The New York Yankees had one of their best regular seasons in some years with a 103-59 record. The Yankees’ offense was fantastic all season, helped by the new Yankee Stadium. When a team has more than $200 million in payroll, it had better make the playoffs and at least the World Series to consider the season remotely successful.
Mark Teixeira had a very good season with an MVP number with 39 home runs (tied for 1st in the AL), 122 RBI (1st in the AL) and a .565 slugging percentage (3rd in the AL). Derek Jeter had one of his best seasons in some time hitting .334 (3rd in the AL), 107 (tied for 4th in the AL), 30 stolen bases (8th in the AL) and 212 (2nd in the AL). TO THE) . Alex RodrÃguez’s year started terrible and it seemed that it would be a very long season, quite the opposite. A-Rod hit 30 home runs and 100 RBI in 124 games played.
Nick Swisher was a good choice for the Yankees over the Chicago White Sox. In 2009, Swisher hit 29 home runs with 82 RBI. CC Sabathia played like it was worth all the money invested in him. Sabathia won 19 games in the AL East, which is good considering the average level of competition he faces in every start.
The Yankees won the AL East again in 2009, which had been the norm for the past 14 years. The “standard Yankees” are set so high because of their successful past: Anytime the Yankees don’t win a World Series, it’s a surprise to most. Joe Girardi entered his second season as Yankees skipper with very high expectations. The Yankees played with childish enthusiasm all season, quite the opposite in previous years.
