Non Playoff Seasons Can Be Fun too

This season has not been the most fun for the Yankees even if they're enjoying their final homestand at Yankee Stadium. They will miss the playoffs for the first time since 1993 and that was a season in which they won 88 times and finished seven games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, who were the two-time World Champions.

That was New York's first real shot at a division title in five years since Billy Martin five morphed into Lou Piniella part two. What followed from 1989-1992 was seasons of 88, 95, 91 and 86 losses. The first three of those years were extremely painful to watch although every now and then there were moments that you could feel the potential of Yankee Stadium with a winning team.

The 1992 version under Buck Showalter showed some promise, a 6-0 start, some money spent on free agents. By the time spring training started in 1993, Paul O'Neill was added along with Wade Boggs and Jimmy Key. Those moves meant that the Yankees were on their way to winning seasons.

The Yankees won but it was not quite enough. It was still fun. There was the time when they came back from eight runs down and beat the Angels, 9-8. There were those 18 agonizing days spent tied for first place in the old AL East.

It set the framework for the Joe Torre Yankees, the team that brought us the likes of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and the other grinders that formed the chemistry of those years.

Now the playoffs are expected but regardless of how much you spend it doesn't guarantee anything. Sure filling the ballpark is a good thing, but I'm sure there's a segment that would take a crowd of 25,000 watching the Blue Collar Yankees start it up again.

Of course losing a pennant race is difficult and frustrating, but watching a team scrap and claw its way back and then going on to bigger things is satisfying and that is what the 1993 Yankees started.