If you're running out of people to hold accountable for the tanking economy, NYU adjunct professor John Tepper Marlin has a suggestion: Blame the damn Yankees. In a study commissioned by the Post, Marlin found that when the Yankees advance all the way to the World Series, the city stands to make $141 million, factoring in things like revenue earned by sports bars. But just by making the playoffs, the team earns the city $26 million, and with the Yankees poised to miss the postseason for the first time since the strike season of 1994, this previously taken-for-granted cash can't be counted on.

But don't buy that house in Tampa quite yet. The Mets, who are currently two games ahead of the Phillies in the National League East, can make the city some money, too: $21 million for a playoff appearance, and $147 million if they win the National League pennant. (The difference in numbers has to do with the fact that Mets fans are more heavily concentrated in the five boroughs than are Yankees fans.) So no matter your allegiance, let's hear it on the unemployment line: Let's go Mets! Let's go Mets!

CITY WILL $TRIKE OUT IF YANKS MISS PLAYOFFS [NYP]