1995 All Over Again?

The Bronx Bombers are currently 9 1/2 out of first place in the American League East standings and 5 games out for the second wild card spot. Sound familiar? Well back in 1995, there weren’t two wild card spots, however, the 1995 Yankees were in a similar situation as the 2014 Yankees.

1995 was the debut season for the “Core Four” as they call them in the Bronx. So there was a new energy it seemed, but guys such as Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera were not ready it seemed for the show. When the Yankees made a very interesting decision to send Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, two future hall of famers, to Triple-A Columbus, the Bronx faithful thought the organization was crazy and there was no hope for the 1995 Yankees. 1995, like 2014, was the final season for another Yankees’ captain, a man named Don Mattingly. The Yankees wanted to give Donnie Baseball one last hurrah in his final season as the Yankees captain.

The 1995 Bronx Bombers trailed the Boston Red Sox late in the season. However, after the Yankees acquired starting pitcher David Cone from Toronto, and the rest is history. The Boston Red Sox commanded a sizable lead in the division, but in the first year of the wild card in MLB, the Yankees finished the season on a 26-7 run. The Yankees went on to make the playoffs in Mattingly’s final season–his only career postseason appearance.

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Now the 2014 Yankees are almost in an identical situation. Trailing the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, who by the way are managed by Buck Showalter, who managed the 1995 New York Yankees, and trailing four teams in the AL wild card in only the second year of the two wild card spot system, the Bronx Bombers can possibly make another spectacular run. How fitting would it be if the Yankees could send Derek Jeter to the playoffs in his final season just like Donnie Baseball?