These days, the Yankiverse is a sad, dark place

Hello, Darkness, my old friend; I've come to speak with you again...

What will future Yankeestorians say of this decade - the twenty-teens - that 10-year stretch in which the once-legendary franchise won... nothing? 

How will they remember the worst Yankee decade in history - a period when the team-owned media constantly assured us that all was fine, that its rising stars would end up in Monument Park, and its front office was destined for Cooperstown.

Can you imagine Old-Timers Day 2025? Look, daddy, there's Greg Bird! Remember him? And Gary Sanchez! Wow, he's sure put on weight! And there's Luis Severino! Remember that incredible half-season he had?

This is the world of state-owned media - sports-style. In it, we constantly hear that the Yankees will soon snap from their doldrums and vault into the post-season. That's not Lyle Overbay at first. It's Bird, ready to break-out any second. And that's not Chris Bootcheck on the mound. It's Luis Cessa, the promising young arm! And that's not Austin Romine behind the plate. It's - wait - actually, it is!

For the last two years, we've been swamped by hopeful reports about a farm system bursting with talent. We've watched a stream of Kevin Maases who explode onto the scene and then slide into a tedious, painful mediocrity, like a frog boiling in water. It happens so slowly that you don't even notice it.

I guess we're supposed to take solace from the Wild Card race. Last night, Seattle beat Oakland, keeping our lead over the A's at 4 games in the loss column. Trouble is, the Mariners have now closed to 7, and they pose are much darker threat than simply losing home field advantage. They represent the Knockout Round, the disturbing image of the mighty 2018 Yankees going home Oct. 5 without even a one-game post-season, carving their legacy as one of the most disappointing teams in Yankee history. 

Today, two countering theories dominate our world.

1. The team is simply in a rough patch. Soon, Aaron Judge will return, igniting the lineup, and maybe Gary Sanchez, too. Severino will figure out his problems, and the bullpen will come around. This team has enough talent - and a large enough lead - to weather the storm. Yes, we must win the Wild Card game, but once into the playoffs, we'll be as dangerous as any team standing. If we're hot in October, that's all that matters. 

2. The chickens have come home to roost. We were always a plane designed with three wings and one propeller. This fate was sealed in amber last winter, when we couldn't resist trading for Giancarlo Stanton - a great player who, nevertheless, was not the pitcher we needed. With Food Stamps Hal Steinbrenner obsessed over evading luxury taxes, the 2018 season became a bizarre exercise in all-for-nothing austerity. We never addressed our pitching issues. Now, we face the very real chance that our rising "stars" - Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, even Gleyber Torres - were just flash-in-the-pans. And our vaunted farm system, now drained to middling status, offers an endless spigot of Tommy John surgeries and Luis Cessa. 

Tonight, this debate could reach a crossroads. While it's way too early to assign all-or-nothing status to one game, the Yankees tonight could lose a home series to Tampa - Tampa! - a team that effectively punched out of the race several weeks ago. This was supposed to be a time of tomato cans, when the Yankees sewed up the Wild Card and floated toward a healthy October. 

Instead, we are reminded that this is might not be the New York Yankees of 27 world championships... that these are the Yankees of a different millennium, and we remain mired in a dark, tedious decade, the worst in history. If so, nothing they can say will make a difference. The sounds of silence...