Afternoon Baseball

I never gave up on the playoffs, but I have to say that September has been so much easier than it should have been.

Why did this team come back, though? Some reasons:

1. Detroit sucked. Let's just be blunt, and possibly crass. Actually, they only have had one bad month (the atrocious 11-18 August). With a typical month (say 17-12), the team is 93-66, 1.5 games up on the Yankees, and Torre is probably packing his bags.

2. Robinson Cano. Even more than the legitimate boost Melky Cabrera gave the team, Cano is the third-best hitter on the deepest offense in baseball. That's right: A-Rod, Posada and 24-year-old Cano.
Jeter and Matsui have better OBP and slightly higher OPS+, and Matsui's power numbers are as good or better, but Cano has provided improving power, a solid batting average, run production and walks enough to not have to hit .340 again.

3. Joba Chamberlain. Yes, it seems obvious, but the starting pitching, while better than it was, is still a constant question mark of youth, injuries, fatigue and inexperience. And while one could not ask for much more out of Chien-Ming Wang (38 wins since April 2006), he's not Jack Morris in the 1991 World Series, or even Andy Pettitte from 1998 through the 2001 ALCS (8-2, 14 GS, 89 2/3 IP, 3.01 ERA).
Rivera is merely a top-10 closer now, not Jesus with a glove on, and the bullpen is routinely in tatters as the one guy on a hot streak is flaming out.
Chamberlain hasn't been with the team long, but he's given 22 2/3 innings of worry-free baseball. In 17 games, or more than one-tenth of the season, there's been a key in-game stretch in which the Yankees know they will halt the opposition.

And it's not just luck. 0.75 WHIP, 1093 ERA+, 12.71 K/9. Those are numbers of dominance.

4. Not caring about the AL East. Granted, the Red Sox did a lot of the work for them by racing out to that huge lead, and it's a subjective observation for sure. However, this is a team that could have packed it in, given too much credence to the division and the notion of psychological devastation at finishing behind the Red Sox, and lost 75-80 games (even then, I think they still, by sheer talent, finished above .500).

Does this team have major holes? Yes. Does any MLB team these days not? No. So, bring on the crapshoot that is the postseason.