Everything is going to be just fine, the Yankees keep saying. This is just a little lull that will end soon, they’ve been predicting. Oh, really? The losses still are piling up and the Yankees now are a second-place ballclub.

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A year later, the same midsummer four-game series sat on the Blue Jays’ schedule. The same pinstripe jerseys descended on Toronto’s open dome. This year, however, there was no sinking season or lost hope.