Once was the time that the Yankees defined themselves by winning World Series and only by winning World Series. That was when managers would be called to the principal’s office following postseason failure. That’s when the principal (owner) was George Steinbrenner, who once apologized to the City of New York when his team lost the 1981 World Series to the Dodgers.
The world turns, though. Baseball economics and the advent of advanced front-office thinking have dramatically resodded the playing field. Teams no longer win through economic might alone. And through the game’s evolution — or maybe its revolution — the Yankees stopped winning anything of value even though they never stopped winning a lot of games year after year after year.