Yes, it's true. The Yankees have to prove they can beat the Rays.

 Let's talk about Alex Rodriguez, huh?:

"Who knows, maybe they can even have the kind of moment that Alex Rodriguez had 12 years ago, when he made things right, for himself and the Yankees, after the Yankees had gone nine years at the time without winning the World Series."

The Yankees have been under-performing for a long time. The projected trajectory following the 2017 playoffs has not worked out. The Rays are better than the Yankees and so are several other teams.

 

Having said that, I can state for sure that the 2021 Yankees are better than the 2021 Mets. So the Yankees have once again won the Battle for New York:

"The Yankees were built to win now. It should have started with winning their division again, something they rarely have done since the last time they won the Series. But the chance is there for Giancarlo Stanton, one of the Yankees’ $300 million stars, to be great in October of 2021. The same chance is there for Gerrit Cole. Cole got paid $324 million in Yankee money, more than any pitcher anywhere was ever paid."

...

Ask the question again: If the Yankees aren’t built to win now, then when?"

Next year. That's when. For sure, 100%.

 

"And say this again: You don’t trade as many prospects as Brian Cashman did at the trade deadline, don’t bring in reinforcements like Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo just to be one of the two wild card teams in the American League. Don’t give away that much depth in your farm system, whether they were top-tier kids or not, just to make the tournament."

Yeah, they stink.

Ask the question again: What does that have to do with ARod?