If it all works the way they plan, Saturday will stand as a fulcrum for the Yankees, the pivot point from past to future glory. They formally released Alex Rodriguez. They promoted two new right-handed sluggers. And they honored the champions of 1996, the group that set a rigid and sometimes suffocating standard for every team to follow.
“After we won, we were expected to win,” Derek Jeter said. “So I think that changed after that ’96 season. Unless you win a World Series, it was seen as a failure, which we were fine with.