NFT: Why I'm Not Worried About the Yankees Sudden Drop Off

I was watching the game the other night with another buddy who is a die-hard Yankee fan like me. He was falling apart because the Yankees weren't playing well and I thought he was going to have a brain aneurysm when Torryes misplayed a ground ball to third. I told him to let it go. That it's a long season and in baseball, it's a collection of ups and downs that averages out over the year.

Also - and mainly - because I already committed myself to accepting a year or two of shoddy baseball as the baby bombers get themselves established at the major league level. Prior to Spring Training, I had absolutely no thoughts of winning a pennant, but had resigned my hopes to watching my team muddle through the season near the bottom of the standings or at best, in the middle of the division.

But like so many fans, my hopes got up when our pitching looked strong and the sudden emergence of Judge, (Byrd in Spring Training), Hicks, etc. Also, the re-emergence of Headley, Ellisbury, and Gardner looked like they were back to expectations. But like all seasons, we are getting injuries losing Byrd, Sanchez, and now Chapman as well as the sudden struggles of Tanaka, it is no longer an easy ride that is as much fun to watch.

Also, it's a long season. There will be "skids", there will be "hitting slumps", there will be pitchers "losing the strike zone and overthinking everything".

We must keep in mind that this season was supposed to be a throwaway season - a chance for the new kids to get a feel for the big leagues. Even 2018 was going to be a sharpening of the skills of the baby bombers and we were setting ourselves up for a pennant run in 2019 after adding a couple of FA superstars to the kiddie corps who would now have a couple years of major league experience under their belt. That all changed when the team tore through Spring Training like a runaway train and got off to a hot start whipping some very good teams.

So just trying to keep things in perspective. This might not be their year - which is what we all expected in the first place. The good and bad streaks are part of baseball and we still might end up playing into post season, but if we don't - that is what we had prepared ourselves for in the first place. So have heart and don't fret over the current slide among this very young team learning at the major league level. Unless Tanaka has an injury that we don't know about, he will be back. Chapman will be back. Byrd will be back and will go on a HR hitting streak at some point. Sanchez will get hot and likewise have a streak of his own. And enjoy watching Castro try to win the batting title, Didi making slick plays, and Judge hitting tape measure home runs.