Even though they had finished with winning records and were at least peripherally in the playoff hunt in the previous couple years, 2017 was the real birth of the current era of Yankees’ playoff contenders. After Gary Sanchez’s emergence the previous season, Brian McCann was traded away, joining several other big names that had been dealt away at the 2016 trade deadline. Sanchez would be joined by Aaron Judge and Luis Severino as home grown emerging stars making their mark on the major league team.
As the trade deadline neared, the Yankees faltered a bit.