Feels Like...

Ah, a familiar feeling. The regular season is coming to a close. The playoffs are a long shot, requiring a remarkable run against some fine teams. Debates abound about giving young guys playing time versus making a hard push for making the postseason but most likely getting bumped out early. Not looking ahead to next season yet – no, that would be giving up – but relishing the role of spoiler for the postseason pushes of others. I’ll pay close attention, as usual, but will begin to root extra hard for my fantasy team, so I might get some sort of satisfaction out of the season. Anything I can do to not think about missing the playoffs every year for 10 years or how if only the defensive line hadn’t had so many injuries…

Wait a second! Why am I having all of my annual end-of-NFL-season feelings at the end of baseball season? This is when I’m supposed to be gearing up for the playoffs! Grind out the divisional series against scrappy Anaheim or scrappy Minnesota, battle the Red Sox in an epic seven game ALCS (it is, after all, the greatest rivalry not only in sports history but in world history, narrowly edging out creationism vs. Darwinism, Tutsis vs. Hutus, and Cindy Lou Who vs. the Grinch), and then pummel some weenie National League team masquerading as a World Series contender.

Okay, so by no measure has that scenario been true for a good while now. The championship has evaded the Yankees’ grasp for some time now, and the Yankees are no longer the class of the AL. But the offense is good enough to carry the wobbly pitching through to the ALCS, right? Wildcards go the distance these days. All they need to do is survive a short series against the Angels and we’ll throw down with the Twins for the right to host the World Series (thank you, All-Star game)!

Okay, okay. So the Angels murdered the Bombers a couple weeks ago. Fine. At the very least I should be expecting a divisional series, right? Lose the first two games, have someone unexpectedly toss a beautiful third game while the bats wake up, and then watch A-Rod hit multiple meaningless home runs when the Yanks are down 6 in the 8th of decisive Game 4. I’ll take that over no playoffs. I mean come on, I’m a Yankees fan. Aren’t I entitled to watching my team participate in the postseason in some fashion?

Full Disclosure: I would stop short of saying that it’s a relief that the Yankees likely aren’t going to make the postseason, but I would be stopping just short. Of course I want them in it. Of course I want them to sweep their way to the championship. But you know, it’s kind of refreshing seeing them take the approach that they did this year. Yes they did make some trades, but nothing enormous (especially the way things have worked out on the whole, yeesh). They didn’t dump Kennedy and Melky last offseason for Santana, something the Yankees of old would have done. (Turns out to have not worked so far in the Yankees’ favor, as Melky may never return from AAA and Kennedy hasn’t exactly been stellar.) But the point is that they’re developing young talent, guys that fans can learn to love and stick with, hopefully for years. (Which is why I don’t understand just giving the rotation spot to Hughes to get him some major league innings, as opposed to letting the expensive and fragile Carl Pavano audition for his next job at the Yankees’ expense.)

Also, the whole “will this be the year they break the streak and miss the postseason?” anxiety will come to pass. I know, it’s hard to sympathize for a Yankees fan who’s tired of dealing with the expectation that their team will make the postseason every year; it’s just two ideas that don’t go well with another. But I can see how this year has been good for the game of baseball. Tampa and Florida doing so well with such tiny payrolls is good for the game, and if it has to come at the expense of the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time in a billion years, then so be it. If anything, it will hopefully wake them up and make them hungrier next year. They should be a hell of a spoiler team down the stretch too.

Starting tonight against Boston.