The Yankees are entering the 2022 season chasing their 28th World Series title, and general manager Brian Cashman is still talking about 2017. He didn’t mince words about the Yankees making it to the World Series that season had it not been for the Astros cheating.
“The only thing that stopped (us) was something that was so illegal and horrific,” Cashman told The Athletic. “So I get offended when I start hearing we haven’t been to the World Series since ’09. Because I’m like, ‘Well, I think we actually did it the right way.’ Pulled it down, brought it back up. Drafted well, traded well, developed well, signed well. The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off.”
In 2017, New York went 91-71 in the regular season and claimed a spot in the American League wild-card game. After beating the Twins in the single-elimination game, the Yankees toppled the Indians in five games in the AL Division Series to be matched with the Astros in the Championship Series.
The Astros rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the ALCS to advance to the World Series — all while utilizing an illegal camera to steal signs and relay them to batters in real-time, commissioner Rob Manfred’s office later found and revealed in a 2020 report.
“People are like ‘Oh, we haven’t been to a World Series . . .’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think that’s as true a statement as it could be,'” Cashman said. “We had a World Series team. And either you get it done or you don’t.”
For more on the Yankees’ World Series drought, you can read Andy McCullough’s full story in the Go Deeper section below.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
