The Chases Of 1997, 2005 & 2007

The 2007 Yankees, at this date, are 70-54 and 4 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the A.L. East. Looking at this, I wondered how many times since 1990 have the Yankees not been in first place at this date? Here’s the answer:

Year – Yankees Record (around this time) – Games Back of First
2005 – 69-55 – 3.5 (Boston)
1997 – 74-50 – 5.5 (Baltimore)
1995 – 53-51 – 10.5 (Boston)
1992 – 55-67 – 15.0 (Toronto)
1991 – 56-68 – 12.5 (Toronto)
1990 – 52-72 – 15.0 (Boston)

Therefore, in the past 18 years, 2007 (for the Yankees) is the most like 2005 and 1997 (in terms of the race for the A.L. East).

It will be interesting to see how the 2007 team responds to this chase. There are a dozen players on the 2007 Yankees who were around in 2005:

Alex Rodriguez
Andy Phillips
Chien-Ming Wang
Derek Jeter
Hideki Matsui
Jason Giambi
Jorge Posada
Mariano Rivera
Melky Cabrera
Mike Mussina
Robinson Cano
Sean Henn

If you want to go back to 1997, only Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera remain with the team today.

In some ways, 1997, 2005, and 2007 are three different chases – and three different classes as well.