The “We like playing with House Odds” Yankees Fan.

Get involved in a baseball conversation with any Yankees fan, and you’re likely to come across the number 27 at some point during the conversation.  Starting the regular season, for every other MLB team at least, is like sitting down at a roulette table in an imaginary Yankees owned Casino.  Even though the odds are essentially even, the Yankees still seem to have a slight “house” advantage over the rest of the league.  Sure, a team or two will occasionally walk out with a skittish smirk on their face and a pocket full of shiny chips, yet most will have come and gone only donating their investment to the continual construction of the empire state.

Construction comes at a lofty price though.  The figurative casino has seen inordinate amounts of operation expenses since 2003; the year the league instated the luxury tax threshold rule.  Since the rules inception, the Yankees have exceeded the threshold all 9 years, contributing roughly 200 million (95%) towards the tax fund.  To the excitement of their management, the Yanks have brought the number down the past two years, and saw their second lowest surplus last year with roughly 13.9 million.  No need to fret Yanks fans though, you have enough revenue to cover the threshold spread through 2047.

Since the luxury tax was established, the Yanks have won only one of their 27 championships though.  Which is not a dissatisfaction for any other MLB team, and is really only a minor shortage in the Yankees overabundant and flourishing career.  The last time (and really only time) the Bronx Bombers remotely struggled, prior to only winning the W.S. once in a 9 year span, was their neglect of a playoff appearance spanning from 1982 to 1994.  An avoidance which I’m fairly sure the boys from the Big Apple aren’t heading for anytime soon.

With the majority of their “might as well be the A.L. all-star team” Broadway line-up returning in 2012, I would expect, and I think NY fans would too, nothing short of a championship caliber team.  Again, they have all the essential pieces of the puzzle at their disposal; it’s just a matter of the pieces falling into the right place at the right time.  Don’t sell them short on off-season purchases though, they’ll be sure to have a finger in every free agent basket, even if it’s a basket clearly labeled Boston red or Toronto blue.  As long as Derek “I’ll play wherever I want to play” Jeter is still performing on the big stage, I would expect the show to still be an MLB academy award-winner.