I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone, but the Yankees are definitely going to miss the playoffs. This was made official today.
The last time the Yankees missed the series was in 2016. And this simple observation does not exactly make Aaron Judge, the club captain, happy.
Seven years ago, Aaron Judge was taking his first steps in major league baseball. He was both close and far from dominating, having started slowly (27 games) before exploding in 2017.
Making room for the “Baby Bombers” in the playoffs had worked – even if several of them are no longer in town at the moment, but hey.
2023 gives us a bit of the same vibe. At the moment, there are many young people trying to show what they have in them to be in training in 2024.
Because yes, the club will want to win in 2024. There are limits to missing out on prime of two guys like Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole, right?
All this to say that in the end, to the misfortune of many people and the happiness of many others, the Yankees will not be in the playoffs.
And in fact, it is the end of an era.
I did the calculation knowing full well that it is rare to see teams in the MLB that make the playoffs every year. I wanted to see how rare it was.
So here, forgetting 2023 (since it hasn’t happened yet), are the teams that missed the playoffs in 2022, a year ago.
- American: Red Sox, Orioles, White Sox, Twins, Royals, Tigers, Rangers, Angels and A’s.
- Nationals: Nationals, Marlins, Cubs, Pirates, Brewers, Reds, Giants, Rockies and Diamondbacks.
We are therefore talking about clubs which logically cannot, in 2023, have a streak of several years in a row in the playoffs.
Of the 12 remaining clubs, i.e. the playoff clubs in 2022, six of them did not make the playoffs in 2021.
- American: Blue Jays, Guardians and Mariners.
- Nationals: Mets, Phillies and Padres.
This means that for the 2023 series, only six clubs could have a streak of at least three times in the series: Yankees, Rays, Astros, Braves, Cardinals and Dodgers.
Right now, the Dodgers, Braves and Rays are qualified. The Astros are fighting for their place in the sun, but the Cardinals and Yankees need to forget that.
In 2020, these six clubs were in the playoffs. It was the year the Dodgers beat the Rays in the World Series and 16 teams made the playoffs due to the pandemic.
In 2019, these same six clubs made the playoffs.
You have to go back to 2018 to lose players. The Rays and Cardinals had missed the playoffs, which leaves us with just the Yankees, Astros, Dodgers and Braves.
In 2017, the Braves had not won their division (they have done so systematically since 2018, when Alex Anthopoulos arrived in town) and they did not make the playoffs that year.
In 2016, the Yankees and Astros missed the playoffs. The Dodgers, who haven’t missed the playoffs since 2013, are the champions at this level.
This means that since 2017, the Yankees, the Astros and the Dodgers have systematically made the series. But there, the Yankees broke the trio.
And the Astros could well follow them, in fact.
This is why I talk about the end of an era. After all, it was the second-longest active streak in baseball. It remains to be seen who will pay for this in the Bronx…
- Ken Griffey Jr. is having fun.
- The Twins have a plan for the playoffs.
- Luis Arraez’s ankle injury comes at a very bad time.
