros do the deed instead.
And you know what, I’m not going to sulk too much – in fact, not at all. New York was not supposed to go but so far this season, let alone Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
It was such a young team headed into the season. They were called “Baby Bombers” for a reason. No one expected Aaron Judge to be a strong MVP candidate in his rookie season. Gary Sanchez took leaps and bounds in his second season.
And no one thought Didi Gregorius would be on his way to become the next great shortstop. Some fans even started to think he is better than Derek Jeter (GASP!).
The biggest surprise was how well the pitching staff came together. It compiled the third best ERA in the American League and the fifth best in all of baseball. And while the starting pitching improved throughout the year and excelled during the playoffs, it was the bullpen that proved to be the Yankees’ bell cow.
And what makes it all groovy is that New York didn’t have to hamstring its future.
Even though it traded for starting pitcher Sonny Gray, New York comes back next season with the majority of its assets still in place. My Yankees still have the third-ranked farm system after this season.
Due to the fact that most of its stars are homegrown, the Yankees do not have too much money tied up for next season. In fact, they pretty much have between $75 and $100 million to play with. That’s right y’all: my Yankees still have room for a big-time free agent or two – or even THREE.
So while I watch the 2017 World Series kick off tomorrow night sans my beloved Yankees, I will not be thinking about what might have been, but how great my Yankees will be for the next three to four years. After all, they will have virtually everyone back from a 91-team who came within a game of making the World Series.
It feels pretty good to be a Yankees fan…
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