Subway Series Resumes: Mets vs. Yankees on Friday

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Contact: Nick Lemoncelli

Yankees vs. Mets “Subway Series” Rivalry Resumes 

Lemoncelli's Lowdown:

This weekend, one of baseball’s classic rivalries continues. The New York Yankees will be hosting the New York Mets in this years’ first edition of the Subway Series. It is the battle of New York City and there is a never a dull moment between these two teams. There has been a lot of talk around this match up all year as to who is going to come out on top. The Yankees have been New York’s team since the beginning of the 1970’s when George Steinbrenner took over as manager and the World Series titles began pouring in. Ever since, the Mets have had to live in the shadows of their older brother and watch them celebrate. The Mets haven’t made the World Series since 2000 when they played the Yankees. As most New Yorkers know the Yankees took that series 4-1 and brought the title home to The Bronx for the 26th time.

Every year, this rivalry renews itself with one series at Yankee Stadium and one at Citi Field. This year, however, is a little bit different than previous years. Mets fans have had to watch their team live in the shadow of the big, bad Yankees for too long now. They are sick of listening to people criticize their team. So this year they have started the season with a bold statement. The Mets are in the midst of an eight-game winning streak right now and they look like they’re ready to compete in that harsh NL East (National League East), with teams like the Washington Nationals, who have what seems like it could be the most dominant starting pitching rotation in all of baseball. At the beginning of the year, the Nationals were given the highest odds of winning the World Series this year.

Although it is early in the season, the Mets have shown that they have come to play, and that they are going to play with a vengeance. They haven’t been able to make the playoffs since 2006, but they believe that this could be their year. One of the main reasons they are in the conversation for a playoff spot is because they also have a pretty solid pitching rotation. Of course that rotation wouldn’t be what it is had they not gotten Matt Harvey back. Matt Harvey, who hadn’t pitched in a year and a half (torn UCL in pitching arm), is finally back on the mound this season and is picking up right where he left off. He will pitch on the Saturday game against C.C. Sabathia in a must see pitching match up.

While the Mets have made themselves a better team, the Yankees on the other hand are one of the biggest question marks in all of baseball. The first five game of this season, the team had a combined batting average of under .200, the lowest to start a season since 1968. Since those first five games, though the Yankees offense seems to have a found a little spark, and that spark just missed a whole year of baseball. That’s right, Alex Rodriguez is the Yankee leader in all offensive categories. He has been a huge help to this team’s offense.

A-rod, coming off of a yearlong suspension, is taking the league by storm. Four home runs so far, and one of them is the longest homer in baseball so far this season (477 feet). With the AL East (American League East) so unpredictable this year, The Yankees are looking like they could have a shot at competing. It will all depend on a whether or not that pitching rotation will be able to stay healthy. Masahiro Tanaka is the biggest question mark of any pitcher in the league. Last year before the all-star break, his possible Cy Young and Rookie of the Year season was cut short due to injury. An MRI showed a partially torn UCL in his pitching arm. It sidelined him for the rest of the season and he did not receive any surgery on it. He is back on the mound this year and he says there is no pain in his arm, but everybody knows it is just a matter of time until his arm gives out completely.

If the Yankees want to compete for a playoff spot, the pitching staff must stay healthy and offense needs to keep up what they have done the last few games. The Mets, on the other hand, are looking like they could give everybody in the NL East a run for their money. We will see how these two teams stack up against each other for real on Friday, April, 24 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. One team trying to cling to their past glory and the other trying to take it from them. It is going to be a well-fought series, and either way, about half of New York will be going home happy.