5 reasons for the Yankees to be happy about 2016

They kept it together after the trade deadline

There’s something to be said for a team that faces down a trade deadline rebuild and then begins playing its best baseball of the year. The Yankees should have keeled over and played uninspired ball for the final two months of the season, but they rose above it and got themselves back into contention. This team should not be remembered for missing the playoffs, but rather for showing the sheer will to even sniff the postseason.

Joe Girardi, often the victim of firing speculation, should be commended for the job he has done this season, as should veteran players like Brett Gardner and Brian McCann. The young players like Sanchez, Aaron Judge, and Tyler Austin who have gained valuable experience this year, will be ready to contend again next season. With Greg Bird returning, the Yankees will be significantly younger than they have been since the beginning of the Core Four era.

A few better pitches made by the bullpen in last weekend’s meltdown in Fenway Park, and the Yanks could have been right in the thick of the playoff race right up until the season’s final days. No one would have predicted that on August 1.

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