It Probably Wasn't Going to Happen: Yankees Edition

Yeah, it's time for me to eulogize my own beloved Yankees. Not especially excited to do this, but it needs to be done.

When the season started, I was kind of optimistic. The two imports, Chapman and Castro, were playing well, the Three Headed Monster in relief was working, and Carlos Beltran was surprisingly hitting. I mean, the rest of the team wasn't very impressive, but those parts were making me optimistic.

Now, the rest of the division reared its ugly head eventually, and we figured out that the Orioles and Red Sox were going to be the real competitors this season. Yes, the Jays should be in there too, but they don't decide that until July usually, and it usually never gets them anywhere.

I came to terms with the fact that they were likely gonna be a non-factor this season. Yes, they'd win games and have some good players every once and a while, but this obviously wasn't their year. The Sox had it, they were much better, and I was waiting for them to clinch in, like, July.

And then...the kids came up. And the picture changed.

Once Gary Sanchez, Luis Cessa, Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge entered the picture, so did the momentum. Sanchez has hit 20 home runs faster than practically anybody in history, even that guy that everybody applauded in April for hitting 10 in record time (who's injured now). The youth refueled the team, so that even the guys that were here started playing better- Tanaka improved, Ellsbury stayed healthy, Didi and Starlin rocked it, and the team started playing better as a unit, which was weird.

I, unlike a lot of Yankees fans, didn't get too excited. I knew that this wasn't their year, and to not get my hopes up because I knew what would happen. First of all, I knew that they'd never catch up to Baltimore and Toronto, and I knew the Wild Card race was already hella tough. Also, I knew the momentum would be finite, and it was- Judge landed on the DL, and the team, whose youth once defined them, suddenly was being called 'TOO young' by the media.

So, the Yankees aren't going to make the playoffs. It wasn't their year, and it's still not their year. However...next year, when they get Judge and Bird back...that's looking pretty damn good.

Coming Tonight: Infielder for the team that just clinched the NL East.