Yankees I Ching Blogging: The Prospects for this Year

  

      The previous post reminds me of how I have gotten away from I Ching blogging.  So, let's rectify that right now with a question: how will the New York Yankees fare this season? 

    The oracle came back with a muted answer.  Nothing definite, but clear suggestions for how things could turn out well.  It all comes down to leadership.   Details below the fold:

     The reading came back as Hexagram 45, Gathering Together:

     

     With a moving line in the first place, thus tending toward Hexagram 17, Following:

    

     Gathering Together is apt for a baseball question.  It discusses the dynamics of groups - like a team - and the need for good leadership to make a group successful.  The Judgment says:

Gathering Together.  Success.
The king approaches his temple.
It furthers one to see the great man.
This brings success.  Perseverance furthers.
To bring great offerings creates good fortune.
It furthers one to undertake something.

    Notice the reference to "see the great man."  The commentary elucidates thus: "...there must be a human leader to serve as the center of the group.  In order to be able to bring others together, this leader must first of all be collected within himself."   When there is such a leader, success is possible.   So, the question becomes, who will be that leader for the Yankees?  I would not put that kind of expectation on Joba Chamberlain, who is acting as a starting pitcher for the first time tonight.   He is too young and not really "within himself" yet.  The obvious candidate is Jeter.  He is the captain.  He is very much within himself.  If he can find a way to draw the team around him, keep focused and prepare of the unforeseen (as is mentioned in the Image section of the Hexagram reading), then the Yankees may have success. 

      The six in the first place is a bit worrisome, however.  Here's the line reading:

Six at the beginning means:
If you are sincere, but not to the end,
There will sometimes be confusion, sometimes
gathering together.
If you call out,
Then after one grasp of the hand  you can laugh again.
Regret not. Going is without blame.

      This is not a ringing prediction of great success.  But it tells us how to navigate from a difficult position (we are, after all, now one game under ,500 and in second to last place...).  Sincerity is important.  But so is the "call out".   Here is how the commentary explains it: "...they [the team in this instance] lack a firm center around which to gather.  But if expression is given to this need, and if they call for help, one grasp of the hand from the leader is enough to turn away all distress."   Again, who will be that person, the leader who will bring the team together?.  If not Jeter, then perhaps Girardi. 

    The good news here is that if effective leadership can be found, the team could find its way into the post-season.  Hexagram 17, Following, has a very positive Judgment:

Following has supreme success.
Perseverance furthers.  No blame.  

    There will be difficult times ahead, through which we will have to persevere.  But "supreme success" is possible.  It may be too early to say that that means an American League East title; but the post-season would seem to be a distinct prospect.

    Go Yanks!

Comments

[Chris]

Yeah, but how about those Knicks??

Bah...forget I brought it up. :(

[Sam]

Bad, bad qi. That's all I can say....