2021: The Year of the Great Yankee Gaslighting

Well, it's over - 2021 - and good riddance. Once again, our $2000 million team couldn't reach a post-season. (I don't consider playing in the Wild Card as "reaching the post-season." Boston made it. We didn't.)

For many teams, reaching the wild card would mean a good year. Not for the Yankees. Right now, across the fan base, absolutely nobody feels good about this team. Go onto any site or social network. Everyone is pissed, throwing feces, demanding to know how we came to be so inept.  

I think the answer is simple. This year, the Yankees gaslighted us. 

Damn, they're good at it. But why wouldn't they be. They own the fucking TV network that covers them. The Yankee Entertainment System - YES - churns out propaganda 24-7. Meanwhile, the NYC sports media is more obsessed with mere survival to actually holding the franchise accountable. Today, they'll rant along with the chorus, but next week, they'll be begging for interviews, hat in hand. 

They gaslighted us into viewing YES announcers as actual journalists, rather than paid mouthpieces. They'll rip a player for not hustling. But they never question upper management. They applaud every Yankee deal as a triumph of the front office. They rain upon us so much crapola that we are dizzy over the accounts and descriptions of ESPN or Fox hosts  - who simply aren't on the direct Yankee payroll.  (They are on the MLB tab, though. There is virtually no independent oversight of the Yankees.)

They gaslighted us on the acquisition of Joey Gallo and Rougned Odor - both of whom had been jettisoned by baseball's worst team. Texas had seen enough.  

They gaslighted us on the bullpen, which last spring was hailed as the best in baseball.  

They gaslighted us on Clint Frazier's "legendary bat speed"- and Gary Sanchez, who grows increasingly distant from his rookie season. 

They gaslighted us on Jasson Dominiquez - "The Martian" - an 18-year-old bonus baby who played in the Futures Game before getting his first Single A hit. Last spring, they hyped him as their top prospect. He's now No. 2. 

They gaslighted us about the nine-man batting order, despite having only one LH bat:  Aaron Hicks, a switch-hitter, who soon disappeared. A Yankee team... with no lefty hitter? They said it didn't matter.

They gaslighted us into thinking the Yankees were AL favorites - a notion that now seems laughable.  

Part of the blame is ours. We devoured all the bullshit that their public relations staff pumped out.

The Yankees won't change under the current regime. Brian Cashman cannot afford to rebuild for a year. The Yankees would fall out of contention - (though with the wild card, that's hard to do) - and attendance would drop. So next July, they'll trade whatever prospects they have to get into the race. 

And next October, we will just be angry again.

Gaslighted.