This Major League Baseball season has been one of many pleasant surprises and will be remembered for years to come.
The Cubs are poised to end their 100-year championship drought, at the very least their 63-year World Series appearance drought. The Rays are on the verge of accomplishing what everyone deemed impossible: going from the worst record to the best record on the strength of pitching, defense, and a whole lot of youth. There is a phenomenal race for the NL Cy Young and neither league has an absolute, bonafide number one contender for the MVP. There are fantastic divisional races in the NL East, West, and Wild Card as well as the AL Central and Wild Card (the other divisions have their winners seemingly locked up). All of this makes for must-see TV as the season wraps up its last month and heads towards what can be expected to be one of the better October's the game has had in a while. With all of this splendor going on, one powerful entity keeps dragging another one along and continuously places them in conversations they have no business being in.
It seems that ESPN just can't let go of the Yankees.
The Yankees have been nothing short of a major disappointment this year. Yes they have had their share of injuries, but for all intents and purposes the team has not lived up to their expectations because they have grossly underachieved. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, two pitchers billed to be fixtures in the Yankee pitching rotation for this season and for years to come have combined to win a grand total of 0 games. Robinson Cano got off to an abysmal start of the season and no matter how many times he looked poised to break out never really got to that point. Melky Cabrera played way below his usual level and was eventually sent back to the minors mid-season, mainly due to his poor hitting. The reigning AL MVP, Alex Rodriguez, has looked no where near the part and after earning some respect and admiration from the Bronx faithful has begun to hear an all-too-familiar chorus of booo's in the recent weeks. Even the beloved Derek Jeter, the Yankee captain, is currently hitting only .296, well below his career average of .316. Aside from a few bright spots in Mike Mussina and Joba Chamberlain, there has been little to root for in the Bronx in 2008.
Despite all of this, ESPN has held on for dear life for any shot that the Yankees would be relevant again. Each and every series they dub as a "must-win" and bring up their chances as a topic for debate in SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, Around the Horn, and PTI. Today, which marks the start of the Yankees three game series with the Rays in Tampa, FL, the question was brought up if this was "the Yankee's last stand?" The answer to that, of course, is a resounding "NO." The Yankees have been done for a good month now, and have made no real attempts to uplift themselves out of this season-long funk they seem to be in. As sad as it is to know that there will be no playoff baseball in the final year of Yankee Stadium's existence, everyone knows that's what's going to happen, and its time for ESPN to come around.
And so, we as sports fans will come together and ask that ESPN to just let them go. The Yankees are finished and they have been for a while now. Why do you still hang on for hope? We understand that there have been many great years together, but its time now to focus on the more important matters: the rest of baseball.
This is in no way a break-up, more like just a break. Give some of that attention you reserve for the Yankees to some other deserving teams. The Yankees will not be gone forever; they will be back next year in full force, but for now its time to let them go. We know it's difficult, but doing this would make for a better end to the MLB season and would benefit you and all of your adoring fans around the country and the world.
ESPN, we beg of you, don't continue to make yourself look pathetic. Don't keep dragging the Yankees into the conversation. Don't focus your attention on the Bronx. Don't predict, expect, or hope for a late-season surge that would put the Yankees back in the playoffs.
Just let them go.
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2 comments:
I am a huge baseball fan and I see your point. My team is the Mets and we were always the Yankees little borther.
As a Mets fan I say enough is enough. As a baseball fan I would like to see the Yankees get back in it. Subway Series 2 The Rematch. Wishful thinking.
I appreciate the insight.
I am a HUGE baseball fan, the game itself is just so pure and all of the tradition and history behind it place it on a different level than any of the other sports. Other sports are great, but there is just something about baseball.
What might be surprising to know is that I am a Yankees fan; i basically live and die with every win and loss. Problem is there hasn't been much living this year. Every time the Yanks do something to inspire hope they turn around and do something 10 times worse to dash those hopes away. Its too painful, i cant take it. It took a while but i have conceded the fact that this isn't their year. As sad as that makes me i just know they will come back with a vengeful next year and win the whole thing!
Until then i like watching the NL races go down. There is something about the Brewers that makes me think they can do something pretty special during playoff time. But only time will tell...
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