Bills and Yankees in similarly poor positions

The Buffalo Bills and New York Yankees are both about to miss the postseason for the first time in years. Fans of both franchises are starting to see the resemblances between the two franchises (Photo Courtesy of Dylan Buell/Getty Images).

Barring a catastrophic collapse by multiple teams around the National Football League (NFL), the Buffalo Bills look as though they will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Unfortunately for the large number of fans who root for both the Bills and New York Yankees, the current situations for either franchise seem eerily similar.

Buffalo is currently 6-6 through 13 weeks of the 2023 season, sitting in second place in their division, and would lose a tie-breaker against multiple teams in the conference. Around the same time in the Major League Baseball (MLB) season this year, the Yankees were 60-57 and fighting to stay above .500. They went on to finish the season 82-80, came in fourth in their division, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

One wouldn’t usually think to compare a franchise of one league and sport with another, especially ones as historically different as these two, but as a fan of both teams, it has been hard to ignore the parallels in recent years.

The Bills have never won a Super Bowl, even though they famously went to four straight in the 1990s. The Yankees, on the other hand, have won the most championships in North American sports history with 27 World Series titles to their name. They have gone on numerous title runs, winning multiple in a row throughout their lengthy history, but not since the late 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, they haven't even been in a World Series since 2009. 

Even without recent title successes for either team, both have been incredibly dominant in the regular season. After the selection of quarterback Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Bills have had a winning-oriented mindset. Under new ownership, the team has been willing to make more trades and spend more money to bring in big-name free agents. These moves include Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs, former Defensive Player of the Year, defensive end Von Miller, and others. 

This philosophy is in line with the way the Yankees have always run their franchise, but the emergence of outfielder Aaron Judge, who debuted in 2016, as an MVP-caliber talent has forced them to spend more money to surround him with talented players. These include former MVP designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton and 2023 Cy Young award-winning starting pitcher Gerrit Cole.

Both teams are and will continue to try and build around their superstars to avoid wasting the prime years of their franchise players. The Yankees are already in a scramble as they have perennial World Series aspirations, and missing the playoffs is a huge disappointment for the franchise. The off-season has begun, and the team has shown signs of wanting to spend more money on international ace starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, former MVP outfielder Cody Bellinger, and trade for superstar outfielder Juan Soto. 

With the Bills still mid-season, they have not expressed a desire for any specific players to go after following the season, but they have made moves within the coaching staff already. With clear dissatisfaction on the offensive side of the ball to start the season, the team fired Offensive Coordinator Ken Dorsey on Tuesday, Nov. 14. They promoted assistant Joe Judge into an interim play-calling position, and this decision seems to be positive so far. 

On top of Dorsey, we may even see a change in the head coaching position with Sean McDermott’s position with the team being questioned as a result of the team’s recent poor record. Either way, the team will need to make some moves regarding the roster at the conclusion of this season; they will need to bring in effective starters who can stay healthy (something both of these franchises struggle with) on both sides of the ball if they want to return to Super Bowl contention within the next few seasons. 

Seeing both of these teams struggle to make an impact and clinch even a playoff spot this season has been awful as a fan. Expectations are high for both the Josh Allen-led Bills and Aaron Judge-driven Yankees every season, and they both need to make effective changes in the coming months. Us fans can bear watching one of these teams play poorly at a time, but both in one year is devastating.