This is What Being a Yankees Fan is Supposed to Feel Like

The Baby Yankees have reinvigorated the team and the fan base. More importantly, they have restored what it means to be a Yankee and a Yankees fan: the expectation that the team will win even in the biggest moments.

Yes, Yankees fans and Yankees haters, the expectation of big wins and exhilarating moments is our birthright. That feeling might have slipped away briefly in July but this Yankees team has brought it back.

This is not about winning any games in the future or even making the playoffs. They have been the best team in the AL since August 1^st and have reawakened in all of us what it feels like to be a Yankees fan.

It began in the spring of 1920, when Babe Ruth played his first game for the Yankees. The organization began winning and did not stop until the late 1960s. By the end of the 1970s, they were in the discussion for team of the decade.

Even in the 1980s, when they were never serious contenders after 1981, the team won more games than any other in baseball.

Then the ’90s happened and that team didn’t stop winning until 2010, the last time the Yankees won a lot of games and were actual contenders. It was during this stretch that expecting to win became stamped on the character of Yankees fans. Think about this: Derek Jeter played fewer than 30 meaningless games in his 20-year career.

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From 2012-2015, mediocrity ensued but never disaster. The team—the organization—made sure there were always more wins than losses. It stayed in playoff contention until at least the last week of each season.

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Success does not mean winning the world series every year; no team can do that. No, all any fan can ask for is that the team win most of its games each year and play exciting, meaningful baseball every September. We always got that.

July is the Cruelest Month of All

That brings us to 2016. Before the season, there was reason to believe the club could repeat its 2015 performance. April, however, was brutal and before May could arrive, articles about potential trades were written.

By June, we had clarity. A-Rod and Tex, the heart of the order, were not going to be the same as in 2015. None of the pitchers were able to conquer their demons; inconsistent was the word used most often.

And so July saw many of us readjust our outlook for the first time in memory, the first time since the very early 1990s. This team was not going to win a lot of games, despite the sanguine comments from Joe Girardi. Its only possible role in September would be spoiler. Newspaper articles and talk radio hosts told us we should not worry about wins and losses.

No, it was time to enjoy just watching the baby Yankees. We hoped they could show enough to be in position to really help the big club next year. As fun as that is, it is not in the DNA of Yankees fans or players to accept either losing or the expectation of losing.

We became comfortably numb.

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Then something happened. Something wonderful and unexpected. Something fantabulous, bambabulous, mamambulous happened: this young Yankees team began to win. At first it was the one-man wrecking crew, Gary Sanchez, who carried this team for three historic weeks.

Winning isn’t Everything It’s the Only Thing

The other important aspect of this run is that it has re-instilled the expectation that the Yankees are capable of winning every night. And not just next year but right now. That is not to say they will win enough nights this season but that they are capable of doing it.

The Mariners and Royals were the hottest teams in baseball, until they played the Yankees. The Blue Jays were in first place, until they played the Yankees. You have to wonder if there is an “until they played” team out there waiting for the Yankees.

The hope is that the season will end before the hot streak has a chance to. That is the kind of optimism this team has given all Yankees fans, such a different outlook than we had in July.

The Hope That Springs Eternal

Playoffs or not, there is a feeling now that the Yankees already have a promising young nucleus at the big league level. That they are not rebuilding but have already reloaded. That they can go out any night, right now, and win. We feel it and so does the rest of baseball, including the Yankees haters.

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In 2017, I expect a younger team with better pitching and increased power in the middle of the order that will compete every night, play hard and play the right way. Remember, New York will have significant money to spend in the off-season and there are, without question, pitchers who can make them a better team.

I expect to see the Yankees win a lot more games than they lose. I know I will see them fighting hard in September for playoff position. And I am going to see that kind of team for years to come, especially as long as the Steinbrenner family owns this team.

And that’s what Yankees fans and haters know. The almost century-long tradition of winning has instilled the expectation of excellence in the fans and the players. I don’t apologize for that.

The Yankees have been winning in the most exciting fashion recently and have an outside chance of making the playoffs. This improbable run has restored our birthright.

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That is that neither fans nor players should ever be surprised that the Yankees are successful. They should never be surprised at exhilarating wins and big moments in September and beyond.

They should expect them.

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