Why the Yankees Will Lose the Pennant Again, Pt. IV

 

I'm all sixes and sevens and nines

Say now, baby, I'm the rank outsider

You can be my partner in crime...

—The Stones

So the main, final reason why the Yankees will once again fail to win the American League pennant this season and fall short of the World Series is...

                                                          SITUATIONAL HITTING

The reason why even Brian Cashman's teams can finish first with some (slowing) regularity, and then do nothing in the postseason, is that there are differences between the long season and the short one. 

For starters, there is very little garbage time in October. You are much more likely to see top starters, followed by top relievers, with everybody playing all-in, nearly all the time. You'll rarely see teams concede games when they get a few runs down, or keep in bad pitchers just to save arms down the road.

It's a big reason why so many power hitters—so many great hitters of all types—can have terrible short series. 

What's the answer to this? Stocking up on variety. Lefthanded hitters as well as righties (and switch-hitters, often invaluable). Guys who make contact and get on—or can make contact and knock in key runs with a single as well as a home run.

The Yankees of 1976-1981 and 1994-2001 had such hitters in bushels. The Yankees of today do not. In fact, their hitters are trained not to be situational.

Even as big a swing-for-the-fences guy as Reggie Jackson—one of the all-time greatest postseason players—shortened up, and knocked a single through the infield the second time he faced Bob Welch, in 1978. A few minutes later, Lou Piniella singled in the winning run for the Yanks in ten innings, evening the Series at 2-2. The next day, the Yankees hit two doubles and sixteen singles, to route the Dodgers, 12-2. 

Earlier that season, during the "Boston Massacre," the Yanks had seventeen singles, and then thirteen singles, in consecutive games up in Boston. They scored a total of 28 runs in those two contests.

They could beat you with the long ball, and they could beat you with the bloop.

Same with the 1994-2001 Yankees, who fought through terrible postseasons on the part of players like Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez to win anyway. Who can forget Paul O'Neill fouling off pitch after pitch, to keep Game One of the 2000 Series alive against Armando Benitez—or Jose Vizcaino slashing his fourth single of the night to win that game in the 12th?

Don't expect to see any restraint, any adjustments to the count or the game situation, any concession at all to the idea that baseball is a game of skill and nuance as well as power, in the Yanks' brief stay in the 2024 postseason. For that matter, don't expect to see a Reggie hip wiggle or a Jeter dash across the field to flip a relay home. 

And don't blame the players. Their mediocrity is bred in the bone.