View this story on Pinstripe Alley, the New York Yankees SB Nation blog

The New York Yankees owe New York a World Series victory, and their superstars will be held responsible for winning it.

It’s that time of year again. The New York Yankees are in the postseason.

It was an unconventional season for the Bronx Bombers, however, as their historical identity as a financial juggernaut willing to do whatever it takes is not what won them the AL East.

Organizational depth did. Homegrown talent did. An underdog mentality did.

The Yankees sent the most players to the injured list in Major League Baseball history, but they fought for home field advantage throughout the postseason up until the final week of regular season play.

The “next man up” pulled through all season long.

For the rest of New York City’s sports franchises, though, it’s been a tough year.

The Mets made a late push for the postseason, but — predictably — flopped.

The Giants lost Odell Beckham Jr. and combined with the Bills and Jets for only 15 wins.

The Rangers were terrible.

But, hey, the Islanders and Nets actually made the playoffs! ...Except the Islanders were swept in the second round against the seven-seed Carolina Hurricanes, and the Nets fell in the first round to the Philadelphia 76ers in only five games.

Meanwhile, archrival sports city Boston is winning championships left and right across all sports.

Exciting debuts from players like Pete Alonso and Daniel Jones help the outlook of New York’s future. As does the acquisitions of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn.

On the year, however, not much has happened for New York. That’s why the Yankees owe us a championship.

New York has a higher standard for success than other cities. If it’s not a championship, it doesn’t matter. If you think it’s whining to complain about not winning a championship, then you don’t understand that standard we have here.

New York is the greatest city in the world. When you win the most championships in your sport’s history, winning becomes the expectation.

A Yankees World Series might not make every sports fan in New York happy, because, yes, Mets fans do in fact exist, but it’s something the city needs. It’s been too long without one.

To be clear, I will not be angry if the Yankees do not win it all. They are going to go out there and do the best they can.

If you ask any member on the team if the season would be a disappointment without a World Series victory, they will absolutely respond with “yes.”

That’s the standard I’m talking about.

Now, the greatest franchise in the history of North American sports can add to its glory and make up for yearlong misery in the world’s greatest city.

To do it, the Yankees will have to rely on their superstars. Gio Urshela, Austin Romine, Mike Ford, Mike Tauchman and Cameron Maybin willed the Yankees beyond injuries to Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Edwin Encarnacion, Miguel Andújar, Luis Severino and Dellin Betances, among others.

The Yankees have largely returned to health, so now it’s time for the stars to return the favor.

Winning won’t be easy, of course, as the Yankees will have to go through the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals to reclaim their role atop the baseball world.

The Astros have been dominant all year and look likely to win the American League Cy Young, Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards. The Nationals overcame a 19-31 record to start the season and a .1% chance of winning the National League pennant on May 25.

It’s the difficulty of winning the World Series that makes it so beautiful. Of course it’s stressful, but I’d bet anyone would rather see their team hit a walk-off home run to win a game than a 10-0 blowout.

After falling to the Astros at home, the Yankees face a 2-1 deficit going into Game 4 of the ALCS. With two wins at home, they can head back to Houston with two opportunities to clinch the American League pennant.

Missing Stanton from the lineup has hurt the Yankees, who haven’t been able to produce the offense like they did with him playing in Game 1.

They’ve been getting on base but have not been able to score.

Five walks and four hits compared to seven strikeouts over seven innings against Gerrit Cole — who went 18-0 over 169.1 innings with 258 strikeouts and a 1.59 earned run average after May 22 — translated into only one run, which came after Cole was no longer pitching. An extra-innings-heartbreaker in Game 2 ended with a score of 3-2, with the Yankees stranding seven players on base.

The difference might be the lack of a star in the lineup who can handle the pressure of the moment. Missing Stanton in the lineup leaves the Yankees without one of their biggest (both size- and talent-wise) biggest stars.

On the biggest stage, you need your biggest stars. The stars missed a lot of time in a 103-win season, so now they have to prove they deserve their roster spots.

They have to prove they’re the superstars.

They have to bring New York and their teammates a championship. After all, they owe it to us.