Yankees playoffs: The ALCS and making of the 2017 Baby Bombers

Coming Up Aces

Luis Severino, on the other hand, needed a little bit longer to show he could be an ace, at least in the regular season. But he had already done enough to prove his arm was intensely valuable no matter what role he claimed.

So much so, we were able to make this claim when even SP was new: Luis Severino will Star in the 2017 Postseason for the Yankees.

The jury is out on Judge but it is clear that Severino will be one of the Yankees top pitchers and will carry them deep into the season — and possibly beyond. The best case scenario is that Sevvy becomes an ace; he certainly seems to have the stuff. I want Severino to return as the ace he seems capable of being. If he were to take the hill every five days and pitch to a sub 3.00 ERA, the Yankees will play at least one playoff game come next October.

Sevvy might not have been able to match Justin Verlander in Game 6, but the Yankees would not be here with out him. He has not been a star so far in these playoffs, but the night is still young. He might yet have a chance to rise.

Swinging for the Fences

No Yankees star, however, could possibly rise higher in the baseball sky than Aaron Judge. Aaron is a great all-around player but he came into camp as a solid maybe. That’s what happens when you strike out in historic fashion in your MLB debut.

But it didn’t take seeing too many of those impressive Aaron Judge swings in SP to realize he needed to be on this team. And the Yankees needed him to be on this team. That’s why this piece was assumptionally titled, Yankees Judge Aaron Already Ready to Play in the Bronx.

Judge has made contact almost every time up to bat. His outs have been ending up in someone’s glove, someone other than the catcher. The hope is that he is just beginning to get comfortable with his new leg kick and putting the ball in play is the first sign of good things to come. The more comfortable he gets, the more hits and home runs he will produce.

Like the Ones You’re Looking at Now

However, that article did not stop some in the New York media from creating a specious argument. Which Aaron should the Yankees give the right fielders job to, Hicks or Judge? It was a waste of perfectly good 1’s and 0’s.

The ridiculousness got so ridiculous that I decided to kill my own group of 100’s. I took computer to lap to turn out this clearly tongue-in-cheek piece (Thank you, NYBamBam): Five Reasons to Start Aaron Hicks over Aaron Judge. This first part is accurate but then it quickly devolves to sarcastic farce.

And that is what ultimately separates these two: the power. Hicks hit a total of 14 home runs and collected 79 RBI’s during his age 23 and 24 seasons. Judge, during his same age seasons, hit 43 homers and 147 RBI’s.

Aaron Hicks Sold his Soul to the Devil! Alright, Yankees haters, feel free to insert your jokes here: And clearly he has to serve his time at the home office; Was he the player to be named later in a separate deal between the Yankees and the Devil?; “Devil Corp.” is a subsidiary of Yankees Inc.; Isn’t that how all Yankees get to be successful? There is only one big problem with this scenario. Some of you might think that Hicks would have better numbers had he sold his immortal soul. That turns out to be very easy to explain: there is only so much even the Devil can do to make Hicks a good player.

Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard

Of course Judge won the starting job, but it took both men to get the Yankees where they are. And Hicks overcame his early career struggles to put up a potent start to the season.

Now in the playoffs, Judge has continued to strike out at an historic pace. But his power has helped him more than balance the scales of offensive justice.

The Arms Race

By the end of training camp, the team showed enough strengths for us to accurately predict their finish, some 162 games later, in the second of our two-part 2017 AL East Predictions:

The Yankees, however, were one of the teams that improved. They have a real ace and a farm system that can either produce a front-line starter or the talent to trade for one. That is a huge advantage over the other teams. Their offense looks ready to be a dominant force in the division, and they will slug their way to second in the East and a playoff berth.

What the Yankees showed themselves possible of doing in the spring, they accomplished by Autumn.

Arm Yourselves for Battle

And so the season started but, before long, a perceived weakness had clearly become a strength. The baseball world thought the Yankees would hit okay, but their pitching was to be a problem. That did not turn out to be the case.

The pitching staff got off to a great start, and carried the Yankees to the playoffs, and game seven.

And it will be the pitchers who decide if the Yankees advance. That works well with this piece because, even though not every player who was helping the team then is helping them now, CC was one of those who had enabled YanksGoYard to months ago write, Yankees Suddenly are Looking Armed and Dangerous.

Right now, here on April 19th, the Yankees have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. And that extends from the mound to the bullpen and all the way to Trenton. Plus, the Yankees do not need all of these pitchers to remain pitching at the highest level. They only need one of them to become a real number two, someone who wins 18 games and throws up an ERA below 3.40 for the season. That looks increasingly likely, and the smart money is on Severino.

That, however, was obvious, although 18 wins proved elusive.

Finding the real factors behind a team’s success, though, means being more than a reporter; you have to be an observer. You have to be able to go inside the numbers and separate the wheat from the chaff.

A Walk is as Good as a Hit

We take a lot of pride in that here at YanksGoYard. It’s what allowed us to put together this piece way back in May, entitled, Yankees OBP is the real hidden secret of their success:

But, while those are all worthy candidates, the driving force—the indispensable stat—is OBP. There is nothing more important than getting on base with great regularity because the ramifications dictate the game. The Yankees lead all MLB clubs. Aaron Judge is 3rd in the AL (.417), followed by Brett Gardner in 11th place (.373), Starlin Castro 13th (.372), and Matt Holliday 15th (.370).

On-base Percentage continues to drive the success of the Yankees, and most winning teams. It carried Judge through his mid-season struggles, and is the only major offensive stat that all five AL playoff teams have in common.

To make the playoffs, it was more important that BA, RBIs, or home runs; the Yankees finished third behind Houston and Cleveland. And it continues to drive their playoff success: Judge and Bird have the two best OBP’s in the ALCS.

The Yankees spent the first half of the season getting on base, and getting driven in with monster home runs. By late June, it was clear the Yankees were going to be buyers. And what they needed was pitching.

And Whom Did the Yankees Acquire?

That started a series of articles advising the Yankees, and the fans, on who to add, sometimes to comic effect.

I spent many, many hours researching and writing an article hubristically titled, The Yankees will add two of these relief pitchers before the All-Star game.

Every team and relief pitcher likely to be involved in a trade was looked in to, and articles from Des Moines to Modesto were poured over. The end result was an authoritative, exhaustive work of well over three thousand words.

But I forgot about David Robertson.

That means that not a single line of that piece is worth quoting here, as it did nothing to analyze or forecast the team. I will instead give that honor to reader and commentator Greg Antonacci, who astutely observed:

There’s a name that wasn’t mentioned in this article, and I’m not sure why, David Robertson. When we were just in Chicago, we were told everyone was available. If there’s a seventh inning man the Yanks know and should love, it’s David. They could reform a big three with Betances and Chapman. It would be costly in terms of prospects (or maybe Brian could talk them into Pineda’s “potential,”) but it’d put the Yanks over the top.

How right you were, and are. And thank god Brian Cashman reads the comments sections, and not just every article that appears on YGY.

Prospective Trades

But the biggest debate by far was if the Yankees should trade any of their top-ten prospects. And for whom.

By mid-season, close readings of the tea leaves told any observer that the Yankees were going to use part of 2017 to position themselves for the future, and that always included trading some of their best minor leaguers.

Reporters always feel good when they are close enough to the team to feel their vibes. It’s what made it a calculated decision to write, at five o’clock on July eighteenth: Yankees Brian Cashman might trade away a blue chip prospect today.

It is possible that the two teams are discussing a larger trade involving Sonny Gray; that would make Tyler very happy. But he might be the only one. Because to get Sonny Gray, the Yankees would have to give up a real, serious prospect. That probably means Blake Rutherford. The trade makes a lot of sense, although the Yankees would have to throw in a couple of mid-range pieces, including a pitcher.

Prediction Right, Opinion Wrong

Many Facebook commentators hoped otherwise; I was the predictor of at least the Yankees trade piece, but was not in favor of it then.

So, no, the Yankees should not trade Rutherford, Florial, or any other top prospect. If that makes the 2017 World Series farther away, so be it. We might still get another Dodgers-Yankees World Series soon. Just not this year.

But at midnight, the Yankees announced they had traded Blake Rutherford.

That trade brought back Todd Frazier, David Robertson, and Tommy Kahnle; no one questions that trade today, least of all me. I don’t know where this team would be without those three, but I know Rutherford is still in the minors.

It’s Easy When You’re not the GM

But that did not conclude the wheeling and dealing. Down to the tense last few days, and with the Yanks making it clear they were going to trade for a front-line starter at the cost of prospects, YanksGoYard repeatedly urged Cash to trade Jorge Mateo for a now pitcher, and keep Estevan Florial.

This from, Yankees need to trade Jorge Mateo and Domingo Acevedo for Sonny Gray:

But the Yankees pulled a great move earlier this year when they promoted Mateo as the trade market became more present in the minds of GM’s. He responded as his history suggested by having a great two weeks. His status was restored by some after his first game and the positive press has not stopped. They all have talent, but without the attitude and effort issues. If two of these players have to go, and they probably do, Mateo should be the first one out the Yankees door. Especially if it brings back Sonny Gray, Yu Darvish, or Chris Archer.

Seeing the Organization the same as the Yankees

And this from, Yankees have one last chance to learn their lesson from Jorge Mateo:

Last year at this time Jorge was the Yankees 3rd ranked prospect and 18th overall. But he was also in the middle of a disappointing year. Mateo spent most of 2015 hitting only .268/.338/.378. But he did steal 82 bases. He did worse than regress, however, in 2016, by slashing a mere .254/.306/.379, while stealing fewer than half as many bases (36). Worse yet, he began to show that he has an attitude problem and plays accordingly. His abilities got him named to the Futures Game last year; his position forced the Yankees to suspend him and miss playing in that game. He was not nominated for it this year. Most importantly, the trade scenario is perfect. The Oakland Athletics want to trade Sonny Gray for a centerfielder. Mateo has been playing center at Trenton to rave reviews. That window looks like it opened up again. If the Yankees strike now, they can maximize their entire farm system, trading who they don’t want and keeping the best players for themselves.

It turned out that the Yankees had learned their lesson. They traded Mateo and Dustin Fowler—although they swapped out Acevedo for James Kaprielian—for Gray.

Florial went on to prove himself one of the best players in all the minors, and is already starring in the Arizona Fall League. Mateo has played well since the deal and so hopefully the trade will benefit everyone.

The Man behind the Men

But no one single person was benefited more from the trading frenzy than Brian Cashman. His work in July was universally lauded; we joined in with a piece called, Yankees Brian Cashman and the judgment of the present hour.

It was a great chance to look at the pieces he added and wonder on where they could take the team, a team that was then floundering.

Cash has created a real championship contender for this year. Even Greg Bird now looks likely to return this season, solving the first base problem. That is not to say the Yankees will win anything, even the division. But, still, that is quite a distance to travel in one season: From playoff hopeful to possible World Series contender. The Yankees might not cross the river Jordan this year, but they have moved much closer to the promised land.

One Night with You

Not every player brought in has made headlines in the postseason, however. That doesn’t mean he has not been important to the team’s goals. In fact, YGY pointed out how Jaime Garcia’s trade was validated after just a few starts, in a Mike Calendrillo piece entitled, In one night, Jaime Garcia proved his worth to the Yankees.

But if Monday night’s 2-1 victory against those same Twins has taught us anything, it’s that besides from opening a much-needed 40-man roster spot with the trade of the 31-year-old oft-injured southpaw, is that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman firmly has a grasp on what’s best for this team. While I fully understand that Garcia’s 0-2 record and 3.86 ERA in 35 innings pitched for the Bombers isn’t quite Chris Sale-esque, his Postseason pedigree and ability to throw a slew of breaking balls for strikes make him much more valuable than prospects who weren’t going to sniff the Bronx anytime soon.

That is emblematic of all the forgotten games, and forgotten players, that it takes to make a championship season.

And that’s what the team needed. The story of the 2017 Yankees looked to be one of early success that hints at future glory, but ultimately fails in the now. By mid-August, it looked more likely that the Yankees might slip from playoff contention.

And then Take it to the Streets

However, while ill health is never an excuse for losing, it can be a reason for hope of more winning. It seemed that the team had kept its composure during its rough run and adding more talent might solve their problems.

It was that read on the team’s psyche that allowed us to write, while the team still slumped, The Yankees are about to get healthy and make the AL East sick.

The Yankees are not going to make any trades. They are not going to sign any pret-a-porter Cuban stars. But this team, a team already holding down a playoff spot and contending for the division title, is about to add four impact players, and finally, fulfill the vision of the most powerful offense in the east. Think of the implications. The Yankees will add two proven All-Stars and at least one player who looked every bit the All-Star when he was last healthy. And it might mean that Didi Gregorius–.307/.332/.501 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI’s—will bat ninth in this lineup. That might keep me awake at night, dreaming of the possibilities. But, more importantly, it might instill nightmares into the rest of the division…and put the Red Sox to sleep.

That fortunately proved to be true as, by the last series with Boston, the baby bombers were back.

They took that series and have not stopped taking series since. Tonight we’ll find out if they can take the entire American League.

Managing Expectations

If they do, some of the credit will have to go to manager Joe Girardi. Managers are often unfairly pilloried, and Girardi is no exception. But he earned his pilloring when he blew a replay opportunity in game two of the ALDS.

And he’s earned every bit of his redemption since then. Today everyone sings his praises; YanksGoYard, however, was loving Girardi when Girardi-loving wasn’t cool: Yankees Joe Girardi and the hobgoblins of little minds.

Through injuries and inconsistencies, suspensions and under performing free agents, Joe Girardi still has his team playoff bound. When they arrive, they will likely be rested and ready. And a lot of that is because of the patience and consistency of Joe Girardi. This is not to say that he is the perfect manager or never makes mistakes. Under Reliable Joe, the Yankees have made the playoffs five times. And only twice were they not either the best or second best team in the East. That’s the big picture of the effects of Joe Girardi and his consistent ways: Consistently maddening to the fans but consistently winning for the Yankees. I will finish this piece with an invitation for commentary and controversy: Joe Girardi is one of the best managers in baseball, and shouldn’t be allowed to leave the Yankees unless Casey Stengel becomes available.

It was easy to see that Girardi had steered this team through its worst moments of the regular season. And now everyone sees how Girardi leads his team with foresight and real Yankees passion.

The Heart of the Matter

Together—the talented youth, a focus on getting on base, steering through the regular season mine fields, and adding the right pieces—this season added up to a miraculous ride to game seven of the ALCS…so far.

But there is one essential element without which this team would not be where it is today. And it’s not a stat you can find in a box, nor something that can be measured in distance or speed. It’s what sabermetricians miss when they evaluate the game.

And that’s heart, the will and drive that almost forces you to overcome all obstacles, to find the best in yourself.

Leading by Example

Steve Contursi showed the heart inside the man who has become the heart of the team in a late-season article called, Yankees Aaron Judge: A story of wrongful conviction and redemption. It speaks to the innate ability that allows a rookie to excel, keeping your confidence when your abilities dessert you.

Instead, it’s the courage and determination he’s demonstrated in the aftermath when things haven’t gone so well. We’ve got a man and a ballplayer with loads of character here, who has already put up numbers (I would guess) less than five percent of the 600 major league players can better this year. And Judge is not done yet.

It was no surprise to Yankees observers that Judge and the team were able to overcome their mid-season slump. And it has been no surprise that they have been as resilient in the playoffs. This calm, cool, collected lot has been demonstrating their heart and will since early in the season.

And Winning for All

YGY commented on it even before the start of June, in an article we called, This Yankees team has lost, but has never been beaten:

Winning helps a team build confidence. But it’s the team that has the most determination and belief that has the real advantage. It’s the difference between having the best record entering the playoffs and having the most confidence in yourself and the players around you. And it’s why the team with the best record entering the playoffs has won only three of the last eight World Series. They have shown a resiliency and focus that has served them well and will serve them well. It’s a team that has already come back from 9-1 down in the late innings. A team that has gotten scores of uncounted hits with two outs and no one on. That won a game 3-2 with only two hits. YES shared a stat that helps us understand the players drive and belief. It showed the Yankees had brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning 10 out of the 17 times they were behind. That’s not just playing every game; it’s playing every inning of every game. A  Yankees team like that can only be outscored, but never beaten, never defeated.

And this is the 2017 Season, and Beyond

You cannot beat a team like that, a team that keeps going, never pausing to consider it might lose. That doesn’t mean that the Yankees will not lose any games; they certainly will. But it does mean that they will never give up or give in to the score; never stop believing in each other or hoping they can win.

Yankees and Yankees fans knew those words were true then, and the whole world knows of their veracity now.

Next: Now Read Why CC will Propel the Yankees to the World Series

That’s what this team has done all year: Make people believe they could do the impossible. We’ve followed them the whole way, sometimes out front and sometimes catching up. And we know why this team is special.

The Yankees will enter tonight’s game the favorite and are likely to advance to the World Series. But, no matter what happens, it has been a thrilling year to watch this team, write about their accomplishments, and be fans of the New York Yankees.