October Without The Yanks…It’s About Time!!

Baseball was on the verge of a player’s strike, There appeared to be a chance of peace in the Middle East, and Willam Clinton was inaugurated as President of the United States. These events all that occured in the year 1993, the last full season of baseball in which the New York Yankees missed the postseason. It appears that the Yanks will miss this season’s playoffs and will be taking an extended vacation for the first time in over a decade.

In his first season as manager, Joe Girardi has had a lot to deal with. Injuries to staff aces Chien Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain, as well as disappointing performances from pitching prospects Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, have really set the Yankees pitching back a year or so. Girardi is not to blame for the Yankees shortcomings this season and has done well in dealing with all of the issues the team has faced this season.

While over in Queens, the Mets are playing the best baseball they have played all year, sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers. Yankees fans across the borough of Manhattan have been relatively quiet once they are engaged in conversation about their beloved Yanks, and they have good reason to be so. It is very strange to observe the shift in the relationship between Yankees and Mets fans. After the Subway Series, Mets fans were afraid to take the TriBorough to be seen amongst the pinstripe faithfuls. Oh how times have changed in the new millenium…

The Yankees being apart of October baseball has been so rudimentary over the last 14 years that it’s hard to imagine a playoff series without them. There won’t be any constant attention on A-Rod and each At Bat he gets in the postseason. Derek Jeter won’t be able to make a game saving play, or get a leadoff single to start a Yankee rally in the 9th inning. Mariano Rivera isn’t going to be closing out the last game of a series in dominating fashion as usual. And as far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Sure, it will be upsetting to miss A-Rod throwing his bat down after striking out with runners in scoring position, but I can wait til next year to see that. But is it possible that there may not be a playoff apperance next year for the Yankees also? Are we seeing a shift in power, not only in the AL East, but also in the city of New York? 

As a college student in one of the greatest cities in the world, it is easy to see how people’s reactions and emotions fluxuate as a baseball season goes along. At the start of the year, Mets fans were still getting over last year’s debacle and Yankees fans were excited about seeing Joba and company in action. Yankees fans were throwing out bold predictions, while Mets fans were patiently waiting for their team to reach their full potential, and were tired of watching the soap opera with Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph. Mets fans were quiet about Johan Santana, and his shaky start and how he would pitch down the stretch. At the trade deadline, the Yanks made noise, while the Mets sat still.

That brings us to today, where the tides have turned, and possibly may stay this way for quite some time. Even walking to class is a new experience. People who would love nothing more than to talk to me for hours about baseball, now say they don’t have time to talk or just don’t want to talk about it. Even radio shows are now swarmed with more Mets callers and listeners, while Yankees fans turn their radio’s off. The question I pose is, Do I really want to live in a world like this? Sure, it has its perks, but something about it just doesn’t feel right.

Getting what you want could be a very scary thing. Sometimes, you realize that what you wanted the entire time isn’t what was going to make you happy. On occasion, it’s the thing that you hate the most that gets you out of bed everday. Perhaps you need that villain, that Darth Vader to your Luke Skywalker, to make you feel complete. I’ll enjoy this Yankees playoff hiatues for now, but 5 years down the road, I wonder how I will feel about it then.