The Yankees memory that informs this decision to start playing for next year

This wasn’t how the Yankee season was supposed to go.

They planned to be gearing up for a big series against the Rays at Tampa Bay this weekend before a September stretch run to the playoffs.

Instead, they have lost nine straight games to slip from postseason consideration and the biggest news in recent days was the promotion of a pair of young players — Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza — to maybe add some juice to a floundering lineup and to see whether they might be able to contribute in 2024.

While the Yankees are saying all the right things about trying to stay competitive, it’s shaping up to look something like 2016, the last time the Yankees missed the playoffs.