There is this idea that the Yankees are fortunate. Lucky. That they were given a gift by only having the AL Central to get through to reach the World Series.

Yes, the competition isn’t great. The Royals and Guardians are both offensively challenged. Neither is very intimidating.

But guess what? It’s not the Yankees’ fault the Orioles were swept out of the playoffs in the wild-card round by the Royals. Or the Astros, the Yankees’ ALCS tormentors, were knocked out of the postseason by the Tigers, who then fell to the Guardians in five games in the ALDS.

In winning four of their first five playoff games, the Yankees are simply doing what a good team does — taking advantage of the opportunity in front of them.