ESPN's hilarious hater-fueled Yankees prediction is perfect motivation for 2024

That didn't take long. After the New York Yankees made quick work of the AL powerhouse Houston Astros, the NL Champion Arizona Diamondbacks, and notched two more series wins against the Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins, everyone was ready to dismiss the early success.

"Ha, look at those teams' records! They're not good!" Yes, have you paid attention? The Yankees pounded them into the dirt. That's why their records are bad. And also, a "bad" record two weeks into the season doesn't define a team's true potential. Time to grow up and lead an adult life.

But ESPN perhaps took thinks a bit further. They dropped their 2024 MLB predictions which featured their "hottest takes." Oh no! Don't burn me!

There is a positive Yankees prediction in here, but it also comes with a slight. We'll get to that in a minute. But the first one couldn't be more classic coming from members of the national media.

AJ Mass, ESPN's Fantasy and Sports Betting writer, and who seems like a cool guy, took his hot take to an uncomfortable temperature, and predicted the Yankees will not make the playoffs ... but said the New York Mets would.

Now, early season success has nothing to do with a team's 162-game performance, but this was when the Yankees were off to an MLB-best start and the Mets were ... 5-7.

ESPN's hilarious hater-fueled Yankees prediction is perfect motivation for 2024

The Mets are now 8-8 and the Yankees still have the best record in MLB at 12-5 as of Tuesday morning. It's just exhausting to see/hear all these people picking against the Yankees for no other reason than to see them crash and burn after acquiring the best hitter in baseball. Everyone wants to see them fail so Juan Soto doesn't re-sign.

It's understandable but ... it's not entirely realistic? The main argument seems to be "the AL East is really good!" but the Boston Red Sox are arguably worse than ever, the Tampa Bay Rays have taken a massive step back after losing a ton of talent in the offseason, and the Toronto Blue Jays remain underwhelming and got worse year over year. The Baltimore Orioles are a legitimate threat, but they're still a young team with next to no playoff/high-leverage experience.

We will indeed see what happens, but the rest of the AL is kind of weak, too. The Central remains the worst division in baseball and the AL West isn't making anyone shake in their boots.

But that won't stop ESPN from trying to dump their bad juju on the Yankees. Last week, Buster Olney off-handedly predicted Gerrit Cole wouldn't return in 2024. Just for no reason. Because "elbow injuries are unpredictable." Great take.

ESPN's "positive" Yankees prediction has "Anthony Volpe producing more value in his age-23 season than Derek Jeter did." Always gotta have the Jeter slander in there somehow. We'll take an All-Star Volpe season and a Yankees playoff run, thank you very much. Talk in October.