The shootout between the Indians and the Yankees was not lost by Joe Girardi, but he might have made different decisions knowing what he knows now. We often blame coaches for bad choices that, had they worked out, would have made them look like geniuses. That means that we need to get off the back of Girardi and onto the perspective train where Girardi cannot make the Yankees win. The roster has to perform, or are we going to go back and say that Joe Torre is a bum for losing the World Series a couple of times?
The Yankees are young
The Yankees are still a young team, and they can only do so much during the course of a game.
If they are in their first big playoff push, that means they will look amazing next year and go to the World Series. They have already made their season a success, and Girardi should be allowed to keep his job for as long as he wants. That does not mean that he should be given the lifetime deal that Andres Iniesta got in Barcelona, but he has earned the benefit of the doubt.
The Indians are veterans of this
The Indians came within a couple of outs of winning the World Series last year, and they have a lot of players on their team with something to prove. Jay Bruce has been a flyout machine for most of his career, but now he looks great. He is giving the best performances of his life, and that is making the Indians more dangerous.
That is why we need to give the Yankees time to figure out how to beat teams like this. They will go into next season with more perspective on playing in the postseason, and they will play better when they get there. The same thing happened to the 1995 Yankees, and it will happen to these Yankees. We can look back at the 2017 Yankees and remember that they had to have some troubles so that they could get better for the future.
Terry Francona is a genius
Terry Francona is the best manager in the postseason right now. I know that Joe Maddox is also brilliant in Chicago, but Terry Francona is managing like a chess master right now. That does not mean that he wills his team to win, but he is able to use little pieces of his roster to stump the Yankees when it matters most.
His players still have to perform, and they are making him look great. If the Yankees roster played better overall, they would be making Joe Girardi look just as good. So, we are down to the guys on the team.
We need to let the Yankees mature and realize that we are very close to a rematch in the World Series between Chicago and a Cleveland team with unfinished business.
