Sox Admit They Can't Live Up To Yankees Standards

From Daniel Barbarisi (hat-tip to Was Watching):

The New York Yankees are famously held to the highest standard in baseball, that of “World Series or bust.” The perception is that every season that does not end in a World Series trophy is considered a failure by the Steinbrenner family.

After a decade of consistent winning, Boston’s ownership group — John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino — sat side by side and mulled over an interesting question; with all the recent success, and the outcry that begins when the Sox bow out early in the playoffs, have they, too, reached that point?

Henry paused — then shot that idea down.

“I think that our goal every year is to make the playoffs. If we make the playoffs, we’re going to win at some point in the postseason. We’ve been fortunate to do that twice,” Henry said.

Moments later, he turned to Lucchino. “Do we have a stated goal of number of wins?”

Lucchino had that answer at the ready.

“We always kind of get fixated on 95. That’s a nice round number that we like and we achieved last year, of course,” Lucchino said.

They try and they try, but they'll never be the Yankees.

I've never had a problem with the Yankees "World Series or bust" mentality, in fact, I wish all the teams I rooted for had that same mission statement. It may not be fair to the players and could add some extra pressure, but they're being paid millions of dollars to play a children's game so who cares. Tough it up and grow a sack.

People have said to me, "But doesn't it take the joy out of winning?" and to them I say no, it doesn't. Maybe having the highest payroll does a little, especially because we consistently having to hear about it. But the "World Series or bust" mentality does not and never will.

Besides the 1999 New York Knicks, who lost to Spurs in NBA finals, I have never rooted for any team which didn't win a championship and I was still pleased with their season and wasn't left bitterly disappointed. The only other team that comes close is the '03 Yankees because of how they beat Boston and how satisfying that was. The bottom line is New Yorkers love winners, not almost winners. We are only satisfied with being the best.