Outside The Confines: No postseason for the Yankees

They’ve been called a dynasty. They’ve spent some of the highest amounts in modern history to build winning teams, and now the Yankees will be missing the postseason for the first time since 2016.

As you’ll see in some of the links below, while the Yankees are disappointed, some people are delighting in the Yankees’ collapse. It’s certainly interesting to see a team that is such a perennial postseason contender falling from grace, especially happening right on the heels of Aaron Judge’s incredible home run record year just last season.

Here’s a little more detail on the Yankees’ 2023 downfall.

• Bryan Hoch explores the elimination over at MLB dot com.
• Ian Casselberry looks at why the elimination is tickling some MLB fans.
• Coley Harvey looks at the elimination for ESPN.

Now on to the rest of today’s links!

• Ben Clemens offers his five favorite (and least favorite) things that happened this past week.
• Will Leitch gives us eight stories to watch in the final week of the season.
• Estaban Rivera looks at the shift of Michael King to his role as a starter.
• Emma Baccellieri explains why Gerrit Cole might be the last of a dying breed as he reaches 200 innings again this season.
• The Braves have placed Charlie Morton on the 15-day IL, adding to their postseason troubles. (AP)
• Dan Hayes gets doused in champagne to report on the Twins’ clinching the AL Central. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• One of my favorite seasonal traditions.

• Dan Szymborski shares with us how the Padres are making their last stand.
• On the note of the Padres, Tom Verducci explains how Blake Snell is going to be a highly unusual Cy Young winner.
• The Orioles have reduced their magic number to three. Story by Jake Rill.
• Miguel Rojas apologized for doing his job while mic’d up. (Mic players up all the time, please). Story by Scoot Chiusano.
• Jimmy Traina explains why the A’s farewell gift to Miguel Cabrera might have been problematic (and cheap).
• The Angels have officially shut Mike Trout down for the rest of the season. (ESPN)
• Freddie Freeman just recorded his first 200-hit season. Story by Fabian Ardaya. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Well, this is adorable.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.