Oh, they are fun to watch. Especially when they come back from a 5-0 deficit against what looks like a playoff bound Seattle Mariners team and win with a walkoff homer by Giancarlo Stanton in the bottom of the 9th, like they did tonight.
After a game tying homer by the hopefully formerly struggling Gary Sanchez. He’s only hitting .191, but has 41 RBIs anyway.
They managed to get ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East despite Sanchez, Stanton and Bird underperforming at the plate…. but perhaps Sanchez and Stanton are getting hot?
Who knows?
Will rookie pitchers like German and Loaisiga develop the way Severino has?
Dunno. Hope so!
All I know is that these guys remind me more and more of the Yanks circa mid 1990s, when Jeter was the hotshot rookie, when they first brought Pettite, Rivera and Posada up to join Bernie Williams and a few established vets like Jimmy Key and David Cone… and they went on an amazing tear for years, peaking in 98-99 looking unbeatable. Now they got Judge, Sanchez, Torres, Adujar, Severino, German, Frazier and Bird coming up from the minors to join the vets Stanton, Sabathia, Tanaka, Chapman and Gardener… it feels a lot like a long run is beginning for this group.
I’d love to see another run like that from another home-grown group of Yankee stars, and not just to make me feel 20 years younger.
More than that, really, since the magic of watching baseball makes me feel like a starry eyed nine year old again watching heroes supposedly bigger than life. Probably why I’ll never stop watching, although it’d be nice if the baseball cards weren’t so damn expensive as opposed to when I actually WAS 9 and you got 10 cards in a pack for a dime.
And yes, get off my lawn.
And tonight, Stanton was the big hero – it seems like it’s a different guy every night, one of those magical intangibles that always wind up being the hallmark of a championship team.
It’s still early. The Red Sox look really solid and the division will be tough. The Astros, Mariners, Angels and Indians are all pennant-capable teams in the AL, which looks a lot tougher than the NL about now. So we’ll see what happens in the end, especially with the extremely lame one-and-out wild card playoff.
The Yanks could win 100+ games, but if they finish second the the Sox, they could wind up in a 1 game playoff against the likes of Justin Verlander, fresh off rejuvenating sex with Kate Upton.
Although, at least there IS a playoff. The 1954 Yankees won 103 games and finished 2nd to the Indians. They got to stay home and watch the Giants win the Series.
Is this the year? I hope so, but who knows? I’m optimistic that “THIS IS THE YEAR!!!!” will be a reasonable sentiment for many years to come with the core of young stars the Yankees have and are developing.
Jim Berkin 
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