Now that the Super Bowl has wrapped (with an all-time Eagles choke from a defense we were promised was otherworldly?), it's officially baseball season.
More specifically, it's time for the 2023 New York Yankees to avenge whatever plagued them in the second half of the 2022 season and get back to being the championship-level team they were through mid-June.
Adding Carlos Rodón and locking up Aaron Judge feels a lot more meaningful if these guys want to be a 120-win juggernaut again, doesn't it?
Either way, it's nearly go time, which never felt more real than during the waning seconds of the big game when the city of New York collectively realized Aaron Hicks and Josh Donaldson were both still on their roster with spring training around the corner. That's enough to make you cry big, heavy tears, Nick Sirianni-style.
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Best Super Bowl memes about Nick Sirianni crying, Yankees 2023 season
Apologies to the Eagles head coach (not really), but whichever camera operator caught him crying during Chris Stapleton's National Anthem on Sunday night had to know he'd struck meme gold.
Somehow, though, the meme was mostly used to represent a sigh of relief rather than sadness. So, to keep it straight, Crying Jordan is for when you lose a Super Bowl and surrender 38 points, and Crying Sirianni is for when your top prospect gets promoted?
Good to know, noted.
Chin up, though, Philly! It's baseball season for you, too, and you're coming off a World Series berth. You might have the same evil smirk in your eyes that Yankees fans are bringing to their Quest for 28 in 2023.
In this case, the "b***h" who better have our money has a name, and it's Hal Steinbrenner.
Yup. As soon as the final whistle sounded, it was open season on baseball talk, which meant Yankees Twitter emerging en masse from the woodwork to talk about Oswald Peraza.
... of course, that also meant everyone realized at the same time that their two least favorite Yankees were still in position to start on Opening Day.
Like, it's for real, at this point.
Not to be overshadowed by the Super Bowl, the Yankees -- of course they did -- brought us some injury news on what was supposed to be an otherwise celebratory day.
Nestor Cortes Jr. pulled out of the World Baseball Classic on Monday -- or, more likely, Brian Cashman enthusiastically pulled him -- with a Grade 2 hamstring strain that will keep him off a mound for two weeks.
Before you Sirianni all over yourself, though, remember the team limited Cortes' innings (annoyingly) last August. Maybe they'll do the same in the cold April weather this time instead of actively removing a key starter down the stretch?
Hope springs eternal, Yankees fans ... unless you also happen to be Eagles fans, like Tommy Kahnle. Sorry.