Personally, I somewhat dislike the whole “it could be a lot of worse, let’s look at the bright side” sort of narrative. That line of thinking often is used as a cop-out to defend disappointing performances, and a failure to match potential with results. That said, it is also easy to get a narrow view, focusing on the bad parts, and wrongfully dismissing good things or helpful context that can shape the complete picture.
At the very least, the Yankees are still playing somewhat meaningful baseball, and at least this team has a shot at making the postseason.