New York Yankees Editorial: Great Days Are Ahead for the Yankees

You cannot call yourself a devoted Yankees fan if Tuesday nights loss to the Houston Astros didn’t sting. It was an abrupt end to the most successful season since 2012, and the shortest postseason run in Yankees history. Surely, you had your sights set higher.

At the same time, however, you have to admit: If, six months ago, you predicted the Yankees would be fighting for a spot in the American League Division Series in early October, you would be delusional.

The Yankees were on nobody’s radar at the outset of the 2015 season. Of 88 experts ESPN, only four chose the Yankees to win the World Series. Of a smaller sample of 15 ESPN baseball analysts, none chose them to win the American League East, and only one chose them to win a wild card spot.

Ironically, the fact that that the 2015 Yankees so over performed and were so successful is the source of the collective pain currently being felt in New York. But by any stretch, it should be the other way around: This season should make you excited, more so than you have been at any time in the past decade.

The 2015 Yankees represented a rare, sharp turn in the direction, and character, of the organization. This was not the chaotic Yankees of the Billy Martin years, or the infighting Yankees of the Joe Torre years, or the gossipy Yankees of the Derek Jeter years. This was a team devoted to playing good baseball – you read about them in the sports section, not in tabloids.

Indeed, this was a fresh, feel good team unlike any other the Yankees have put on the field in years. This was a team that featured the storied comeback and improbable revival of Alex Rodriguez, along with his reconciliation with the front office. This was a team that saw veterans Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira, and Brian McCann flash back to their primes. This was a team that brewed excitement not from flashy free agents or trade acquisitions, for once, but from home- grown young stars, from the slugging Greg Bird, to the lights out Luis Severino, to the clutch Slade Heatcott, and of course to the league-best game-end powerhouse of Chasen Shreve, Justin Wilson, Dellin Betances, and Andrew Miller. And most notably, this was a team that somehow found a way to step lightly into the post-Jeter years, showcasing the gutsy uphill battle of the smooth, speedy Didi Gregorious.

This is a new Yankees team, a new organization, and that they could pull off a wild card run in such an obvious transitional period is simply astounding. For months the Yankees lead the Blue Jays – a team that threw every last resource into winning now or never – and until the final few weeks were seriously competing for the division. That defies logic, and it makes the future seem far brighter than any face in the Yankees clubhouse Tuesday night would suggest.

Good days are ahead for the New York Yankees. The starting rotation is younger and deeper than it has been in years, with flashes of ace-like talent from Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Luis Severino, Nathan Eovaldi and even at times from Ivan Nova, CC Sabathia, and Adam Warren. Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Garnder ended with so-so seasons, but they showed that, when playing to their potential, they can single-handedly lead an offense to become the most potent in all of baseball. The veterans showed they can still produce, and if there is ever any doubt, the Yankees can now be incredibly confident placing Bird, or Rob Refsnyder, or Heathcott in as a backup. And with a slew of top prospects such as Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, and Jorge Mateo still to come, the Yankees have a lot to be excited for.

Even the 2009 Yankees – the best team New York has had in years – was built to win then and there; it was not setting its sights very far ahead. Now, thanks to years of hard work in the Yankees front office, the Yankees have a deep roster — from the outfield, to the starting rotation, to the bullpen, to the infield — packed with young, cheap talent. And with the big contracts of Sabathia, Beltran, Teixeira, and A-Rod soon expiring, there will be plenty of salary space to supplement that young talent with big market boosts. That’s the formula that ushered in the dynasty of the 90s, and this season we saw it is finally back and in full force.

This was a team that’s wasn’t even supposed to win. The Yankees were supposed to be shooting to win in 2017 and beyond, but 2015 turned out to be exciting in its own right, and 2016 is suddenly in play barring some improvements. Beyond that, we’re looking at a team that is built to mirror the Core Four dynasty of the 90s. While losing the wild card game – an outcome that is usually unacceptable in New York –certainly hurts, it represents one of the most invigorating, compelling junctures in recent Yankees history.

Remember that moment when McCann grounded out to end Tuesday night’s game. Remember how you felt as the 2015 Yankees dipped into the clubhouse with their untucked jerseys and their heads hanging low. Come ten years from now, there’s a good chance you will be wishing you could have that moment back, because some great Yankee moments were just on the horizon.