But what happens when championship clubs play bad and lose the next year?

"If they're good enough to make contributions to a championship club, so be it."

"We haven't played like a championship club to date," Johnson said after the game.

The goal now is to establish ourselves as a Championship club.

But the Yankees know how to spend the money and put championship clubs on the field.

"We feel we have something positive going on here in building toward a championship club."

"We just were not good enough to be a championship club," Dombrowski said.

They were in a little awe playing for a two-time championship club, taking the place of important people.

After his first game in charge, the Championship club sat at the bottom of the table looking likely candidates for relegation.

"It certainly is one of the ingredients we think makes for a championship club," Wilpon said.