Believe it or not: The Yankees are still the most successful post-season team of the New Millenium

Note: I wouldn't argue this too boisterously, because there's a point where one must balance loyalty to the Yankees with personal self-esteem.

But the fact is, since the calendar turned over on Y2K, the Yankees have won more post-season games than any other MLB franchise. You can look it up.

MLB Post-Season Victories Since 1999.

Yankees 63

Cardinals 58

Redsocks 46

Giants 35

Nobody else close.

Keep in mind that a World Championship means at least 11 post-season wins. (Twelve, if it includes the one-day Wild Card.) If the Yankees go two or three years without a post-season, they will likely be overtaken.

Also, if you wish to measure the New Millennium by World Series rings - which is quite valid - New York is already behind Boston and San Francisco. History might view them - not the Yankees - as the dynastic teams of the new century.

What's most worrisome for Yankee fans is MLB's New World Order, where the rules have been rewritten to destroy the financial advantage of large market teams.

I believe then when markets are equalized - much like in the NFL - the bigger cities actually face a disadvantage. Teams fall under ridiculous media scrutiny, which smaller, more nimble franchises don't have to deal with. (Keep in mind, the NFL hasn't even been able to field a team in LA. I think Los Angeles simply has too many distractions for the blood sport of football.)

Year after year, the Cardinals and Giants seem to fly under the national media radar until late September. They are brilliantly run organizations and deserve nothing but praise for their success. But they don't have to do it in a 24/7, NY-LA headline-scandal cauldron. They don't have 20 beat writers constantly churning controversy, coupled with the need to be ruling tabloid back pages.

In the next few years, to re-right their listing ship, the Yankees must change their ways. What's distressing here is that Brian Cashman certainly knows this - he's no idiot - so how did he allow the farm system to become so barren? It's not the old days under King George, where the Yankees have been trading away their best prospects. For all the complaints against Cashman, he hasn't done a Jay Buhner boner. Still, the team cannot seem to develop impact players.

If it's meddling by the ownership - and let's face it, we all suspect this - should we rightfully have hope that this organization can quickly reverse course? We might be facing a dark period, similar to the one under Old George in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

In the next several weeks, we will know whether the Yankees are doubling down on their old ways - that is, running out and signing yesterday's stars to long, agonizing contracts - or keeping slots open for young guys, most notably Rob Refsnyder, to play their way into pinstripes. Stay tuned.