1994 New York Yankees Season
The New York Yankees' 1994 season was the 92nd season for the Yankees. New York was managed by Buck Showalter and played at Yankee Stadium. The team finished with a record of 70-43 finishing 6 1⁄2 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles, having the best record in the American League and the second-best record in Major League Baseball. The season was cut short by the infamous 1994 player's strike, which wiped out any postseason aspirations for their first postseason appearance since losing the 1981 World Series and that their star player and captain, Don Mattingly, had. On the day the strike began, the Yankees were on pace to win at least 100 games for the first time since 1980. The Yankees' ace, 33 year-old veteran Jimmy Key, was leading the majors with 17 wins and was on pace to win 24 games. Right fielder Paul O'Neill was also having a career year, as he was leading the league with a .359 batting average.
The strike is remembered bitterly by Yankees fans as it shook sports fans in New York City and the Yankees to the core and made 1994 one of the worst years in New York City sports hitory, and has been named among the 10 worst moments in New York City sports history, primarily because Mattingly had not played in a postseason. It was also seen as the frustrating peak of the Yankees' demise and downfall of the 1980s and early 1990s.
When reacting to the strike, many fans said that the strike and the lost Yankees season was another to the blow to baseball backers in New York City, following the move of the Dodgers and the Giants to California for the 1958 season, the demise of the Yankees during the 1960s and early 1970s and 1980s and early 1990s, and the bad baseball at Shea Stadium during the late 1970s and early 1990s. They also said it was the latest to the demise and downfall of the 1980s and early 1990s.
Because the Yankees were last in a postseason in a season cut short by a strike, the news media constantly reminded the Yankees about the parallels between the two Yankee teams (1981 and 1994), which included both Yankee teams having division leads taken away by strike. Also, throughout October, they continued to bombard the Yankees, making speculations about what might have been if there had not been a strike, making references to the days games in the post-season would have been played.
Read more about 1994 New York Yankees Season: Offseason, Regular Season, Player Stats, Awards and Honors, Farm System
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