Tipping My Cap

Just the beginning: Judge & Sanchez

As you all may know by now, the Houston Astros are now American League Champions, as they got past the relentless Yankees. I'm glad my favorite player, Justin Verlander, will move on to his 3rd World Series (first as an Astro), in which he seeks that World Title that has been eluding him during his amazing career.

I want to also take this moment to tip my cap to the New York Yankees, a team that I was not too thrilled with by eliminating the Cleveland Indians, who I believed was the best team in baseball. As the series went on against the Houston Astros, these Yankees showed plenty of poise beyond their years... Sure Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge showed chinks in the armor, but they (and the team) are only going to get better. The Yankees also proved that they were better than everyone thought, and their amazing bullpen just happened to run out of gas, to be honest. 

I know that the Yankees fan base really don't want to hear it right now, but you have a lot to be proud of from watching these 'Baby Bombers' over-achieve, prematurely... There was many question marks entering the 2017 MLB Season for New York, by season's end, they leaped about two seasons into the future, and should be contenders for years to come.

There are minor question marks now entering next season on three Yankees....

• Masahiro Tanaka - Has the option to opt out for more money, if he does opt out, the Yankees (or any team for that matter) would be smart not to pay a huge, multi-year deal on a very questionable elbow. Tanaka would be smart to sit pretty with what he's got, and see if he can add to great postseason, by having a solid 2018, then the wallets will open up.

• Joe Girardi - All sides would be smart to keep Joe in charge of running the ship for the Yankees, Girardi is still relatively young & with this group of Yankees coming up, he can count on plenty of championship possibilities.

• CC Sabathia - CC will likely sign on for an additional seasonal, he is going to retire as a Yankee, and even though he had his best season in years, he doesn't plan to go elsewhere with his family planted in New York.

The Yankees will only improve with players like Gleyber Torres on the horizon, a new era of Yankee dominance will come to haunt us in the future, for now we'll enjoy the downtime.