The Yankees almost certainly are going to finish with a better record than last year. So why does it all feel worse?

Maybe it is being hopelessly behind the one team the Yankees would never want to be hopelessly behind — the Red Sox, having a rampaging, perhaps record-setting season.

Perhaps it is going to ALCS Game 7 and adding Giancarlo Stanton and the expectations that manifest from that combination.

But it also is this: The most worrisome players are not just those who were supposed to buoy the Yankees this year, but into the future, too. So today feels worse than it should, in part because tomorrow has become murkier.

In the wild-card game last year, Gary Sanchez hit third, Greg Bird sixth and Luis Severino was on the mound. Will any of those three start in the 2018 AL wild-card game? And has regression this year shaken belief that they are part of the cornerstone moving forward?

This is a bit unfair to Severino, who at midseason was a Cy Young contender and an All-Star. But in his past 11 starts (roughly one-third of a season) Severino has a 6.83 ERA and a .934 OPS against. That has overtones of when the Yankees sent the righty to the minors in 2016 after seven starts (7.46/.919), and also are the worst in the majors among the 83 pitchers with at least 50 innings in that time.

Severino rebounded from the ghoulish starting portion of 2016 to nearly win the Cy Young last year. It is a reminder that patience is needed, especially with young players — remember, he excelled out of the bullpen in 2016 and there were lots of calls to just keep him in that role.

The problem for the Yankees is they know the rotation is the area that needs to be addressed going forward, but they were operating as if they had an ace in place while undertaking that pursuit. This downturn at least raises doubt about that.

Also, the Yanks planned to fixate on the rotation because they believed they had embedded their roster with long-term positional solutions. Now there is — at minimum — a dent in that philosophy.

Neither Bird nor Sanchez has stayed healthy this season, and — when in the lineup — have failed to hit to anywhere near even low expectations. And Sanchez’s bat, in particular, made troubling elements of his defense more tolerable.

Sanchez had a .186 average, and the only player in franchise history to do worse with 300-plus plate appearances was also a catcher, Red Kleinow, who hit .168 in 1908 for what were then called the New York Highlanders.

Sanchez would have to hit better to justify being the regular DH, but of course the Yanks obtained Stanton with the thought he would largely fill that role, perhaps for the next decade. Austin Romine has demonstrated he is at least a reliable backup catcher, but is he a No. 1? Plus, he is a free agent after next season.

Would the Yankees invest even more prospect capital to try to land Stanton’s former Marlins teammate, J.T. Realmuto, or to find a catcher? Or can Sanchez, 26 in September, recapture his offense and make upgrades on his defense?

Sanchez also could be given a first baseman’s mitt. So could Miguel Andujar, who has been challenged defensively at third. Or perhaps Luke Voit will prove he is having more than a Shane Spencer-ish Yankees debut and grab first base.

That it even is a discussion point screams about just how far Bird, 26 in November, has receded. He has gone from having his return from injury eagerly anticipated to being mainly a pinch-hitter, superseded at first by Voit.

I asked three baseball operations employees (non-Yankees category) what they think, and each offered that the combination of still young age with having shown high-level major league performance would motivate patience with Bird, Sanchez and Severino. But each also said a door to doubt has been opened, particularly with Bird.

As for the Yankees’ view, Brian Cashman said, “I still have belief in what they are all capable of. They are controllable, affordable assets with huge ceilings. Would you like to get your hands on their capability without a huge financial commitment for years going forward? That answer is yes.”

Cashman said he does not include Severino in this category because of the overall body of his work in 2018. He also said that Bird has needed three surgeries makes him a “fair question,” but added, “Gary is less in that category. That is my subjective opinion.”

“A year ago he caught our team to Game 7 of the ALCS and a year later that [belief in him] all changes? Not for me.” Cashman said.

The Yankees GM recognized the issue with wild pitches/passed balls and Sanchez, but insisted that in areas the team values — such as pitch framing and game calling — “you would be surprised [what the stats] show in comparison to catchers who get a lot more notoriety for their defense.”

On Baseball Prospectus, Sanchez is considered among the game’s better framers of pitches. Yankees pitchers had a lower ERA when Sanchez caught this season (3.48) than Romine (4.00) in a similar number of innings.

“If you are asking if [Sanchez] is a championship-caliber catcher moving forward, the answer is yes,” Cashman said. “Despite circumstances that have played out this year, we will stay with it and hopefully be rewarded for it.”