What would you think if the Yankees' season ended today?

As a lifelong fan of the New York Knicks, I have become adept at finding the little victories. The ones that can't be quantified in the win column. The things that you hang your hat on and look back on and use to remember a season in which a championship banner isn't hung. The players who develop and bring us optimism for the seasons ahead.

We knew coming into the 2015 season that this year would be different from the previous two because if the Yankees were to come up short again, we would not have the welcome distraction of a beloved player's retirement tour. If things went south, we would need to focus and search for those little victories more than we had in years.

It may feel bleak to think about these things as the Yankees sit atop the division roughly a quarter of the way through the season, but there's already been some positive things that have happened this year that give cause to look forward to the future. Here are a few things we can start to take away from 2015:

There is no questioning the Yanks' rediscovered dedication to the farm system.

This spring training was as enjoyable as any in recent memory, and that's largely thanks to the baby Bombers. Getting to see guys like Greg Bird, Rob Refsnyder (at least at the plate), and Luis Severino do their thing alongside the big boys was very exciting. Seeing guys like Jose Pirela, Slade Heathcott, and Jacob Lindgren take the next step and actually start contributing to the big league squad is even more exciting. It's hard not to get ahead of yourself and start fantasizing about the future with a crop of prospects like the Yankees currently have.

The bullpen hasn't been as good as anticipated, but Miller & Betances have just about made up for that.

Two earned runs in a combined 47.1 innings coming into Friday night. To use the word "exciting" some more, many teams don't have the luxury of the most exciting and entertaining aspect of their team coming from relief pitchers. A tremendous amount of credit for the Yankees being above .500 is owed to the two-headed beast shortening games to seven innings for their opponents. It shouldn't be too tall a task to piece together better production around them in the bullpen, and there's reason to believe we'll have a few more years of the twin towers menacing opponents.

With young, undeniable superstars like Matt Harvey and Bryce Harper getting healthy and coming into their own this year, it's hard not to picture them in pinstripes.

I know, it's typical of a Yankee fan to play armchair GM by simply looking at whatever All Star is tearing it up for another team and deciding they should somehow be acquired. However, with big contracts like CC Sabathia's and Carlos Beltran's coming off the books in the next couple of years, they will have money to spend and positions to fill, and guys like Harvey and Harper will have plenty of prime years ahead of them. If they don't get Giancarlo Stanton-esque monster deals from their respective teams before they become free agents, it will just make sense for Brian Cashman & Co. to do everything in their power to reel those guys in.