Bethlehem; Happy Christmas to you and yours. Well, ‘tis the season. Yeah, of lies. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! A diabetic fat man climbed down every chimney in the world in one night! You do know the date of December 25th was chosen to ease the transition to Christianity, right? Anyway, in homage to these and other myths, I’m here to debunk two current NY sports myths.
1. The 2018 Yankees didn’t have enough pitching
There’s a common yuk yuk narrative around here that the Red Sox pitching in 2018 was far superior to the Yankees. The 2018 Yankees did give up more earned runs than the Red Sox. Three. That’s right, in 162 games, Yankees’ pitchers gave up a whopping three more earned runs than the Red Sox. Wow, better blow it up and start over.
Their playoff series was decided by a few at bats and could’ve gone the other way. I’m looking at you Gleyber Torres, for staring at the Kimbrel 3–1 meatball, then swinging through the 3-2 slider out of the zone. And the Red Sox caught lightning in a bottle with Nathan Eovaldi, who had the same surgeon as Steve Austin for his second Tommy John. “You just can’t predict baseball,” some Grinch once said.
You can’t overreact and the Yankees were right not to reach for Corbin. With Paxson on board and Happ back for a full season, the rotation should be better.
2: Saquon was a good draft pick
Look, Barkley is the real deal and I love watching him play. But look what CJ Anderson did for the Rams on Sunday. This guy has been popping up in more places than the Elf on my Shelf. The Rams scooped him up off the scrap heap and he was dominant. (And nearly cost me a freaking fantasy title!)
I’ve been slow to admit the truth. But like Rod Tidwell’s brother in Jerry Maguire, “I’ve got a commitment to the truth. I’m keeping it real.” And the truth was there all along. You can get by with an average RB if you have a good team. And a superstar RB can’t elevate your team much if there are too many other holes. It’s like buying your kids the most expensive toy for Christmas when you can’t afford to feed them. Sure, it’ll look good under the tree and will keep them busy for a few hours. But before you know it, you’ll all be just as miserable as you were without it.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Giants’ succession plan at QB is not robust. Sam Darnold and Lamar Jackson look like players. The Ravens are looking like geniuses for grabbing the last of the stud 2018 draft QBs and seamlessly transferring from an aging, immobile QB to a young athletic one.
Instead, the Giants are staring at a potential exile to the QB desert with tour guides like Dave Brown and Kent Graham.
Thanks for reading in 2018. Come back tomorrow for the myth himself, Angry Ward.
