The Yankees are Slumping; Don’t Panic! (A Reference)

No, I’m not going crazy. I realize that there is snow on the ground and it is cold and it is dark when I leave work and the NFL playoffs are about to start and life sucks and therefore baseball is not happening. I am writing this post as a reference for when baseball is happening and the sun is shining and life does not suck. This post is for those times when everything is going downhill for the Yankees, when you are panicking, when you are reading tweets and stories about the awful, aging, loser Yankees and how they will finish last in the division and everyone will live a pointless boring life and die. When that happens, read this.

The New York Yankees are slumping, plain and simple. In the past week or two, it seems as though they just don’t know how to play baseball anymore. [Insert starter here] is giving up home runs left and right, [reliever with a couple bad games] is blowing leads, and most of all, they can’t buy a hit with runners in scoring position. Sure, [hitter with a high batting average in the past few weeks] is doing his part, but [other hitters with a low BABIP and few RBI recently] have been just awful.

But this is not the time to panic. Why? Because it’s a 162 game season. Every player has slumps, and every team has slumps. Part of this is bad luck. Sometimes, hits just don’t come at the right time. Bad pitching performances happen to all come at the same time. Line drives hit by the Yankees go straight to the fielders while pop-ups hit by the other team find the one spot that no one can reach.

This slump won’t last forever. I promise. (Image: William Perlman/THE STAR-LEDGER via USA TODAY Sports)

It’s not all bad luck, however. I can’t deny that the Yankees have been playing at a lower level recently. But here’s the thing about baseball: you can’t predict it. I know, surprise surprise. But it’s true. That’s why, even though the Yankees have been playing worse, there’s no more reason to think that they will continue to get worse as there is reason to think that they will suddenly win 10 games in a row.

So instead of overreacting about recent failure, we need to look at the talent on the team as a whole. Yes, [player who strikes out a lot] strikes out a lot, but we should look past strikeouts, to overall production. The fact that [perceived “unclutch” player] has been “choking” with the game on the line is frustrating, but there’s no reason that we should expect that to continue moving forward.

I don’t blame you for being frustrated and pissed off that the Yankees are in [some place that isn’t first]. And for most of you, anything I say will probably not make a difference in how you feel. But maybe some of you will read this and realize, “hey, I should look at the bigger picture here. I shouldn’t panic over a few bad games, but instead realize that this team has talent, and that these struggles can’t last forever.”

It’s a tough thing to do, ignore recent failure and look at the big picture instead. But not only is it the reasonable and rational thing to do, but you’ll be happier in the long run. Optimism is fun – you should try it.