Neither tomato can nor contender, Seattle's arrival gives the Yanks a chance to widen their path to the wild card

Okay, we've said this before - proclaiming ridiculously that the next few days will define the 2021 Yankee season. That's not only adolescent-level naivety, but it's patently absurd: a 162-game season has ample room for streaks and slumps.

That said, the next four games against Seattle could define the 2021 Yankee season. 

(Ahh, I remember youth! )

Last time we pressed the Forbin Project (scary movie!) panic button, it was in anticipation of the Midsommar (scarier movie!) mini-gauntlet of Boston and Tampa, whom we played shorthanded due to the Outbreak (scariest movie!) From our Google-search crow's nest, it looked like a make-or-break iceberg, dead ahead. Who anticipated the giant "meh" - that is, a split, which is what happened. We went in seven games down, we came out seven games down. (Thanks to Miami and Baltimore, our tomatocan pals, we have closed the gap.) 

Now comes Seattle, a franchise that in recent years has functioned as sort of a halfway house for ex-Yankee refugees - Joggy Cano, Ben Gamel, Justus "Is Not Equal" Sheffield and the last desperate gasps of Ichiro - but which now presents itself as a challenge to our wild card final berth wet dream. 

T'wuz a fortnight, not long ago 'neath the twain, when the Mar'ners were one of the few teams who would trade with the unscrupulous Yankees (Pittsburgh being another astral partner.) These days, everybody wants in on the Death Barge farm, and Seattle's ex-Yank influences boil down to only Sheffield, Shed Long (a 2B who was a Yankee for only a few hours) and Luis Torrens, a serviceable catcher, whom the Padres took from us in the 2017 Rule 5 draft - a move so unsettling to Brian Cashman that he now trades minor league depth pieces rather than potentially lose them. Hence, Joey Gallo, Andrew Rizzo, Clay Holmes, Andrew Heaney - the New Mutants, as seen on TV.

This weekend, we could conceivably knock Seattle out of our field of wild card fantasies. A sweep could leave them looking up at the Angels, and - dear God - nobody ever wants to be doing that. 

Meanwhile, the Death Barge barely goes 24-hours without a wave of roster changes, which seem to go from confusion to chaos. Forget the bullpen, where a cast of faceless characters resembles the doomed extras in a Star Trek expedition. Now, it's the outfield. Last night, they unveiled Jonathan Davis, a 29-year-old castoff from Toronto, who replaced Luis Gil, who replaced Nestor Cortez, who replaced - um - forget it.

Long gone are Clint Frazier, Miguel Andujar and Aaron Hicks - so far from the current orbit that they strain our memories: Were they real or were they Memorex? 

Soon, the roster musical chairs will involve Luke Voit. Then, kaboom, we'll see how gutsy Cashman wants to be. Could the Yankees move Joey Gallo into CF, play Giancarlo in LF, and let Luke DH? I'd say, fuck yeah. Desperate times mean desperate measures. And let's face it, Cashman runs this team, and he's got his own reality. These next four games won't make or break the Yankees. But a sweep would be nice, and anything less than a split will have the jackals - of which I am one - howling for blood.