As with good movies, and bad ones, too, a baseball team will remake a season. The current Yankees have been cast as the leads in a new production of their 1985 season — one of those epic tales of betrayal and futility that, sadly, did not have a happy ending.

The setup: With Rickey Henderson on the shelf for the first 10 games, the Yankees stumbled out of the gate, going 6–12 in their first 18 games, falling to six games behind the division-leading Blue Jays, costing the manager, Yogi Berra, his job, and ushering in the automatically-lame duck Billy Martin as skipper. Supposedly, it was agreed that regardless of how the Yankees performed, Billy IV would leave theaters after the season.

Whereas the 2007 Yankees have 44-year-old righty Roger Clemens, the 1985 edition had 46-year-old righty Phil Niekro. The part of 35-year-old lefty ace Andy Pettitte was played by 34-year-old lefty ace Ron Guidry. Eddie Lee Whitson played the part of Kei Igawa, the veteran pitcher who couldn’t adapt to life in the Bronx. Both teams had good closers who struggled periodically in Dave Righetti and Mariano Rivera. The 1985 edition even had its version of relief phenom Joba Chamberlain in rookie Brian Fisher, a onehit wonder who had been stolen from the Braves the previous December in exchange for Rick Cerone.

Once Martin took over, the Yankees began to win more consistently, driven by a league-leading offense centered around Henderson (who should have won the MVP award that year), Don Mattingly (who did win it) and Dave Winfield. They struggled to overcome the starting rotation, where Guidry was the only pitcher having a strong year. The bullpen was generally strong, but Righetti was worked about as hard as Scott Proctor, appearing in as many as six consecutive games. He would struggle periodically because of the workload and would be momentarily deposed in favor of Fisher. “Rags” saved 27 games and blew 10, a percentage that would be considered unacceptable today. but it should be noted that many of these came in now-anachronistic multi-inning appearances. The Blue Jays and Yankees met six times in June and split the games, with all of the Yankees’s losses coming in extra innings.

The Yankees would spend the rest of the summer chasing the Jays — just as they have spent this one trying to make up ground on the Red Sox. They reached second place at mid season, and the big tease was on: Not long after closing to within 1.5 games of the leaders, the team embarked on a 4–10 stretch that dropped them to 9.5 games out. That was August 4, and without the benefit of the wild card, the season should have been over.

Incredibly, the team rallied again. From then until September 11, the Yankees went 29–6, winning 11 straight at one point. The offense averaged more than six runs a game. Now up by just 2.5 games, the Blue Jays came to the Stadium for a four-game series.

What happened at that point illustrates the biggest difference between the Yankees then and the Yankees now, something I’ve touched upon in previous columns. The Yankees took the first game of the series, but then dropped three straight and fell to 4.5 games out with 20 games to play. Steinbrenner erupted: “We have been out-ownered, we have been out-front-officed, we have been out-managed, we have been outplayed. I blame myself as much as anybody.”

The “anybodies” in question were veteran hitters Don Baylor, Ken Griffey, and Dave Winfield, who had not hit well in the series. Steinbrenner’s next words would be famous: “Where is Reggie Jackson? We need a Mr. October, or a Mr. September. Winfield is Mr. May.”

There has been no such explosion this year that we know of, and maybe there can’t be. It’s just as well: The Yankees responded in ‘85 by going on an eight-game losing streak. Yet, it still wasn’t over. An impossible 6.5 games out with 14 to play, the Yankees followed their losing streak with a 10–2 stretch, while the Jays went 5–5. Somehow, the Yankees were three games out with three to play. The race would be settled head to head in Toronto, with a Yankees sweep forcing a playoff.

The Yankees took the first game. Rod Scurry, who the Yankees picked up on September 14, well past the deadline for postseason eligibility, came to the rescue of Whitson, who couldn’t get out of the fifth. The next day brought the anti-climactic end, with Doyle Alexander holding the best offense in baseball to five hits and a run.

Both the 1985 and 2007 Yankees spent their seasons like icebergs, advancing two feet while retreating three. For the 1985 club, it wasn’t over ‘till it was over. Still, the lame duck manager went home, as Joe Torre may well do. The pitching staff was rebuilt for 1986, as the 2007 staff must be rebuilt for 2008. The current team still has a chance, but we’ve seen this movie before and can only hope that there’s a surprise ending. The one thing we know for sure is that the denouement will be quieter, with no ranting from the behind the curtain: just a quiet fade to black.

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for yesnetwork.com and is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.