The air is chilled, the leaves are beginning to change and nighttime arrives sooner and sooner every day. Fall is here for good.
Sports wise, what does this mean?
About 95 percent of sports fans in this country would answer, simply, more football. The other five percent would mumble something about the NHL preseason.
Let's face it, baseball isn't America's pastime anymore. America's sporting interest goes as follows: the NFL, college football then the NFL Draft.
Football is king.
But every fall, baseball does its best to make a stand against the pigskin tidal wave by staging the most exciting event it can muster -- the playoffs followed by the World Series.
Even the most attention-span deprived, hyperactive, punk teenager should be able to find some excitement in this year's edition.
Will Barry Bonds finally get his
ring? Can the Red Sox break their curse? Can the Cubs?
Compelling story lines, all of them. But once again all eyes will be on the pulsating capitol of the Baseball World, 161st street and River Avenue in the Bronx, N.Y., Yankee Stadium, home of America's greatest dynasty.
Can the Yankees pull it out one more time?
November 4, 2001 may go down as a seminal date in recent Yankee history. On that night, in Phoenix, at a stadium with a swimming pool in right field, the four-year old Diamondbacks beat the mighty Yankees in an epic seventh game to take the World's championship.
Things have been different since that night. Sure, the Yankees have won the American League East twice in a row, extending their streak of division titles to six, and they have continued to buy and buy, scouring the earth for talent.
But since that loss to Arizona, the sense of invincibility that accompanied the team since 1998 has disappeared.
The Anaheim Angels battered the Yankee's pitching last season in the divisional series and this year the problems, at times, have been plentiful. There have been times when the Yankees couldn't hit, times when they couldn't field and too many times when the bullpen hasn't been able to do the job.
And, most worryingly, the sangfroid that has surrounded the Yankees during the Joe Torre regime is gone. The Boss, George Steinbrenner, began meddling during spring training and didn't stop.
For Steinbrenner, a two-year drought is bad enough. Three is unthinkable. Whether or not the Yanks pull it out, it seems that Torre will be gone when this season is done
Yes, there are questions surrounding the Yankees, perhaps the most they have faced going into the postseason since 1996 or '97.
All of these problems are, of course, relative. The Bombers did manage to win 101 games this year, tied for best in the Majors. They still have a star-studded lineup and three of the game's strongest starters in Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite. And, thanks to a Hank Blalock home run at the all-star game in July, the Yankees will have home field advantage in every series they play.
But New York is New York and the pressure will be on. While America is football crazy, New York is, and always will be, a baseball town. Every flaw is magnified, every mistake is a near disaster.
So the Yankees will gear up the playoff express one more time with more questions than answers. Is Contreras the answer in relief? Will Matsui wear down? Can Boone, Giambi and whoever plays in right finally do what Brosius, Tino and Paul O'Neill did and step up when it matters so often.
We'll find out starting tomorrow. If you get a chance switch over to a game during halftime.
