That we know in part because their frequently chastised, four-time World Series champion general manager Brian Cashman told us it was a disaster — not in some end-of-season wrap-up, mind you, but with nearly six weeks left and eternally hopeful manager Aaron Boone still publicly speculating about playoff possibilities.
Cashman was clearly convinced of this early on, and properly as it turned out. (Side note: the average Yankee fan would say it’s the only time he’s been correct since stumbling upon Gerrit Cole, baseball’s top pitcher, nearly five years ago.)
It wasn’t just Cashman’s words that verified it. All true Yankee fans recognized it as a disaster based on the long-held standard of none other than George M. Steinbrenner (they haven’t won the World Series since his death in 2010, so the M now stands for Much Loved).
Anyway, Steinbrenner established the criterion, which is essentially this:
1. A season without winning the World Series is considered a failure.
2. Any season that ends without a postseason berth is a failure.
So, now that we’ve finished with the tragedy that was 2023, let’s go on to brighter things, which should begin Tuesday. Things are looking up not only for the Yankees, but also for Las Vegas oddsmakers, who have set them as the favorite in the always loaded AL East (save for the alleged rival Red Sox, whose owner appears to enjoy soccer and golf today).
The experts have crowned the Yankees as MLB’s premier club, despite the fact that they ended 19 games behind the new kids on the block, the Baltimore Orioles, a former Yankees patsy — remember when Gleyber Torres homered virtually every game against them? And that forecast continues even after the Orioles signed former NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes (not to mention a new owner who must be better than the previous one).
As best as I can tell, there are two primary reasons why the Yankees are viewed as fast shifting from disaster to likely division champion. The first option is obvious.
Yes, of course, it’s the acquisition of Juan Soto — for nearly all of their rotation depth — who is one of the finest hitters in the game and, along with Aaron Judge, forms the strongest batting combo in the American League. Cases might be made for Shohei Otani, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts, or Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, and Austin Riley in the other league.
My own semiofficial ranking has Judge as the game’s best hitter, followed by Yordan Alvarez at No. 2 and Soto at No. 3. Even if you disagree with my ranking, there’s no denying that the Soto-Judge combination is one of the best in the history of baseball’s franchise of hitting icons, trailing only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and, at least in 1961, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.
Some chastised Soto for his purported “off year” in 2023, but it was nothing compared to the Yankees’ disastrous season. In his apparently poor season, Soto had a.930 OPS, 35 home runs, 109 RBI, and 132 walks, an MLB-high. He also had a 158 OPS-plus, which is exactly one point higher than the career mark of a guy who is about to seal up Cooperstown while still in his 20s.
The other reason the Yankees will be better — and this is the most important one — is that they don’t have those types of seasons. It isn’t their thing. That is why they can still proudly declare their 82-80 year calamitous.
Since Judge’s birth year, the Yankees have not had a worse season. That would be 1992, the same year Buck Showalter debuted as a baby-faced rookie manager. So they need to improve, correct?
Putting aside the obvious feelings of the Bleacher Creatures and their pinstripe-clad buddies, playing the also-ran was simply not in their DNA during the Cashman era. Cashman is somewhat (somewhat!) understandably under fire from Yankee fans for a few years of missteps — the commissions of Carlos Rodon, Joey Gallo, and Frankie Montas, the omissions of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Luis Castillo, the extension of Aaron Hicks, and the expectations of Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier — but his teams have still made the playoffs 23 times, more than any other GM in history.
Fair or not, the consensus is that 2023 is an unmentionable, unrepeatable fluke, when debilitating injuries (Anthony Rizzo, Montas, Rodon, Judge, Jose Trevino, Nestor Cortes, and a host of relievers) and stunning underperformance (Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, and Rodon yet again) conspired to kill a season that originally promised more of the same, which is an October berth and a chance at World Series title No. 28 (known better to Yankee fans as their first since 2009
Yes, there are questions. The Soto trade depleted the Yankees’ rotation depth, putting a premium on Cortes’ return to health, Rodon’s comeback, and a return to normalcy for Long Island’s own Marcus Stroman, who has pleaded to be a Yankee for life.
Start with the game’s best hitter (Judge) and pitcher (Cole), enough talent to compliment them even if they appear to be a little top-heavy, and early reports of better health/shape than in 2023, and the Yankees couldn’t do any worse.
