We Lose Again

When I was 17 years old, the Yankees won the 1996 World Series. The sports world was entirely taken in by that team, not just because it had rising stars like Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams, and great second chance stories like Darryl Strawberry and Cecil Fielder, but because the storied Yankees, who within living memory had absolutely dominated Major League Baseball, had not won a World Series since 1978 - 17 long seasons. What was remarkable was that a whole generation had grown up knowing the Yankees - the New York Yankees - as losers. Love them or hate them, something was off about this. It was unnatural. So when the Yankees won in '96, it was like the universe righting itself. 

Almost 20 years later, we're there again. The Yankees have not won a World Series since 2009, when Barrack Obama was early in his first term and Donald Trump was hosting The Apprentice. 16 seasons later, a whole generation knows the Yankees as a solid team that loses early in the playoffs and employs Aaron Judge. For this generation, there is no Yankee mystique. No Evil Empire. Just high-priced mediocrity. 

Although the Yankee players talk the same old story of "lost seasons" if they don't win the World Series, no one on the team has experienced anything other than defeat in pinstripes. They say the words because they know someone out there expects it (probably someone who was in middle age when George Steinbrenner was alive) but they also know the expectations are not what they once were. Surely their skipper, Aaron "Wild Card Berth" Boone, must be grateful for the change. 

For 16 seasons, the Yankees have essentially fielded the same team. They hit a lot of home runs in the regular season, but against post-season caliber pitching they can't manufacture runs. If the home runs don't come in the post-season - and enough never do - they go home losers. 

It's time for a change. Maybe that means Boone and Cashman should be dismissed, but that alone would not solve the problem. The Yankees need to build their teams for the small moments in October, even if that means a narrower margin during the regular season. Until that happens, expect many more years of disappointment.