New York Yankees And New York Mets Bring High Payrolls And Expectations Into New Season

For a while last season, the second “Subway Series” since the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn and the Giants headed west from Harlem seemed like a distinct possibility.

The Yankees spent about the first three months looking like their 1998 forefathers, who celebrate their 25th anniversary this season. The Mets spent most of the summer looking like the second-best team in the National League only behind the Dodgers, whom they took two of three from right before Labor Day in what seemingly was a foreshadowing of the NLCS.

Instead, both teams ended with unfinished business when the Subway Series was officially canceled along with any book possibilities on Oct. 23 and now head into a season full of seismic rule changes with a combined payroll of nearly $630 million.

The Subway Series was partially canceled when the Mets mustered one hit against Joe Musgrove and the Padres in a disappointing 6-0 loss in a wild-card series they were playing because of being swept in a three-game series at Atlanta about six weeks after winning four of five at home to open a 7 1/2 game lead.

Two weeks later, the Yankees were swept out of the ALCS following a lengthy rain delay that featured the scoreboard at Yankee Stadium showing parts of the Rangers taking a 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets as part of their early season struggle and the Jets continuing their hot start with a 16-7 win in Denver.

The end came in a 6-5 loss and the Yankees were swept in a playoff series for the first time since the 2012 ALCS to Detroit. It capped a postseason full of uncertainty for the Yankees such as unsure of who the leadoff hitter was, unclear of the shortstop and unsure of the closer.

The biggest Yankee expenditures were the nine-year, $360 million it costs to retain Aaron Judge after he was pursued by the Giants and Padres. When the Yankees struggled through the dog days of summer and showed their emotions at times before heating up in the final weeks, Judge’s quest to break the AL single season record held for 61 years by Roger Maris.

It took Judge until the final games of the season to reach 62 and surpass Maris after he matched the former Yankee outfielder in Toronto following a week of emotional swings at Yankee Stadium.

Like many others Judge struggled at the plate in the postseason and then made the final out with a harmless groundball. Then came a few weeks of uncertainty until a conversation with managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner saw the Yankees increase their offer and seal the deal with a player they could not afford to lose.

While the Yankees were in the midst of negotiating with Judge and naming him the 16th captain in team history the Mets were on another spending spree of billionaire Steve Cohen’s money. They lost Jacob deGrom to the Texas Rangers without making an offer which may or may not have been about his desire to pitch in New York and also lost dependable right-hander Taijuan Walker.

To replace the duo, Justin Verlander, who according to the New York Post, met Cohen while seeking investment advice in 2021, came over from the Houston Astros on a two-year, $86.7 million pact to reunite with Max Scherzer. Scherzer missed two months with an oblique injury and time in September with a fatigued left side in the first year of a three-year, $130 million contract.

The Mets also added personable Japanese veteran Kodai Senga whose description of his “ghostfork” pitch and desire to face the Phillies highlighted his introductory press conference during the week when the New York teams held four straight press conferences.

Both teams bring high expectations into the season as New York hopes to see consecutive playoff berths from both teams for the first time since 1999 and 2000 when the regular season “Subway Series” was in its infancy culminating in the World Series the Yankees won in five games.

There also was the press conference that wasn’t when the Mets opted to not sign Carlos Correa following questions with his medical records. Correa was closer to his press conference with the Giants until they also decided against adding him on the same day as the press conference for the same reasons and the shortstop wound up returning to the Minnesota Twins.

After the various moves, both teams possess questions.

For the Yankees can their rotation withstand a forearm injury to newcomer Carlos Rodon and a lat strain to Luis Severino.

And will Clay Holmes revert to the dominance he showed before the second week of July and will others such as Aaron Hicks and Josh Donaldson bounce back after rough seasons and will DJ LeMahieu stay healthy after his injured toe cost the Yankees one of their best contact hitters in the postseason.

The Mets believe they have enough to fill the void left by Edwin Diaz’s season-ending knee injury. Besides retaining effective setup man Adam Ottavino, the Mets added 37-year-old David Robertson, who initially was anointed Yankee closer in 2012 when Mariano Rivera suffered a season-ending knee injury shagging fly balls in Kansas City.

Then there is the competition for both teams.

The Astros are the Yankees’ white whale after beating them in the 2015 wild-card game and three times in the ALCS along with last year’s combined no-hitter. Other teams that may stand in the Yankees way are the Seattle Mariners — who signed Luis Castillo to a five-year extension in September and outplayed the Yankees in four games last August – and the Toronto Blue Jays who saw the Yankee emotions up close while winning three of four.

As for the Mets, they seem to be in a three-team battle royale with the Braves and Phillies for the NL East. The Padres may be better than they were when they enjoyed their celebration last fall because of signing Xander Bogaerts and the Dodgers are still a formidable opponent.

It is a long way before anyone knows if the “Subway Series” is back on or if it is canceled. Both teams own aspirations of getting there but with a tougher postseason road if a team does not finish with one of the top two records, it makes the possibility more of an unknown.