Randy Levine describes himself as a "disciple" of George Steinbrenner, brought up in the Yankees organization to think of every season with a World Series or bust mentality.
"I'm disappointed when we don't win a championship," the club president said by phone Wednesday morning, some 12 hours after the Yankees' loss to the Astros in the AL wild-card game.
But Levine also took a longer view.
"A lot of teams have the luxury of losing for several years in an effort to rebuild and we just don't have that ability, it's not in our DNA, it's not in our game plan," Levine said, pointing out since 2000 the Yankees still have the most playoff appearances and their two championships in that time are tied with the Cardinals for second-most behind the three won by the Red Sox and Giants.