For the first time in a number of years, expectations for the Yankees were lukewarm at the start of the season. Questions abounded over everything from the depth of the starting pitching staff, Alex Rodriguez's ability to bounce back from a yearlong suspension, and whether Mark Teixeira could stay on the field for an entire season.
Those tepid expectations, in the eyes of former Yankees World Series hero Jim Leyritz, were a welcome change for an organization that has almost required success over the last two decades. Leyritz's game-tying home run in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series against the Braves played a big part in starting that era and is now part of Yankees lore.