Did you enjoy the season?

The Yankees have been decidedly meh since their last title. The only real near-miss was 2017, and that run began with minimal expectations (at least by their standards) as a wild card team down 0-2 to Cleveland. They were on a record pace for a while last year, but they were so mediocre for so long thereafter that the sweep by the Astros in the ALCS almost seemed like a humane way to end the season.

 

They've still been in the playoffs more often than not (seven times in eight years) and to the ALCS three times. And they're the freaking Yankees, so you expect them to punch through once or twice on swagger alone. The 2010s was the first decade since the 1910s that they didn't play in at least one World Series.

 

Agreed, they're always there, but outside of early last year and 2017, it never felt like they were going to get THERE. Even their nuttiest diehards generally feel that way. They're a strangely underachieving bunch given their resources and all that young talent they had upon the mini-rebuild in 2016. I'm not sure what kind of compromising pictures Brian Cashman has that involve his superiors, but they must be good ones.

 

Of those five NFC title games, they should’ve won at least three. I’ll forgive them for losing to the Rams in ‘01, but the Panthers and Cardinals should’ve been dusted.

The one that hurts the most was when they lost to the Bucs in the last game at Veterans Stadium. The script was written to close that dump down with a championship. Then Brian Mitchell took the opening kickoff inside the 5 and they went up 7-0 in the first 30 seconds.

Then, it all went to shit.

 

I seem to remember that Panthers front seven beating the shit out of McNabb.

 

The 2016 Warriors should feel plenty of shame. They blew a 3-1 lead.

 

Knocked him out of the game early in the fourth quarter. Watching three quarters of offensive ineptitude, and then seeing Koy Detmer come in needing to overcome a 14-3 deficit to lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl, might have been the most hopeless I've ever felt as a fan of any team.

Those Eagles teams gave us all the flavors of losing, like the five stages of grief — hopeful optimism (2001 vs. the Rams); the crushing nut punch of despair (2002 vs. the Bucs); hopelessness (2003 vs. the Panthers); anger (the 2004 Super Bowl vs. the Patriots); and then acceptance that it would never be our time (2008 vs. the Cardinals).

 

This ranks right up there with your Vin Scully screenplay.