What is the measure of success? Is the world so black and white that you can divide it into winners and losers? New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter spoke with Bryan Hoch, a local reporter who has covered the team since 2007, about what is and isn’t important in baseball.

“It doesn’t matter what you do during a 162-game schedule. It all comes down to the World Series. Win a championship or it’s a failure.”

The Yankees are on the verge of one of their best regular seasons in years, sitting at 76-53 with 33 games remaining. Perhaps Jeter is trying to get ahead of media coverage that says the team should be proud of or content with the accomplishments it has already accomplished.

Jeter wasn’t the only Yankees veteran to comment on this Yankees team. CC Sabathia weighed in on Juan Soto’s potential free agent status and whether winning a title should play a role in choosing his destination.

“That’s on him,” Sabathia said of Soto. “My goal as a free agent was to go to a place where I could win a World Series. Fortunately, that was the place that offered me the most money. I was able to do both.”

Derek Jeter’s legacy, the Yankees and what a championship would bring

What the media remembers about a player or team is one thing. What an individual thinks about themselves, their life, their accomplishments, etc. is another thing entirely. Jeter is one of the most decorated athletes in history. His five titles are the most in the modern era (1980 to present), and all of those players were his teammates. While that sounds like a nice saying, Jeter is all about business. He has been known to exaggerate his own past accomplishments, such as when he said the 1998 Yankees could beat any team in history.

“You’re talking about the ’98 team. I’m a little biased, but I’d put that team up against any team that played that game,” Jeter said. “They didn’t care about personal statistics. The only thing they cared about was winning.”

While a World Series title is every player’s goal every season, hopefully someone like Aaron Judge can appreciate and realize what his and the team’s accomplishments mean to him. It’s been 15 years since the Yankees won a World Series title. That 2009 World Series title, led by manager Joe Girardi, came after a 103-59 (.636) regular season.

Jeter may be hoping for a possible matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a matchup that hasn’t been seen in the World Series since 1981. The two teams have met 11 times for the title, mostly in the ’40s and ’50s. The two titans meeting for the championship would be a huge TV event.