2009 New York Yankees

In 2009, the Yankees broke their World Series "slump," taking home their first World Series title since their late-90s Dynasty ended. They won 103 games, mostly behind their prestigious lineup.  Their lineup was led by Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, who finished second and third in the MVP voting and both won Gold Gloves. Of course they had other familiar Yankees stars on the team, such as A-Rod, Matsui, Posada, Cano, Johnny Damon and Nick Swisher. Moreover, the free agent signing of CC Sabathia proved instrumental to their success, giving them the frontline starter they needed alongside their potent offense. They knocked off the defending champion Phillies in the World Series in six games, and honestly have a lot more team speed than I would've guessed. Honestly, as much as I hate the Yankees, this is going to be a fun squad to play with and match up against other World Series champion teams!

Without further ado, the 2009 Yankees cards!


Lineup: Finally a team to give the 2015 Blue Jays a run for their money in the on-base department, albeit with a lot less power than that squad. Here, there's seven hitters that are OB 8 or better, with one of the two non-OB 8 hitters being a wicked fun Robinson Cano. Jeter leads things off with one of his best seasons, finishing third in the MVP voting while collecting a gold glove. His speed makes him an ideal leadoff man and good value at SS for the glove, OB, and speed for a sweet 420 points. Damon brings a good card to #2, still maintaining some speed and contributing a lot of pop for an OB 8. The MVP runner up is batting third, and oh boy did Mark Teixeira have a big season! He hit over 40 doubles while smashing 39 HRs (just missing that sweet OB 9, HR at 16 card) as he took home the gold glove at first base. He's got lineup protection from A-Rod, who had a down year by his standards but still brings a HR at 18 on an OB 10 card to the cleanup slot. Matsui and Posdda have a BUNCH of power as the DH and C. They should see plenty of RBI chances in the 5 and 6 holes, as well as blast a bunch of longballs! In the seven spot is the aforementioned Robbie Cano card, only an OB 7 but hitting HRs at 17+ and doubling at 12! Cano had 48 doubles and it shows! Plus, he's got a 10-11 1B+ for more extra base potential. An OB 9 is hitting eighth, demonstrating the lineup's depth. Sure, Swisher is going to frustrate by getting out on his own chart 30% of the time and walking another 30% of the time, but he'll get on-base much more often than most 8 hitters. Wrapping it up is pre-steroids Melky Cabrera, as a decent enough defender and an OB 6 card that's got a little bit of speed. This is a fearsome lineup overall and one that should be able to put up runs consistently thanks to its variety of steadfast hitters.

Rotation: The rotation is probably the Yankees' biggest weakness, and is probably the weakest of the Showdown Superteams we've put out so far. With a Tier 3 ace and three Tier 4 guys making up the rest of the rotation, the Yankees are going to give up some runs. However, CC helps mitigate the damage with his Control 4, no doubles over 7 innings card, making him a viable #1 starter. AJ Burnett has a low control, but his no doubles chart could keep him alive as long as he's not surrendering the advantage too frequently. Pettitte is risky with his walk at 16 chart, but he can definitely handle lineups as long as you're not too freaked out by giving up a lot of baserunners. Chamberlain only has 4 IP and will really struggle if you push him past 5, so he's a real liability in the four spot. Thankfully for the Yankees, their lineup is so good that they can afford to give up 4-5 runs per game without feeling totally out of it!

Bullpen: A bullpen that lacks a lot of good depth, but has an absolute gem of a closer! Unsurprisingly, the pitching part of the legendary Big 4 is still here as a Tier 1 after a 1.76 ERA and .905 WHIP. Rivera recorded 44 saves in his 66 appearances, absolutely dominating hitters in his age 39 season. His best set up men are Hughes and Robertson, both Control 3, Tier 3 pitchers. Robertson will probably be the go to eighth inning guy, while Hughes will be called upon for two inning work frequently. There's also Phil Coke, a useful enough Control 3, Tier 4 guy. Basically, Rivera's bullpen buddies aren't anything to write home about, but aren't bad enough to be considered real liabilities. Still, this is definitely the weakest bullpen of the Best Season teams we've put out so far.

Overall: If I were to do a four team playoffs between the 2009 Yankees, 2015 Blue Jays, 2016 Cubs, and 2017 Astros, this Yankees squad would find itself entrenched in the four seed. While the lineup is definitely scary, the lackluster rotation and bullpen put this team behind the eight ball. Sure, they have arguably the deepest lineup overall, but the three OB 10, HR at 17 guys for the Blue Jays and the four OB 10 hitters for the Cubs really give those teams just as good of an argument. Meanwhile, the Astros are not far behind and can make arguments with their 5 OB 9 or better hitters... Essentially, with the clear weakest rotation and bullpen of the four teams, the basically equal lineup doesn't put them over the top of anyone. However, at 5250 total points, the team is "print off and play" viable for a 5500 point league right now! Moreover, a slight upgrade to the starting pitching (aka swap Joba out for a 500 point pitcher somehow) and this team is ready to really contend with anyone! But, it must be said, the 15 thru 17 superteams are almost abnormally good, and it's fun to see a World Series team with more obvious weaknesses while still being obviously loaded with talent! I hope you have as much fun playing with them as I had working on them!