You want pessimism? I got your pessimism right here!

 From the brilliant mind but diseased computer of HoraceClarke66...

To steal from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, there is a mysterious cycle in the lives of sports teams. They reach certain peaks when they must win, or decline.

 

Little did we know, that peak for the current version of your New York Yankees was in 2017, when they came within one game of the World Series and fell short. This was due in part to rampant, still unpunished cheating on the part of their opponent.  But still.

 

Left to do the little things needed to get that team over the hump—find the right role players, make a deal for the right starter, augment the already strong bullpen—Brain Cashman failed, as always fails. The team’s fate was sealed when the real brains of the operation, Gary Denbo, followed Derek Jeter to sunnier climes.

 

Teams win championships, in every sport, with defense. This means, in baseball, pitching. The Yankees don’t have any. None that we can count on, anyway.

 

We have one reliable starter. One. We have zero, nada, no reliable bullpen arms. Not a one, right down to our closer, Aroldis Benitez Chapman.

 

Sure, Jameson Talleson could win 20 games. So could Corey Kluber, or Domingo German. The chances are infinitely greater they won’t win 20 games between them.

 

With the rest of the team, it’s the same old, same old. These Yankees cannot avoid injuries, and they cannot avoid the bizarre, total meltdowns of players who looked like budding superstars just a couple years ago.

 

Our catching is a disaster, with Gary Sanchez suited up and sent out there again like Don Quixote. Brain missed numerous opportunities to deal him, including in one instance for the best catcher in baseball today, J.T. Realmuto.

 

The infield has just been severely weakened by a critical injury to the best home run hitter in baseball last year. Brain will doubtless waste months on dubious replacements such as Jay Bruce.

 

The Gleyber started down the Sanchez road last season, and looks completely unequipped to play shortstop, the position where he was supposed to be a superstar. Instead, the Yankees are likely to be about the only team in baseball WITHOUT a superstar at short—and again Brain has cleverly failed to come up with a single, reliable infield backup. LeMahieu and Urshela are the only functioning cogs we have there—and even the stalwart Gio is coming off an injury.

 

The outfield looks awesome—on paper, which is where most of it usually remains. Sure, healthy seasons from Judge, Hicks, Frazier, Andujar, and The Millstone could carry this team alone, even without pitching, catching, or an infield. Not going to happen. Perpetually injured players do not get stronger with age. I’d say it’s even money that Gardy will play more OF games than any other single player on the team.

 

And as our Peerless Leader has noted, there is nobody in the wings, no minor league system to speak of. 

 

Sure, as many of you have pointed out, the Junior Circuit is not exactly full of titans this year. But I’m with Duque on this, too:  Those other teams have stables full of young players, who are not constantly injured and who won’t fall apart inexplicably, irretrievably, as ours do.

 

My pick:  Yankees, 77-85, as the death spiral of this consistently overrated and mishandled contender begins. 

 

For all of MLB:

 

AL East:

 

Tampa Bay—They may be small, but like Walt Whitman, they contain multitudes. They lost their two best starters? Watch three or four more rise out of their top-ranked farm system overnight. They still have Roid Boy Randy Arozarena—and Wander Franco will be the breakout shortstop in this division.

 

Toronto—The Florida sun will only help them. Their Heirloom Sluggers got into shape. Pencil them in for play-in spot.

 

NYY—Nuff ced.

 

Boston—Rebuilding, though, I’m sure.

 

Baltimore—Man, it’s hard, just to live…

 

 

AL Central:

 

ChiSox—Mostly because I just love writing, “ChiSox.” Also: “Pale Hose.”

 

Minnesota—Why not?

 

Kansas City.

 

Cleveland—In the midst of decomposing.

 

Detroit—Got a hell of a hockey team.

 

 

AL West:

 

Oakland—Billyball.

 

Seattle—For the other wild card, as the Brain’s disastrous Sheffield deal comes back to bite us.

 

Anaheim/L.A.—Still not an Otani believer.

 

Houston—On the way down.

 

Texas—Still rebuilding.

 

 

NL East:

 

Metsies—Well, I wouldn’t bet my testies on them. But I think this is really one of their wild and whacky years. Hope so—it’s the only thing that will get the Family Steinbrenner in gear.

 

Atlanta—For a wild card.

 

Miami—As Derek continues to overachieve.

 

Washington.

 

Philadelphia.

 

 

NL Central:

 

St. Louis—A competent organization in an incompetent division.

 

Milwaukee.

 

Chicago.

 

Cincinnati.

 

Pittsburgh.

 

 

NL West:

 

L.A.—The Dodgers dynasty continues. Yecch!

 

S.D.—The other wild card.

 

S.F.

 

AZ.

 

CO.

 

 

Play-ins:

 

Toronto over Seattle.

 

San Diego over Atlanta.

 

 

Playoffs:

 

TB over Toronto, 3-2.

 

ChiSox over Oakland, 3-2.

 

TB over ChiSox, 4-3, in the lowest rated ALCS ever.

 

 

L.A. over S.D., 3-2.

 

Metsies over St. Louis, 3-2.

 

Mets over L.A., 4-3, as the town turns orange and blue.

 

 

World Series:

 

Mets over TB, 4-3.

 

You heard it hear first.