It's deja-vu all over again.

I was going to write that last night’s performance was the worst one I’d ever seen from a Yankees team in October. Then I realized that I’d seen it all before.

Remember 2006? That was the year the Yanks had the lineup Jim Leyland described as “Murderers’ Row plus Cano.” The team scored 930 runs that season, and went into the ALDS a heavy favorite against Leyland’s sagging Tigers.

But after an impressive, overpowering win in the series opener, Mike Mussina painstakingly, agonizingly gave away a 3-1 lead in Game Two, at the Stadium. (A young pitcher named Justin Verlander got the start in that one for Detroit.)

After that, they were down to starting a very old Randy Johnson (17-11, 5.00), and Jaret Wright (11-7, 4.49). Guys like Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Villone, and a pitched-out Scott Procter were in the bullpen.

Things quickly went from bad to worse. In Detroit, they were shutout by Kenny Rogers (!), and then all the wheels came off in Game 4, as they made two errors and could score only two runs off Jeremy Bonderman.

A-Rod hit .071 on the series, and was dropped to 8^th in the order by the last game. Sheffield hit .083, Cano, .133. 

Sound familiar?

It’s pretty much the same thing every year, with the shining exception of 2009. And even that season, the Yanks ended up having to pitch Andy Pettitte on short rest.

Nearly every year since Brian Cashman let 700 wins walk off the team with Pettitte, Clemens, and Wells after the 2003 season—and got nothing in return—the Yanks have gone into the playoffs with a team full of muscle-bound sluggers but short on starting pitching, and usually thin in the bullpen and on the bench as well.

Throw in poor fundamentals, some atrocious fielding and inexplicable managerial decisions, and voila! You have the recipe for one dreary slog after another through the postseason.

2004: superior Red Sox pitching eventually shuts down the Yanks’ bats, there’s no one to replace Olerud when he gets hurt, and NYY tries to win Game 7 with Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez.

2005, a crucial error by A-Rod, another awful start by Randy Johnson, and, go no, Aaron Small comes out small. 2007, Joba is eaten alive by midges as his manager looks on, and the Yanks hit a rousing .228 on the Series. 

2010, shut down by Cliff Lee, the big starter the Yanks couldn’t get (hey, they would’ve had to give up Jesus Montero!), and 2011-2012, Verlander again, and Keuchel in 2015, and the Astros in 2017, and Stanton flailing last year…

I would write that this happens again and again and again. But that’s not really accurate. Eleven times out of their last 12 postseasons, your New York Yankees have been eliminated in almost exactly the same manner.

It’s more like: again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.

And, oh yeah, once it worked.

If you had an old car that wouldn’t start 11 days out of 12, you’d junk it. If you had a truck stop lighter that wouldn’t light 11 times out of 12, you’d throw it away.

And if your team loses in the exact same way 11 times out of 12…well, you tune in again next year.