Perspectives: A Once Proud Franchise

by Paul Semendinger

December 30, 2025

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There is absolutely no energy or excitement around the Yankees. None.

It is difficult to argue that the Yankees are going to go for it in 2026, when, for months, they have done nothing.

The offseason has been one where they sign fringe players and roster fillers. It's been a long boring slog.

This is the Yankees - once the proudest and most successful baseball team in the world.

There was a time when being a Yankees fan was filled with excitement and great energy. There was always news and hopes. There were years when the Hot Stove League was as exciting as the regular season.

No longer.

There is a certain arrogance around those who run the franchise today - as if they always know better than anyone else (in spite of the fact that they have not won a championship in a generation).

The Yankees used to be defined by championships. Now they celebrate playoff appearances as if that is something for the most valuable and once proudest franchise to cherish and celebrate. (It's not.)

In short, the Yankees have become boring. They play a boring brand of baseball on the field. Now their off-seasons mirror their regular seasons. There is nothing for most fans to care about regarding this club.

All a Yankees fan of today has are memories from long ago and the hope and anticipation that Aaron Judge has another great season ahead.

If the Yankees have a 2026 season similar to the most recent years, where they're good, but not great, and in a pennant race, the team will simply go on with the approach they've been following. I think it's fair to say that nothing will change in the Yankees' approach until they become a second division club.

But by then, Aaron Judge's great seasons will also be in the past. In large part, the success they have had in recent years falls primarily on Judge's shoulders.

It's not easy to build up a franchise once it crumbles. Just look to the New York Giants football team. That was also a once proud and very successful franchise. No longer. For years, they've been terrible. They can't get out of their own way.

NY GIANTS RECENT FOOTBALL SEASONS

2007: Super Bowl Champs

2008: 12-4

2009: 8-8

2010: 10-6

2011: Super Bowl Champs

2012: 9-7

2013: 7-9

2014: 6-10

2015: 6-10

2016: 11-5

2017: 3-13

2018: 5-11

2019: 4-12

2020: 6-10

2021: 4-13

2022: 9-7

2023: 6-11

2024: 3-14

2025: 3-13

When one looks at the direction the Yankees are heading, in part because the people running the team seem to be, at once, very arrogant in their approach while at the same time exuding very little energy, enthusiasm, or excitement, it seems more likely that the team is facing a future more like the Giants of today than their former glories of the past.

Once a team crashes and burns, it becomes very difficult to find the old magic. This is especially true when so much of the team's success is tied up with one great player. Once Aaron Judge becomes mortal, the Yankees will be in serious trouble.

And once a team loses the magic, especially after years of seeming to care very little for the fans base, it becomes even that much more challenging to bring the fans back.

This is the path, it can be reasonably argued, the Yankees are on. They've made the team boring, in every way. Once they start losing, and more and more it is looking like this could begin in 2026, why would any fans reinvest in this team?

It didn't have to be this way.