I Just Can't Watch The Yankees

  I established a small moratorium on watching the New York Yankees. Despite playing to a very decent record thus far, this team is increasingly unwatchable. So why torture myself (as if I haven’t done that since the last World Series title in 2009 or when icon Derek Jeter retired; you can excuse the euphoria of watching Aaron Judge clout 62 homers as an aberration)? 

I knew this would be difficult. The team plays seemingly every day and my day is usually calming down enough around seven when I normally fall into the routine of turning on the YES Network (except when it become infuriating with select games on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+, requiring additional steps to locate the broadcast and wait for it to finally appear on the screen). My sense of anticipation for the top of the order—Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, Judge, Alex Verdugo, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo to inflict damage on enemy pitchers—lured me to watch. 

My disappointment with the strikeouts, weak grounders and routine fly balls, coupled with pitching which gets by, usually allows me to start checking on the outcome on my cell phone. This allows me a layer of insulation from the repetitive failure to produce runs, which seemingly is occurring on a too frequent basis (New York leads all of baseball in the dubious category of GIDP—grounding into a double play—which, if it doesn’t marketedly improve, will set a new MLB record. Also the pitch-by-pitch abuse of the strike zone by umpires—whether it is a pitch well outside, high or low—and the apparent inability of Yankees batters to swing at or to fully connect with that one or two hittable pitches per at bat—is maddening; pitch identification seems to be gone with this group.

Yes, I am aware it is a marathon. What has transpired in the first 35 games will not be dispositive of how the season ends—especially for the Yankees. Right now, the Kansas City Royals are on the heels of the AL central-leading Cleveland Guardians, while the Minnesota Twins, wallowing to begin the season, compiled a ten game winning streak into the weekend. Even Detroit, the Yankees’ opponent this weekend, is playing above .500. 

For that matter, the usually moribund Oakland A’s are hovering near first place in the AL West, while the Houston Astros are in the basement along with Anaheim. The Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves are atop the NL East, while both the New York Mets and Washington Nationals hover around .500. Milwaukee, despite being thrashed twice by the Yankees last weekend, sits in first place in the NL Central, with the Chicago Cubs nearby and both St.Louis and Cincinnati not playing awfully; Pittsburgh did descend to its normal depths after beginning the season well.

Only the talent-rich Los Angeles Dodgers are clearly ahead of their rivals in the NL West. With a record no better than the Yankees, even with Mookie Betts , Shohei Othani and Will Smith carrying lofty averages. But then again, didn’t all the experts pick the Dodgers to flourish?

Those same experts were split on how well the Yankees would rebound from last season’s disastrous 82-80 record. The starting pitching has been sound while reigning Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole is in the midst of his lengthy rehab. While for the most part, the bullpen has been good, reliable reliever Tommy Kahnle is still not back from his injury.

Thus, for now, the team has apparently exceeded expectations of the naysayers. Yet, in the recently concluded series with the AL East-leading Orioles in Baltimore, New York managed very little offense in losing three of four. 

Which is why the prognostications of those who don’t see the Yankees being a threat to win the World Series is still in play. And with the harrowing start to the 2024 campaign, I find myself averting my eyes to Yankees baseball. For now.

On the other hand, the NBA and NHL post-seasons have been riveting. Just in the first round.

Let’s start with the NBA. Indiana defeated a Milwaukee Bucks team without superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo playing in any of the games and co-star Damien Lillard playing hurt when he could play. Indiana advances to the next round, while the Bucks, who hoped putting Doc Rivers in charge was the right move at midseason, reel from the defeat and the very bad image of Patrick Beverley hurling a basketball at a Pacers fan after the final loss. 

The Pacers opposition in the second round is the New York Knicks. Without star forward Julius Randle, no one thought that New York had enough to finish second in the Eastern Conference. So, too, did many experts question if the Knicks could get past the Philadelphia ’76’ers once Joel Embiid returned and with the emergence of Tyrese Maxey at guard. 

In what proved to be a riveting six games, New York did enough to get past the Sixers, winning two games at the Wells Fargo Center, including the clincher on Thursday night (Sixers ownership bought a number of tickets to donate to first responders in order to stop a loud contingent of New York fans from being heard. It didn’t work). Because of own player—Jalen Brunson. 

Brunson scored over 40 points in three separate games, including setting a franchise record with 47 points—on the road. Along with his former Villanova teammates Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo, the highly-motivated trio plus another group of contributors off of the bench worked magic in the limelight. As superb as Brunson has been in his one season in New York, please stop comparing him with Walt Frazier and anointing him as possibly the second-best player ever to play for the team from Madison Square Garden. 

The cumulative point differential between the teams was one—in favor of NYK. A significantly hobbled Embiid battled his way to the basket or free throw line in each game. The play was indicative of a 2 versus 3 semi-final matchup—until Embiid missed plenty of time in a regular season where he was headed towards a possible league M.V.P. award, thereby derailing the Sixers bid for a higher seed, home court advantage (if any) and relegating the team to the Play-In round. 

The winner of the Indiana-New York series will face the survivor of the Orlando/Cleveland-Boston series. Boston looked dominant versus an overmatched Miami squad. Cleveland and Orlando have battled in almost anonymity, playing very high quality basketball. If the Magic wins Game 7, it just might give the Celtics a more difficult time than the Heat did. 

Out West, Minnesota looked awesome in dismantling the Phoenix Suns and its trio of stars; Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant did not look good against the younger and hungrier T-Wolves.  Minnesota did suffer a bad injury—Head Coach Chris Finch was run into by one of his players, suffering a torn patella tendon, which required surgery. The F&M grad expects to travel with the team when they meet Denver in the next round. 

Denver took it to the Los Angeles Lakers in their series, winning in five games. Denver is good, but they needed two game-winning shots by underrated Jamal Murray to win games and advance. 

The Lakers’ loss started a chain of events. The speculation is that Lebron James will re-up with the team and the Lakers will draft his son, Bronny, to play alongside his father. The scapegoat for the loss was not the players. Instead, Head Coach Darvin Ham and his staff were let go. There is turmoil in Laker Land, sitting squarely on the shoulders of Rob Pelinka to repair. I am not a big fan of his.

Dallas took down the Los Angeles Clippers. Coupled with the Kings loss to the Edmonton Oilers in their hockey series, it is going to be quiet inside of Crypto.com Arena. 

The Mavericks draw the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder for Round 2. It is going to take a monstrous effort by Dallas to make it to the next round. OKC is that good.

Meanwhile, the NHL awaits two Game 7’s to decide the next round opponents. In an old time Original Six series, Boston and Toronto are fighting it out; English-speaking Ontario is holding its breath, rooting for the Cup-starved Leafs. The other series involves Dallas and the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights. The winner gets to face Colorado, winners over Winnipeg. Western Canada will deal with a Vancouver-Edmonton matchup, which ought to be awesome. 

Waiting in the East are the New York Rangers after a dominating win over Washington. Carolina and Florida meet in what will likely be a seven game series. New York, Boston (if they survive against the missing firepower of the Auston Matthews-less Leafs), the Hurricanes and Panthers are all legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. 

TV can be exciting to view at the end of April and into May, outside of local baseball. I just can’t watch the Yankees.