I realize it's the loyalty speaking, and I can sympathize. Just so long as you know that to. To feel sorry for a 200+ million dollar team is absolutely laughable. Plenty of teams do more or the same with HALF as much. Speaking reasonably, the Yankees are the spoiled brats of MLB, everyone outside NYC knows that, and everyone also knows that this long a drought without a World Series for that kind of money is nothing less than utter failure.
 

Oh, don't be silly. As Michael Lewis has established, there's no inevitable correlation between salary spent and winning the World Series. After all, in the Yankees' case, the same man willing to spend all that money, George Steinbrenner, probably ensures that much of it is spent foolishly. (A three-year contract for a 41-year-old Randy Johnson? And need I even mention Kevin Brown?)

The Yankees wouldn't be in this series without Shawn Chacon, Chien Ming Wang, and Aaron Small, three pitchers whom they're paying relatively nothing. Ditto for second baseman Robinson Cano, who'll probably be the rookie of the year. And the heart of the team is a classy group of guys: Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera...maybe Ruben Sierra and Tino Martinez.

Also, let's not forget that one of the reasons the Yankees have that much money is because their fans support the team—4 million in attendance this year, and a baseball first—and some very smart business decisions, such as the creation of the YES network. It's not as if Steinbrenner spends on the Yankees the way Mike Bloomberg does on the mayoral race; he can spend money on the Yankees because the Yankees make money...and the Yankees make money because Steinbrenner spends it. And so on.
 

ANGELS! ANGELS! ANGELS! Sorry, Rich, and valid points above. They do market and sell enough Yankees ball caps to their bandwagon fans outside NYC to easily cover these salaries. And I actually hope they continue to do so, because it's makes it that much more satisfying to watch them continue to lose in the post-season as the favorites. I mean, come on, that lineup is just glutonous: Jeter, A-rod, Matsui, Shefield, etc. They have five or six of the players most teams only have one of--but they lost so all is well in the universe. And they lost because of A-rod's doubleplay ball...is this Christmas come early? I'm a Braves fan more than anything, so I know about continuing to lose in the postseason. It sucks bigtime, and I wouldn't wish on many enemies; but as for the Yankees, they're one of those teams (fans included) that you actually have that white-hot hatred for, that you don't necessarily want them to lose all the time, you want them to almost make it, I mean gave five, game seven, the worse the better, so close they can taste it and then taste it in your mouth when their hopes are dashed on the rocks. I love this game. And I love that my breakfast tomorrow will taste one million times better than A-rod's.
 

This is too brutal for me to respond now....I am recovering...more in the morning.
 

my breakfast sure tastes a million times better than a-rod's, too. i'm in complete agreement with anonymous on this. i'm a giants fan and there is nothing more satisfying than watching the yankees get just close enough so that their fans behave much the way rich bradley does, only to fall face first into their own smugness. you're baseball posts have grown so tiresome. thankfully they have come to and end for the season. can we get back to summers?
 

Smugness? Smugness? I don't think there's been a hint of smugness in my rooting for the Yankes this year.

Look, I can understand why people hate the Yankees. Steinbrenner's unpleasant, and they spend a lot, and they win frequently. But Ari, your team is built around perhaps the most unpleasant man in baseball, whose career is almost entirely a function of steroids...not that SF fans seem to care. And while the Yankees do have some jerks—Randy Johnson, Gary Sheffield—they also have some classy players: Jeter, Posada, Rivera, Williams, Matsui. Joe Torre's a very decent guy as well. They haven't won a World Series in five years, so they're hardly some overwhelming powerhouse. Perhaps it's time to stop the hatin'....
 

GIAMBI!!!!!!!!
YOU CAN'T POINT A FINGER AT BONDS.
 

I can definitely point a finger at Bonds. Giambi used steroids, yes. He's also the only player in baseball who's actually admitted to doing so. And he's worked hard to come back from serious illness and scandal and heaps of fan and media abuse. Plus, he's a good guy.

Bonds, on the other hand, has never admitted his obvious steroid use, and is the biggest jerk in baseball.