The Baltimore Orioles defeated the New York Yankees, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon. Kevin Gausman was once again brilliant against New York, Zach Britton put the finishing touches on a perfect season as closer, and the Birds let the champagne fly in the locker room, as the win clinched a spot for them in the Wild Card game. Matt Wieters hit two home runs to power the Baltimore attack, while Brian McCann tallied his ninth consecutive 20-homer campaign with a solo shot. Gary Sanchez threw out two runners in a single inning.
In a way, the game was unremarkable, yet another quiet loss to a division rival. The Yankees are not a playoff team, and this game showed it. But this game was so much more.
First and foremost, this was the final game of Mark Teixeira’s career. Tex finished as the fifth-best homer-hitting switch-hitter (hyphens!) of all time. He finished with 37 career WARP, 409 home runs, and five Gold Gloves on his mantle. He has the most home runs in the new Yankee Stadium. The second half of Teixeira’s tenure in pinstripes was frustrating at times due to his injury issues, but there is no denying that he is a huge reason why the 2009 championship happened, and that he had a marvelous career. His affable presence endeared him to his teammates and to fans everywhere. For a moment last year, it seemed that the old Teixeira was back. He and Alex Rodriguez found the fountain of youth, and pushed the Yankees towards the playoffs until they could no more. The Wild Card game against the Astros was painful, but the Yankees only got there in the first place because of Rodriguez and Teixeira.
The Yankees did not make the postseason this year. They fell short, felled even as they put the finishing touches on a sweep of the first place Red Sox. New York was so stagnant for so long, and then found life once they shipped out their stars and handed the keys to the car to youngsters and rookies. But it was always a fool’s errand. The hole was too deep, and the rope to climb out too short.
That doesn’t mean that the season was remarkable in its own special way. There was tangible progress made here. We were finally, after years upon years of waiting, introduced to Sanchez. He may very well win the Rookie of the Year Award. We met Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin, Luis Cessa and Chad Green. The middle infield of Didi Gregorius and Starlin Castro came unto its own. Masahiro Tanaka contended for the Cy Young, and, improbably, CC Sabathia finished the season with an ERA under four.
And while much-loved stars were lost to other teams at the end of July, the next wave of Yankees was brought into the fold. Clint Frazier and Gleyber Torres will hopefully suit up in pinstripes one day. They’ll hopefully join Sanchez, Judge, Austin, and Greg Bird. This season was the end of an era. The next one is about to begin.
This was a bad season, a lost season, a squandered season. By some grace of the baseball gods, it was also a good one.
The Yankees did not make the playoffs in 2016. That’s okay. They’ll be back.
Sit back and enjoy the playoffs, Yankees fans. Just wait ’til next year.
Photo: Danny Wild / USA Today Sports