There is a Dutch phrase that should by now have made its way into English, or at least into baseball, where it would do a lot to make sense of the painful end to the Yankees' year. Plaatsvervangende schaamte means "place-exchanging shame," the mortification you feel on behalf of someone oblivious to what they've done wrong. If the fans felt it on behalf of their team as they slowly died against the Detroit Tigers, the team would be at least as right to feel it on behalf of the fans.

A baseball season...