Yankees destroy their haters on social media following ALDS win

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer

“The Yankees are rebuilding this year. The starting rotation isn’t strong enough to keep them afloat. Aaron Judge isn’t actually an MVP candidate. There’s no way they’ll beat the juggernaut Cleveland Indians.”

At one point, countless analysts uttered those words about the New York Yankees this season. And at the times those statements were made, they may have even been reasonable opinions.

But the 2017 Yankees haven’t been concerned with reasonable opinions this year. The team got out to a surprising start, shrugged off rotation concerns to snag a postseason appearance and then shocked the world by knocking the reigning AL-champion Indians out of the playoffs after Wednesday’s 5-2 win in Game 5 of the American League Division Series. Now, they are headed to the American League Championship Series to take on the Houston Astros.

While beating Cleveland still seems unreal, perhaps it shouldn’t. Given the Yankees propensity for defying expectations, maybe we should have seen this one coming.

The Yankees are moving on the ALCS after a surprising upset. (AP Photo/David Dermer)
The Yankees are moving on the ALCS after a surprising upset. (AP Photo/David Dermer)

Few did, and now the Yankees are letting everyone know about it on social media. The team clapped back at its haters on any platform it could find in a series of devastating told-you-so posts following its Game 5 win.

Shortly after the game ended, the Yankees decided to rehash all the old predictions they heard throughout the season.

Over on Instagram, their final score took a major shot at their competition.

Final: Yankees 5, The Team That Blew A 2-0 Series Lead 2.

A post shared by New York Yankees (@yankees) on Oct 11, 2017 at 9:03pm PDT

They weren’t done there. Even the celebration pics got the “nobody believed in us treatment.”

And just when you thought you were safe, the Yankees even managed to dig up a few older tweets just to let you know they’ve been watching.

That last one is in response to Cleveland infielder Jose Ramirez, who told a fan Cleveland was 3-0 at Yankee Stadium prior to Game 3. Ramirez’s tweet did not age well.

Oh, and just to twist the knife into Cleveland a little more, they did this:

Yes, they reminded everyone that, despite being from Ohio, LeBron James actually roots for the Yankees.

You can say, “yeah, well, where was this confidence days ago? It was real brave of the Yankees to save their snark for after they won.”

Well, that’s not entirely true. In what looks like a tremendously prescient tweet now, catcher Gary Sanchez had some words of wisdom to share shortly after the team fell behind 2-0 in the series.

If you’re looking for a reason to be angry, don’t get upset with the Yankees. They overcame expectations and left a wave of haters in their path Wednesday night.

You are, however, allowed to be mad at us. We weren’t exactly confident in the Yankees’ chances during the series, and we also called them one of the more likable teams in the postseason.

Those are two more predictions about the Yankees that desperately need to be taken back.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik