*Following this post, Buster will be taking a one week break to work on another project, and perhaps even play some King of the Mountain. He'll be back on Monday the 24th.
The Yankees' magic number for clinching the American League East is down to 41, in the aftermath of their latest victory, and I'm trying to remember exactly why I picked them to finish out of the playoffs as we made preseason predictions.
A lot of it was because I thought the Rays -- my projected winners in the AL East -- were a team of extraordinarily young and talented players who would naturally progress as
B.J. Upton and
Evan Longoria and
James Shields and the others matured. Instead they've taken a step back, and now must face big-picture questions about the futures of Upton,
Carl Crawford and
Scott Kazmir. Incredibly, the window of opportunity for the group of Rays players that emerged in 2008 might be closing, because of the hard payroll decisions they have to make.
But a lot of the reason I picked against the Yankees is because dysfunction had become so ingrained in their clubhouse in recent years, and when spring training opened with
Alex Rodriguez sitting in front of reporters and explaining what he took and when he took it, they looked like a team headed for derailment again. They got off to a slow start in the regular season, looking impotent against the Red Sox, and their bullpen was a mess. On May 12, they were 15-17, and Boston's pitching depth looked unbeatable.
Since then, the Yankees have won 58 and lost 26. The standard for success for this organization -- any season that does not end in a championship is a failure -- was set by George Steinbrenner years ago and has been inherited by the fan base. This has been a remarkable season for a lot of the Yankees, no matter what happens in October, and they deserve their props.
To read about how the Yankees have turned things around, plus trade notes and a ton more, you must be an ESPN Insider. 
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Buster Olney
