Blogs – Page 174 – Keefe To The City

Apr 19, 2015

Rangers-Penguins Game 2 Thoughts: Everything Is Fine

The Rangers lost Game 2 to the Penguins to even the series up, but there’s no reason to panic after losing one game to the best player in the world.

The Rangers aren’t in trouble. They’re not. There seems to be a lot of panic and a lot of worrying going on after a 4-3 Game 2 loss to the Penguins, but that’s just New York being New York. In a city where each baseball game of 162 is reacted to like Game 7 of the World Series, it’s only normal for an overreaction to the result of a playoff game, in any sport.

I picked the Rangers in six because I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to eliminate the Penguins. Even if Game 1 felt as easy as any 2-1 playoff win could ever feel and any Rangers playoff win could ever feel, it wasn’t always going to be like that. The Penguins still have the best player in the world and at times the second-best player in the world. And when you have the best player in the world, sometimes he’s going to play like the best player in the world and score two goals in a game and you’re going to lose.

Mats Zuccarello said, “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy – and it’s still not,” after the Game 2 loss and hopefully his words carried to all the irrational fans out there, who somehow thought the Rangers would walk through the first round and even the second round and the conference finals and find themselves in the Stanley Cup Final because they’re the No. 1 overall seed.

The Penguins limped to the finish line and backed into the playoffs, for a good part of the season they sat atop the Met and looked like they might run away with another division title and another 1- or 2-seed in the playoffs. It doesn’t matter that the Penguins tried to 2007 Mets or 2014-15 Bruins their way out of the postseason and cause more chaos for a front office that was just turned over this past offseason, the same way it doesn’t matter that the Senators finished the season on a 20-3-3 to get in the playoffs since they’re now in a 3-0 series hole to the Canadiens. All that matters is that the Penguins are in the playoffs and they should be taken as seriously by the fans and media as any postseason opponent, especially one with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The Rangers didn’t look like a Presidents’ Trophy-winning team in Game 2 and when you score three goals in a playoff game with Henrik Lundqvist, you should win. Had you told me before Game 2 that the Rangers would have a 1-0 lead after the first and score three goals in the game, well, I would be broke right now from loading up on the Rangers’ money line and likely the puck line as well since three goals in a playoff with Lundqvist will usually be good enough to cover the -1.5. Unfortunately, what should be a guaranteed formula for success didn’t work out, the Penguins did their job by avoiding a 2-0 deficit and split on the road, which is any road’s teams goal in the playoffs. Now it’s the Rangers’ job to achieve the same goal in Pittsburgh in the next two games.

If the Rangers lose Game 3, they’re still not in trouble. If they lose Games 3 and 4 then we’ll have a situation. For now though, everything is fine. It’s not perfect and it’s not even great. Very rarely in the postseason do you get either of those feelings. Maybe once you reach the Stanley Cup Final and are moments away from winning it all would you say things are perfect are going great. But things are fine right now for the Rangers and that’s all you can ask after the first two games of a seven-game series.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Apr 17, 2015

Evan Longoria Is the Rays’ Derek Jeter

The Rays lose players to big-market teams seemingly every year, but Evan Longoria has been the exception and is the one true icon in the team’s short 18-year history.

The Yankees are in trouble. With three straight series losses to open the season, the Yankees have to get back on track before their remaining seven-game road trip ends. If they don’t, the season could be lost before it even begins.

With the Yankees into Tampa Bay for their first series against the Rays, Daniel Russell of DRaysBay joined me to talk about losing Andrew Friedman to the Dodgers, having a rookie manager in Kevin Cash take over for Joe Maddon and the frustration of watching the roster turn over due to finances.

Keefe: This offseason you lost general manager Andrew Friedman to the Dodgers and manager Joe Maddon to the Rays. Both men played an integral part in the success of the Rays from shedding their Devil Rays image to becoming a consistent winning and postseason team.

What were your feelings on the two leaving for big-market teams?

Russell: There’s so much I could say about each of these men, in appreciation, in admiration, and in heartfelt sorrow that they are gone. The Rays only had a few faces of the franchise, and these two were the primary names on that list.

Andrew Friedman’s departure was at some level expected, far back in my mind I thought he’d leave one day. His interviews and dinners about town had come and gone in the past, but after 10 years with the franchise (nine as de facto GM), his leaving didn’t add pain the the surprise.

Friedman is gone but the franchise is in a great place. The brain trust he built stayed in tact when he left for L.A., and his departure freed up the staff to make some moves that other wise might not have happened, like getting value for Joel Peralta or Wil Myers, who both looked pretty busted last season, despite their pedigrees.

Joe Maddon was different, just a week prior he was adamant about his commitment to the franchise, and once he was gone the front office was legitimately stunned. As were the players, and the coaching staff. The Rays believe some tampering occurred on the part of the Cubs, who hired him seven days later, and that investigation is still ongoing, even though Manfred said it would conclude by Opening Day. So there’s something fishy to the situation.

I don’t blame Joe Maddon for leaving, the opportunity to become a legend with the Cubs is something I think I would have pursued if I were in his position. It just happened in the wrong way.

Keefe: With Maddon leaving, Kevin Cash became a rookie manager and sort of under-the-radar selection for the Rays as their new manager. Just four years removed from the league, Cash, who had a short stint with the Yankees in 2009, was suddenly a manager in the majors after serving as part of Terry Francona’s Cleveland staff for two years.

Who did you want to be the Rays manager after Maddon left?

Russell: I’m not sure I had an opinion on who the manager would be among the list of first round finalists, but once it was narrowed down to Don Wakamatsu and Kevin Cash, I’m glad it was the latter.

Cash is a feel good story, a local kid who played Little League and went to high school in Tampa, then played in multiple College World Series at Florida State before becoming a Devil Ray. Coming back is a welcome home.

He scrapped his way into a major league career, transitioning to catcher in Cape Cod ball before joining the Blue Jays, and he won World Series rings with Boston (2007) and New York (2009) as the third catcher. He’s got the right mind and is super relatable in the clubhouse. He’s ridden those busses and he’s also found success.

Cash was an advanced scout for the Blue Jays, then the bullpen coach for the Indians, his second turn under Terry Francona (the guy who beat Joe Maddon for the job in Boston). He identified Yan Gomes for them, and helped turn around the careers of guys like Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber. He’s the kind of guy who destined to be a manager, and his hiring (while the youngest in the game with no true managerial experience) lends itself to the underdog role this Rays team needed to embrace.

Keefe: Tampa Bay was my favorite non-Yankees team before 2008, which is before they got good, and I don’t have a favorite non-Yankees team. Maybe it was because they were an easy win for the Yankees and a standings-padding opponent, which helped the Yankees to the division title year after year. But I enjoyed watching the Rays’ young talent and Lou Piniella manage that young talent even if it seemed like they would never put it together.

In 2008 they did it put it together. The Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time since 1993 and I rooted for the Rays in the postseason, mainly because I knew they could beat the Red Sox. Whn you look at the 2008 Rays roster, the only player left is Evan Longoria, who has been the face of the franchise and is the one true face of the franchise since the team’s inception.

Seven years ago when you thought about the Rays’ future, did you think Longoria would be the only player still with the organization from that World Series team?

Russell: I’m glad we’ve been able to fall out of your good graces, because the Yankee fan presence in Tampa can be quite unbearable.

Roster turnover is an expectation, and seven years later who could I have reasonably expected to remain? David Price and James Shields might be the only clear answers, maybe Carlos Pena if he’d kept his career in tact.

James Shields was the only type who had the talent and mindset to take on a second contract extension like Longoria, and David Price’s control ran through this season. Perhaps starter Matt Garza could have remained, but he was volatile and valuable to the market, so his departure was a bit more expected.

It’s worth mentioning that Ben Zobrist was a part of that 2008 team’s bench, but using a 2008 mindset I don’t think he was expected to become one of the five most valuable hitters in the game, so his mention would be unfair. As for other big ticket names, Upton and Crawford were destined to leave after long turns with the franchise far before 2015 rolled around.

If I may, this is probably a good moment to say kudos to Longoria for signing two team-friendly deals with Tampa Bay.

Speaking to a fanbase that has enjoyed several long Yankee careers, you need to understand he’s all we’ve got. Our franchise is only nearly 20 years old, that’s not a long time to retire the same numbers you all have in that cemetery or whatever that garden at Yankee Stadium is called.

Longoria knew he wanted to be a one-franchise man. He’ll be the first bronze statue one day as well. I’m looking forward to it.

Keefe: After Longoria, David Price was the second face of the team (at least from an outsider’s perspective). His trade was inevitable and now he is doing for the Tigers what he did for the Rays.

Is it hard to watch Price pitch for another team after being a homegrown player for the Rays, or are you used to the idea of superstars leaving because of finances?

Russell: It’s an unfortunate reality, truly it is. Your perception isn’t wrong, he really was the hearbeat of the team in a lot of ways. He’s still texting the Rays starters before they take the mound and offering encouragements. Losing him was hard.

The Rays don’t have the money to lock down many players, and the farm system has not been well stocked through the draft lately, so trading players has been the best avenue to bring the future to bear without going into an Astros re-build, or having to constantly trade away what remains like the Athletics.

So here we are in 2015 without David Price. I’m used to the idea, yes, but it’s no less frustrating. That excitement to watch him take the mound never really goes away. You always knew he was likely to give you something special.

Keefe: The Rays entered the season with an over/under win total of 79 after a 77-85 season in 2014. The turnover on the roster since last season has been immense and the 2015 Opening Day Rays are basically unrecognizable from the 2014 Opening Day Rays.

However, the Rays have gotten off to a strong 6-4 start despite some tough first-week opponents to once again prove that no matter who the Rays lose, they seem to find a way to stay competitive.

What are your expectations for this season?

Russell: Always take the over on the Tampa Bay Rays. This team has pressed into the playoffs in all but two seasons since 2008.

That said, injuries are a bear, and this year we might have 10 players on the disabled list before the week is out. The Rays starting depth is limited to the No. 2, No. 4, No. 7 and No. 9 starters from the depth chart, if we’re counting Matt Moore (recovering from Tommy John – returning in June) as the No. 5. The current fifth starter is the long man, and he’s laid an egg in both of his outings thus far.

Meanwhile, the Rays are going through an AL East bloodbath – only one series (already played against the Marlins) from Opening Day to May 6 is against a team outside the division. Right now the Rays just need to tread water, without their 1B, 2B, DH and maybe even without Longoria for one or two games after a hit-by-pitch last night.

It’s not going to be easy, but if this team can break even through April, I think they stand a decent chance of remaining competitive in the division, and following the projections from Baseball Prospectus to place second in the division around 85 wins.

Blogs • Yankees

Apr 17, 2015

Thank You, Brian Cashman for Ruining the Yankees

Every time Brian Cashman talks I feel like Dunphy in Outside Providence when he says to Mr. Funderburk mid-sentence, “Oh will you just shut the f-ck up.” Everything that comes out Cashman’s mouth is just

Every time Brian Cashman talks I feel like Dunphy in Outside Providence when he says to Mr. Funderburk mid-sentence, “Oh will you just shut the f-ck up.”

Everything that comes out Cashman’s mouth is just a long way of making an excuse. Through nine horrific games this season, Cashman has wondered why the defense has been so bad or the offense hasn’t been there or the pitching has been inconsistent. He has cited small sample sizes rather than admitting that when you put enough baseball players together that suck at baseball, the team is going to suck.

At 3-6, the Yankees have lost all three of their series to open the season, are three games back already in the division, and if things don’t turn around this weekend in Tampa Bay before heading to Detroit for four games followed by the first part of the Subway Series and a series in Boston in two weeks, the 2015 Yankees might not make it to Cinco de Mayo let alone Memorial Day.

Before the season started Cashman said to his team, “Be a good enough team to get to the playoffs, allow me to tweak in-season to make it good enough to win a World Series.’’ He believed before the season that the team he constructed could be good enough to compete for a playoff spot, and if they were to, he could get them to the World Series, apparently with his magic trade powers. The same powers that have Didi Gregorius looking like he belongs playing in an Independent League while Shane Greene is 2-0 for the Tigers thanks to back-to-back starts of eight scoreless innings.

The season might be 5.6 percent old and maybe before this road trip is over the season will have turned around. But so far, every fear I had about the 2015 Yankees has come true and then some. Everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. The offense comes and goes, the pitching is inconsistent, the defense is an embarrassment and on Thursday night, the bullpen joined the club with a sixth-inning implosion to cost the Yankees the game.

It didn’t have to be this way. The same bad lineup and shaky rotation you see every game and will see for the next five-plus months didn’t have to look like this. Let’s go back in time and look at what Brian Cashman could have done differently to not put the Yankees in this spot.

The Yankees missed the playoffs in 2013 because of devastating injuries to Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira. That led to the following players playing the most games at each position:

C – Chris Stewart
1B – Lyle Overbay
2B – Robinson Cano
3B – Eduardo Nunez
SS – Jayson Nix
LF – Vernon Wells
CF – Brett Gardner
RF – Ichiro Suzuki
DH – Travis Hafner

After years of fortunate health, the Yankees’ fortunes ran out in 2013 and the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and the second time since 1993.

Then came the 2013 offseason.

The Yankees’ missed postseason, coupled with the Red Sox winning the World Series set the front office into a panic, throwing out their plans of staying below the luxury-tax threshold they had talked about for so long. They decided to lowball Robinson Cano with a BS offer and instead gave Jacoby Ellsbury (a bigger-name Brett Gardner) a seven-year, $153 million deal. Despite catcher being the one position of depth in the organization, they gave Brian McCann a five-year, $85 million deal for his 30-, 31-, 32-, 33- and 34-year-old seasons. After watching Carlos Beltran’s postseason performance and after years of dealing with Nick Swisher’s postseaon failures, they gave Beltran a three-year, $15 million deal for his 37-, 38- and 39-year-old seasons, nine years after they should have signed Beltran.

The 2014 Yankees’ payroll was $197.2 million.

Let’s say they don’t sign Jacoby Ellsbury. The payroll drops to $176.1 million.

Let’s say they don’t sign Brian McCann. The payroll drops to $159.1 million.

Let’s say they don’t sign Carlos Beltran. The payroll drops to $144.1 million.

Let’s say they re-sign Robinson Cano and give him the contract the Mariners gave him (10 years, $24 million). The payroll increases to $168.1 million.

Without those three and with Cano, the payroll would have been $29.1 million less.

The 2014 Opening Day lineup would have been:

C – Francisco Cervelli/John Ryan Murphy
1B – Mark Teixeira
2B – Robinson Cano
3B – Kelly Johnson
SS – Derek Jeter
LF – Alfonso Soriano
CF – Brett Gardner
RF – Ichiro Suzuki
DH – Someone else on the 25-man roster

That lineup isn’t exactly the offense we got used to over the last 15-plus seasons, but it’s also not that far removed from the actual 2014 offense.

The rotation stays the same as it was with CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Masahiro Tanaka, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda.

I wanted Brian McCann on the Yankees because I had to sit through a lot of Chris Stewart and Austin Romine in 2013. But it didn’t make a lot of sense for the Yankees to pay a catcher $85 million for his 30-34 seasons when, once again, catcher was the one position of depth in the organization at the time.

Ichiro ended up playing in 143 games, so it was like he was an everyday player anyway.

Soriano only played in 67 games (238 plate appearances) and hit .221 with six home runs and 23 RBIs before he was released. Soriano was supposed to be the Yankees’ designated hitter. He was supposed to play in the outfield only to give others a day off. But because of the old, brittle signing of Carlos Beltran and having the softest player in all of baseball in Mark Teixeira, Soriano lost out on being the full-time DH and was relegated to infrequent at-bats as part of an outfield rotation. The Yankees put Soriano, a career everyday player, in a position to fail and when he did, they let him go. Beltran hit .223 with 15 home runs and 49 RBIs. Soriano could have those numbers or close to them if he played the full season.

The actual 2014 Yankees missed the playoffs, so if this team had missed it, nothing changes. The only thing that changes is that they are in a much better financial position for 2015 and beyond. Let’s look at this past offseason and this season had that Yankees roster been constructed.

The current 2015 Yankees payroll is $217.8 million.

Before we continue, remember the 2014 Yankees traded Johnson for Stephen Drew, traded Yangervis Solarte for Chase Headley and Vidal Nuno for Brandon McCarthy.

Let’s say they re-sign Headley, sign Andrew Miller, don’t trade Shane Greene for Didi Gregorius (their salaries cancel each other out) and don’t trade Martin Prado and David Phelps for Nathan Eovaldi. Add $11 million to the 2015 payroll for Prado (Side note: the Yankees are paying $3 million of Prado’s salary in 2015 and 2016 to play for Miami. No big deal.) and add $1.4 million for Phelps. That brings the payroll to $230.2 million. Then subtract $3.3 million for Eovaldi. That brings the total to $226.9 million.

Let’s say they re-sign David Robertson for the contract the White Sox gave him (four years, $46 million). Add $10 million to the payroll. The total is $236.9 million.

Let’s say they re-sign Brandon McCarthy for the contract the Dodgers gave him (four years, $48 million). Add $11 million to the payroll. The total is $247.9 million.

Add in Cano’s $24 million. The total is $271.9 million.

Now subtract McCann’s $17 million. The total is $254.9 million.

Subtract Ellsbury’s $21.1 million. The total is $233.8 million.

Subtract Beltran’s $15 million. The total is $218.8 million.

After all of that, the 2015 payroll is $1 million more than it is actually is in real life.

Here is the 2015 Opening Day lineup after that.

C – John Ryan Murphy
1B – Mark Teixeira
2B – Robinson Cano
3B – Chase Headley
SS – Stephen Drew
LF – Martin Prado
CF – Brett Gardner
RF – Chris Young (or maybe Jose Pirela or Rob Refsnyder?)
DH – Alex Rodriguez

No, I still wouldn’t have wanted Drew on this team, but guess what, he’s already on it, so nothing changes. Except that the rest of the team is better around Drew.

And here’s the rotation (in no particular order):

Masahiro Tanaka
Michael Pineda
CC Sabathia
Brandon McCarthy
Shane Greene

For $1 million more, the Yankees could have Robinson Cano hitting third in their lineup instead of Carlos Beltran. Brandon McCarthy and Shane Greene at the back of their rotation rather than Nathan Eovaldi and Adam Warren. They could still have Martin Prado on the roster to play wherever he is needed. They could have a back-end of the bullpen of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and David Robertson. All for $1 million more.

Thank you, Brian Cashman. Thank you for ruining the Yankees.

Blogs • Rangers • Rangers Playoffs

Apr 17, 2015

Rangers-Penguins Game 1 Thoughts: It’s Too Easy

The Rangers’ Game 1 win over the Penguins felt like the easiest playoff win ever for a team that has made winning in the postseason a challenge.

I didn’t know a 2-1 playoff win could feel easy. I didn’t know clinging to a one-goal lead the final 33:45 of a playoff game could feel easy. I didn’t know any playoff game could feel as easy as Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Penguins felt. But that easiness has to do with Sam Rosen screaming for a Rangers goal just 28 seconds into the postseason.

When Derick Brassard split the Penguins defense untouched and unnoticed to bang home a rebound on Rick Nash’s textbook far-side rebound-chance shot to open the playoffs and send the Garden into five-alarm gongshow status before fans could enjoy the first sip of their first-period beers, the game was over. Even if was just a one-goal lead and even if the Rangers would lead by only one goal for 48:23 of the 59:32 following Brassard’s goal, the game never felt close. It never felt like a one-goal game.

I have never felt this confident about the Rangers, especially in the playoffs. Usually the Rangers are in the Penguins’ position. Usually they’re the underdog that clinched on the last day of the season and can’t find a way to score consistently and whose superstars are nowhere to be found in the postseason.

But it was Rick Nash’s shot that led to Derick Brassard’s first-period goal and it was Ryan McDonagh who scored the Rangers’ second goal on assists from Keith Yandle and Mats Zuccarello. The Rangers’ highest-paid player, their $25 million center, their captain, their biggest trade acquisition and their latest contract extension came through. And in net, Henrik Lundqvist was his usual self, as their $59.5 million goalie stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced.

Meanwhile, for Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby was pointless, minus-1, held to one shot on goal and limited to 3:42 of ice time in the first period because of the Penguins’ four first-period penalties. Evgeni Malkin was also pointless and had just two shots on goal. Chris Kunitz, also pointless (but if Crosby is pointless then so is Kunitz since that’s the only way he scores) didn’t register a shot on goal and his goalie interference penalty was the first of those four.

The Penguins ran around in the first and were out of position and undisciplined summarizing the team that lost it’s hold on the Met earlier in the season and didn’t clinch a playoff berth until Game 82. However, oddly enough, Crosby didn’t think so.

“We were thinking a little too much, trying to play the right way, be disciplined, play our position,” Crosby said. “But sometimes when you’re thinking out there you’re not reacting and you get behind.”

I don’t know if there has ever been a worse review of a performance (maybe the critics who said Dumb and Dumber To was worth going to see), but that has to be the worst evaluation ever of something that happened. Crosby didn’t get one thing right and his Penguins did the exact opposite of everything he said.

The Rangers dominated the Penguins in the way that everyone who has picked the Rangers to reach the Final for the second straight season imagined they would. Even though most of the Rangers’ quality scoring chances came in the first period, it never felt like the Penguins were really in the game despite the score, and it never felt like they were going to steal the momentum of the game. Martin St. Louis agreed.

“I didn’t think they ever really had the momentum, I don’t think it was a situation where we were trapped.”

It didn’t matter that the Rangers didn’t score again after McDonagh’s goal or that they weren’t able to amount the same type offense in the second and third periods that they had in the first. Like St. Louis, said, “It’s about winning the game, you know? It’s about winning the game.”

And now it’s about winning the next one.

Blogs • Rangers • Rangers Playoffs

Apr 16, 2015

My Rangers’ Playoff Wish Came True

I wanted the Rangers to face the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs. In the past, my wishful thinking hasn’t gone according to plan, but this time it better.

In 2007, I desperately wanted the Yankees to face the Indians in the ALDS. The other option was the Angels and after the four-game loss in the 2002 ALDS and the five-game loss in the 2005 ALDS, I wanted no part of the Angels. I didn’t care that the Indians had won two more games (96) than the Yankees (94) to tie the Red Sox for the best record in the majors or that they had the best 1-2 punch in the league with CC Sabathia (19-7, 3.21) and Fausto Carmona (19-8, 3.06), who no longer goes by that name. To me, the Indians presented the easiest path for the Yankees to the ALCS.

While the Red Sox swept the Angels in their division series, the Yankees were embarrassed 12-3 in Game 1 and then Joba Chamberlain blew a one-run lead in Game 2 thanks to Joe Torre not pulling his team off the field while the Cleveland midges attacked his phenom setup man (while Carmona ate the midges on the mound) and the Yankees lost 2-1 in 11 innings. The Yankees came back to win Game 3 at the Stadium thanks to a relief performance by Phil Hughes and with 19-game winner Chien-Ming Wang facing journeyman Paul Byrd in Game 4, it looked like the series would head back to Cleveland for Game 5. It didn’t. Wang was destroyed in Game 5 like he was in Game 1 and the Yankees’ season was over.

Sure, my rooting interest didn’t matter and the Yankees were going to play the Indians whether I spent the month of September pulling for it, but it was a devastating blow to have wanted a matchup so badly and then to have it backfire as badly as it did. (I don’t need to tell you what happened in the ALCS or World Series that season.)

For the last six weeks of the NHL regular season, I had the Scared of the Rangers Playing Them in the Playoffs Power Rankings. And for most of that time, I wanted the Rangers to face the Capitals in the first round. That might have seemed like the worst idea to 2012 me after what happened in the 2008-09 ad 2010-11 playoffs, but after the Rangers were able to eliminate the Capitals in seven games in 2011-12 and again in 2012-13, the Rangers had overcome the Capitals and 2015 me gladly accepted the matchup. (The Yankees did this with the Angels in the 2009 ALCS. I’m still waiting for them to do it with the Tigers.) But since the end of February, the Capitals became a team no one wanted to play. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh the Penguins were folding as badly as the Bruins.

So the last time I updated the Scared of the Rangers Playing Them in the Playoffs Power Rankings on April 9 it was the Penguins I wanted to see in the first round. They had gone from NHL power and a lock to win the Met early in the season to playing for their season in Game 82. After years of being a 1- or 2-seed and a lock for playoffs, the Penguins had become the Rangers we have gotten used to: a slightly-above average team that wouldn’t clinch a playoff berth until the second-to-last game or last game of the season.

Before May 7, 2014 when the Penguins beat the Rangers 4-2 in Game 5 to take a 3-1 series lead, I would have never wanted to face the Penguins in any series. But after what happened in Games 5, 6 and 7 last year, the Rangers were able to overcome the Penguins the way they had the Capitals two years prior and it changed everything.

When the Penguins won the Cup in 2008-09, I expected them to become the latest NHL dynasty and mimic the Oilers of the ’80s. Entering the 2009-10 season, they had the best player in the world at age 22 with already one Cup, two Final appearances, a Hart and an Art Ross on his resume. They had the next best player in the world at age 23 with an Art Ross and a Conn Smythe and a former first-overall pick goalie at age 24, who had just held off the Red Wings in seven games. The Penguins were set up for a decade of success with the foundation of their team in the early-20s and the two best players in the world on the same roster. But that Game 7 win in Detroit on June 12, 2009 was the last Stanley Cup Final game they have played.

In that 2009-10 season, the Penguins blew a 3-2 series lead in the first round to the Canadiens and lost Game 7 at home. In 2010-11, they blew a 3-1 series lead in the first round to the Lightning and lost 1-0 in Game 7 at home. In 2011-12, they lost in six games in the first round to the Flyers, allowing 30 goals in the series. In 2012-13, they were swept in the conference finals by the Bruins and scored two goals in the four games. And then last season, they blew a 3-1 series lead in the second round to the Rangers and lost another Game 7 at home.

The Penguins are still waiting to cash in again on their 2003, 2004 and 2005 draft fortunes, and there’s a good chance we are looking at a 30 for 30 in the future being made about how much of a disappointment the Sidney Crosby Penguins era was.

No one is backing the 8-seed Penguins this postseason after their 39-18-10 record on March 12 turned into a 43-27-12 finish and without the Bruins finishing even worse, the Penguins might be home right now looking at another regime change instead of in New York waiting for Game 1. Two years ago, the Penguins were four wins away from reaching the Final. Last year, they were one win away from returning to the conference finals. Now they are the 8-seed in the East and the underdog, which is somewhere and something they haven’t been in the Crosby era.

I got my wish: Rangers-Penguins in the first round. Maybe this is an example of being careful what you wish for since it might not have been the best idea to pull to see the best player in the world and at times the second-best player in the first round. Not exactly the most sound decision. But like with that 2007 ALDS, it was going to happen whether I wanted it to or not. It better not backfire.

Rangers in six.