The Yankees almost certainly are going to finish with a better record than last year. So why does it all feel worse?
Maybe it is being hopelessly behind the one team the Yankees would never want to be hopelessly behind — the Red Sox, having a rampaging, perhaps record-setting season.
Perhaps it is going to ALCS Game 7 and adding Giancarlo Stanton and the expectations that manifest from that combination.
But it also is this: The most worrisome players are not just those who were supposed to buoy the Yankees this year, but into the future, too.