162 GAMES IS A LONG SEASON

When the Yankees clinched their spot in the 2015 American League Wild Card, there were some naysayers disappointed.  Their reason?  Because we didn't clinch the AL East.  Listen, I am with you, somewhat.  I always want the Yankees to be at the top of the AL East.  Always!  But the fact of the matter is we weren't good enough this year to be at the top, but guess what, we are still in it.  Why? Because we battled and quite frankly, 162 games makes for a long season.  Let's take a closer look at why.

Baseball begins in the cold, rainy spring weather and ends in the cold, rainy fall weather with a hot summer in between the two extremes.  This is the only professional sports schedule that never gives more than one travel day off (with the exception of the All Star Break) a week meaning there's pretty much a game everyday. The game plays on through three seasons (and in the Northeast, we actually have seasons), plays through nine long innings and sometimes extra innings with no intermission and sits and waits for the weather to let up to ensure that the game gets to be played.  ESPN reports that, "the average time of a nine-inning game was down to 2 hours, 53 minutes and 40 seconds (as of April 30, 2015), according to MLB. It's a drop of more than 8½ minutes from the 3:02:21 average for the full 2014 season, and of more than seven minutes compared to the average of 3:01 at the same point last season."

It is a long hard season, where position players play the field for nine innings, pitchers pitch between 90-100 mph and catchers catch hundreds of balls at these speeds from the crouched position. Long hard games heighten the potential for injuries, fatigue and slumps.  According to the Fox Sports Yankee Injury Report, we have had 48 injury incidents leading to the disabled list for the 2015 season, March to now.  As we know, keys include Mark Teixeira, Nathan Eovaldi and Masahiro Tanaka.

So, when the Yankees celebrate with all of the fanfare, champagne and post game interviews after clinching a Wild Card birth, we need to celebrate with them.  Getting to the Post Season is no easy feat.  It was a battle unearthing the survival of the fittest.  Do I wish we were stronger?  Do I wish we had better pitching? Yes and yes.  But, we are here and that's something, considering we haven't been here since 2012.  162 Games equals a long season; let's hope for a long Post Season too!

A new season starts today. Go Yanks!

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @suzieprof






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