This season’s Subway Series ended with neither team able to have bragging rights in the Big Apple. Both teams defended their home stadiums winning two games a piece. More importantly, however, both teams secured a spot in the playoffs. Both teams did their best to choke away their division lead and the Mets, of course, still can with less than a week remaining in the season.
Either way it’s just great to see New York City is a baseball town once again with both fan bases gearing up for a playoff run.
New York Mets
In the first half of the season, the Mets ran away with the division. They came back down to earth and are now in a fight with the defending World Series champs for the NL East title. The winner of the division gets a much needed first-round bye while the other team will still have to compete in a wild-card series. Â Of course a massive hurricane is putting into question the Mets’ very important series in Atlanta because the Mets are maximum drama.
While much attention has been given to a different slugger in New York, but Pete Alonso continues to be a monster at the plate. Alonso has cemented himself in Mets’ history as the only slugger to have multiple 40+ home run seasons with the club. When asked about the tight race for the division, he called it “really, really fun“. Not sure too many Mets fan would agree with the first baseman. The team currently holds a one-game lead heading into the series against the Braves with ace Jacob deGrom expected to pitch the opening game.
Despite not having Jacob deGrom at the start of the season and Max Scherzer spending an extended period of time on the IL, the Mets’ starting rotation held their own this season. Chris Bassitt is a solid third starter and one of the best pickups the Mets made in the offseason. Having their pitching rotation fully healthy for October should give the Mets an advantage as no other team packs a bigger punch than deGrom and Scherzer.
Edwin Diaz has to be one of the best stories of redemption in sports. Considered a massive bust by many in New York he is now one of the most reliable closers in the game, The rest of the bullpen has not been quite as good and remains a consistent problem for the Mets. The team will need their starters to go deep into games.
New York Yankees
There’s a level of joy as a Mets fan talking about the Yankees as the secondary team. It might be petty, but when you’re a lifelong Mets fan you take what you can.
It was an ugly ending last season with a disappointing third place finish in the AL East. Some of those same issues have shown again in the second half of the season with their starting pitching being shaky at times and lack of production from players not named Aaron Judge. The Yanks were able to clinch yet another AL East division title which should help everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Manager Aaron Boone says his team never panicked and never lost confidence; the same cannot be said for Yankee fans.
Aaron Judge. There is literally nothing else to say except PAY THAT MAN NEW YORK. Judge is an easy MVP favorite. He just continues to get big hits and the Yankees continue to win because of them. Everyone has been on home run watch when Judge comes up to bat, waiting for legendary number sixty-one, the American League record set by Roger Maris in 1961 and last night he did it. One day after celebrating another division title and in front of Roger Maris Jr., Judge hit number sixty-one.
Judge wasn’t the only one celebrating a career milestone. Ace Gerrit Cole tied Ron Guidry’s record for the most strikeouts in a single season for a Yankees pitcher. It’s a great moment for a pitcher who has struggled this season. While the strikeouts have obviously been there, his current ERA is higher than his career average and has allowed a career-high number of home runs. The thirty-two allowed homers also leads the American League. Not exactly what you want from your $36 million ace pitcher.
It’s not easy to play in the Big Apple, but it sure is sweet to win there.
