Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
Turns out that when you apply the New York Times research, the Yankees don't play as many close playoff games as you think. The paper ran an article that discounts popular perception that there are more close games in the playoffs than in the regular season.
Courtesy of retrosheet.org, I tallied the results of all the Yankees playoff games from 1996 to 2003. They played a total of 98 games during that span, 51 or 52% of which were decided by two or fewer runs. Not much different than the Times stats that 51% of playoff games since 1984 were close.
There you go, it is perception that the Yankees play an unusually high number of close games. Even last year, when it seemed that every game caused the blood pressure to rise through the roof, it was nearly 50/50 (9 close games and 8 games that weren't close). The two exceptions were 2000 and 2001 when 21 of the 32 games (64%) were close.
It's games like they played against the Twins this year, when two contests went overtime; against the Red Sox last year; and in the nail-biting seasons of 2000 and 2001 that distort the memory and cause us to think every Yankees game is a cardiac affair. Still, I vote for more seasons like 1998 and 1999, when the Yankees romped through the playoffs with 68% of the games decided by three or more runs. Half close games means equal easy breathing and equal agita.