There are a lot of cliches in baseball, a staggering amount really. I don’t think it has much to do with the game itself, simply how long it has been around. As decades have passed more and more nuggets of conventional wisdom have filled out the shelves of our collective consciousness like old VHS tapes. […]
Tag: playoffs
Yankee Purgatory
NEW YORK — That’s why the Yankees wanted, and needed, the AL East so badly. At times, home plate umpire Eric Cooper’s strike zone was forgiving to Dallas Keuchel. Other times, the Astros’ defense was menacing; in the fourth, George Springer ranged to his left to rob Alex Rodriguez of a double, and in the […]
The Nature of Yankees Fans
We here at Baseball Prospectus are generally not in the business of Hot Takes, and justifiably so. BP prides itself on level-headed analysis and occasional jokes on the proficiency of Mark Reynolds’ vision. With the season being decidedly over, however, and the manner in which it was declared over being met with such strong reaction, […]
The Yankees and Postseason Experience
When speaking of the Yankees, one word oft-used to describe the team is “age” and more specifically, “old age”. While the team isn’t so old now—the average age is 28, or about league average—some of the Yankees’ biggest names and contributors are seasoned veterans. Age can be a big negative in the postseason: older players […]
Reliability of Yankees’ bullpen could make or break playoff chances
Once upon a time, the Yankees had a bullpen that caused the opposition to quake in its boots. This bullpen was used early and often, and in the process it seems that the figurative gas tank was depleted in a bad way. Nowhere is this best encapsulated than in the form of Dellin Betances, whom […]
Who will play second base for the Yankees in the wild card game?
Now that the Yankees have clinched a playoff berth, attention turns to their wild card-game roster. We can guess at the composition of most of that 25-man roster, beginning with about 16 sure things: C Brian McCann C John Ryan Murhphy 1B Greg Bird SS Didi Gregorius 3B Chase Headley OF Carlos Beltran OF Jacoby […]