New York Yankees: A Decade Without A Ring

New York Yankees
Oct 16, 2017; Bronx, NY, USA; An view of the a field logo before game three of the 2017 ALCS playoff baseball series between the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

For just the second time since the 1910’s, the New York Yankees failed to win a World Series during a decade. The team won their first World Series in 1923, and the only other decade where they didn’t win one was the 1980’s.

In 2009, the team won their 27th ring, also in the inaugural season of the new Yankee Stadium. The 10 years following resulted in some success, just no World Series.

In 2010, the team swept the Minnesota Twins for the second consecutive year in the ALDS before falling to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. A year later, the team lost their ALDS series to the Detroit Tigers in five games.

Come 2012, the Yankees beat the Orioles in five games in the ALDS before being manhandled by the Tigers in a four game sweep. That was when Derek Jeter broke his ankle in game one, the series spiraling downhill from there.

Mid Decade Struggles

The next two years were rough for the Yankees. Guys were getting older and battling injuries. Mariano Rivera retired in 2013 and Jeter retired in 2014.

With a bit of a younger team in 2015, the team qualified for the AL Wild Card game but lost to the Houston Astros 3-0.

The Yankees seemed to get a bit older again in 2016, and ended up going into a mini-rebuild and selling at the trade deadline. They shipped off guys like Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller for prospects.

A Fresh Identity

In 2017, the Yankees shocked all of baseball and qualified for the Wild Card game in a year where they were expected to go about .500. The team was young and very inexperienced, but that didn’t seem to matter.

They won the Wild Card game, and had an incredible comeback against the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS. They were down 2-0, but proceeded to win the next three games to advance to the ALCS against the Astros.

Against the Astros, the team went down 2-0 but won all three games in New York to take a 3-2 series lead. However, the Astros won games six and seven to eliminate the Yankees.

In 2018, the team got back to 100 wins but got eliminated by the Red Sox in the ALDS.

Now enter 2019, the last chance to win a World Series this decade. Despite their best record in 10 years, they failed again to get past the Astros in the ALCS following an ALDS sweep of the Twins.

Turning the page to 2020 and a new decade, the Yankees are hoping to win a few rings to make up for lost time.