Saturday, October 2, 2010

To win or not to win.. is this really a question?

In dramatic fashion, the AL East will be decided in the final days of the season.  The Yankees and the Rays neck and neck, the division title is for the taking.  With an ugly loss for Tampa and a rainout for the Bombers, the Yankees are currently a half game up on the Rays.  The Rays have a game today and tomorrow with the Royals and the Yanks have a double header with the Sox today and one final game tomorrow.  The Rays have the better head to head record so their magic number is down to 3, meaning the Yankees need to win one more game than the Rays do.

But with both teams already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, does it really matter?  I change my mind every 5 minutes, but right now I'm going with yes. but I'll play a little devil's advocate and look at both perspectives:

On one hand, the Yankees will be playing October baseball (the real kind) no matter what.  If they don't win the division, they will not have home-field advantage at all during the postseason and will face the Twins.  Though the Twins have a better record and have been much hotter lately than Texas, the Yankees actually play the Twins pretty well.  Potentially facing the Twins doesn't really scare me...I mean their number 2 starter is CARL PAVANO for crying out loud.  However, what DOES scare me is the thought of possibly facing Cliff Lee twice in the ALDS.  Accepting the wildcard now could allow older players to get their rest and be fully prepared for a long postseason run.  After all, the division title won't matter without a World Series Championship.

But this is the New York Yankees we're talking about, and we want it all.  There's no holding back in New York, no accepting defeat of any sort.  To quote the wise DJ Khaled, all we do is win, win, win, no matter what.  It's a shame that the rain had to spoil the game last night because Girardi had the Yankees top lineup ready to play.  With the doubleheader today, it will be hard for Joe to justify having 35 year-old players in 18 innings today and another 9 tomorrow.  But whoever is playing in each of these games better be playing to WIN.  With the Rays loss last night, the ball is in our court, and this is our division for the winning.

Ultimately, in these two big games today for the Yanks, my focus won't be as much on the division as it will be on Andy and AJ.  Seeing good things from them today would make me feel so much more confident going into the postseason, even as the wildcard.

Ahhhh October Baseball, my favorite time of year.