Whether or not the New York Yankees pull off a miracle and sneak in to snare the final Wild Card spot in the American League, Yankees fans have reason to applaud the team. A lot has happened this year and the focus next season will be even more positive.
When the season began, I can’t recall a single prediction that figured the New York Yankees to still be in a battle for a position in the playoffs. They were too old, the veterans were all injury prone, and worst of all they were boring.
There were more questions than answers and in some cases no one even knew what the real question was. As in, Alex Rodriguez and where if anywhere he would fit in. The conclusion reached about the 2016 Yankees by most writers was the one they use when they don’t really have a clue, or they want to hedge their bet. “They could surprise a lot of people ” was the way it went down.
Well, as it turns out, the Yankees have surprised a lot of people. But no one could have predicted the form those surprises would take.
The season was basically divided by two. The first half went pretty much as expected with the team playing see-saw with the .500 mark. Announced attendance at games was normal but any with a pair of eyes could see that a paid ticket didn’t mean a body in a seat.
The second half is when the Yankees transformed themselves even though the holes in the team didn’t change much. What did change though is that fans became interested in the team again. Here are just a few reasons why they should stand up and applaud.