70 Chances: To Be or Not To Be

The second game of a four game set versus the Baltimore Orioles, being played tonight, finds the New York Yankees smack dab in the middle of mediocrity. At 46-46, after competing (not sure if you could really call it that) in 92 games of a 162 game season, the Yankees find themselves with 70 games left with which to really finally get, not just their heads out of water, but their whole selves entirely, after being submerged for much of this season.

Last season the Yankees garnered a spot in the playoffs (although some would say a spot in the play-ins) by winning 87 games; enough to qualify for the 2nd wild-card. They subsequently lost to the Houston Astros, but the fact that they had given themselves a chance, albeit miniscule to compete for a title, is something that was not lost to this scribe. Getting in, if even for a little bit, is way better than getting left out. For so many reasons. If those need to be explained to you, then you haven't really been paying attention to that which you have been observing.

More importantly there is a question to be answered. Rather, a few. The main one being do the Yankees give up on a season which has given its fans more ups and downs than the see-saw at the local neighborhood park? (Ugh, I'm getting sick already!) Do they turn the individual attractive pieces of a team which has not performed well collectively into assets for future campaigns, or do the they stay the course and see if those individual pieces turn into more of a collective whole? Although there is no reason to believe so as evidence has not been provided to this point to give assurances to those notions. No matter, it must be stated that in many situations in life, especially in the world of sports that it takes a while for things to change, and then it doesn't. Things and situations that are seemingly dour and morose forever, sometimes suddenly right themselves and become the opposite of what they were to begin with. (Once again, should you feel the need to have this explained or examples pointed out, you truly have not been paying attention to the sport you have been watching or much less the world you are living in).

Such could be the case for the Yankees.
Could such a case be these Yankees? It could. If the Yankees were to win 20 or more games than they lost of the next 70 for a record of say 45-25. They would finish the season with 91 wins. (Four more than last year, mind you.) And potentially make the playoffs depending upon how the landscape of baseball, as it hits its home strectch, around them forms.

Is this a 91 win team? Who knows? Will the Yankees win more than they lose over these last 70 games? Who knows?
This is a question asked of the front-office, to be answered by it's players. They may not know it yet, but rest assured we will when they do.