Yesterday was supposed to be a day of celebration; the Yankees officially clinched the AL East division title, Joe Girardi's has his first ever playoff birth, and the Yankees achieved their 100th victory. While champagne and beer was sprayed about the Yankess clubhouse after their 4-2 victory over division rival, the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees reality did not set in until today. Nothing has been accomplished when your the Yankees and you have made the playoffs.
Just a week ago, I wrote about how the Yanks had huge rotation decisions to be made, and those decisions were made easier after this Yankees sweep of the Sox, as Burnett, Sabathia and Pettite have all looked incredibly good. Super. The Yankees line-up continues to mash, with Hideki Matsui playing his best baseball in years, A-Rod looking healthy and Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Jonny Damon and Mark Texiera all adding exclamation points on some of the best years of their respective careers. Awesome. Jeter and Texeira are both MVP candidates, Rivera and Sabathia both will be in the Cy Young mix. Great. But who cares?
You see, it's simple. If the Yankees don't win in the first round of the playoffs and go deep in the ALCS, the half a billion dollars spent in the off-season, incredible offensive seasons, and 100+ victories will be for naught, because these are the Yankees and anything short of ultimate success is failure. The gift is the curse in the Bronx, let the real season begin in 2 weeks, the one that matters.
*The Yankees ended the season series with the Red Sox 9-9 after starting out losing their first 8 games against the Sox. Boston can't feel good having lost 9 of their last 10 against the Yankees.
*Since Mariano Rivera's rookie season in 1995, and the beginning of the Wild Card era, the Yankees have 11 AL East titles, the most division titles won by any franchise.
*The Yankees lead the majors with 49 comeback wins this season.
Keywords: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees
