Winning On The Same Day

The front page of one tabloid said it all when it splattered “Fantastic Four” as its headline with the following bullet points: Judge blasts, 58th, 59th homer, Giants’ best start since 2016, Mets sweep Pirates and Jets’ miracle comeback.”

It was that kind of day in New York sports where the stretch drive of the 162-game marathon blends into the opening weeks of the NFL season, a thing that formerly caused the football tenants to begin their seasons on the road.

It also was the day where the four teams actually won on the same time, something that had not happened since Sept. 27, 2009 when Judge was a 17-year-old in Linden California, Daniel Jones was a 12-year-old in Charlotte, Jacob deGrom was 19 and in his junior year at Stetson and Garrett Wilson was a nine-year-old in Ohio.

The only player involved in the four events of Sunday who was in the pros in 2009 was Joe Flacco, who was in his second season with the Ravens and on the day of the last four-win day by the Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets, Flacco led the Ravens to a 34-3 home rout of the Browns.

Flacco was facing the Browns Sunday and pulled off the unlikeliest of the four wins, getting the ball back without a timeout in the final 1:55 and facing a 30-17 deficit. Then there was the unexpected scenario of Corey Davis being wide open down the right side of the field for a 66-yard catch. That was followed by an onside kick being recovered and the miracle was capped by a 15-yard pass to Wilson with 22 seconds left on a third-and-10.

And when the Jets got an interception that was that and they pulled off a comeback so unlikely that according to ESPN Stats teams had won 2,229 consecutive games when leading by at least 13 points in the final two minutes. The last team to blow that kind of lead was the Browns in Week 8 of the 2001 season against the Bears on Nov. 4, 2001 (the same day the Diamondbacks stunned the Yankees in Game 7). In that game, the Browns conceded two touchdowns in the final 28 seconds of regulation before the Bears scored a game-winning interception in overtime.

While Flacco’s miracle in Cleveland was occurring, the Giants were in the midst of wrapping up a 19-16 win that was defined by enough defense against Carolina and four field goals from the leg of Graham Gano, who in the Joe Judge era was the Giants’ best player.

The combination of Gano’s kicks and enough defense gave the Giants a 2-0 start for the first time since 2016. On the previous day with the four-team New York parlay coming through, they were two years removed from their first Super Bowl title under Tom Coughlin and their 24-0 win over Tampa Bay gave them three wins into a 5-0 start that ultimately cratered and ended with two blowout losses in an underwhelming 8-8 season in the final season of Giants Stadium.

As for the Yankees, their slow march to a probable AL East title continued with two more homers by Judge, who likely will match Babe Ruth with his 60th homer, match Roger Maris with his 61st and possibly set the AL record sometime this week against either the Pirates and Red Sox. It led to a 12-8 win over the Brewers after two frustrating losses and also featured a day when the lineup was slightly more whole with the return of Anthony Rizzo.

Besides the home runs, Judge is also in play for the triple crown. He leads the RBI race by a 127-112 margin over Jose Ramirez and his .316 average put him one point behind Luis Arraez, who is playing Monday afternoon in Cleveland.

And finally the Mets, they rebounded from an unexpected three-game sweep by the Cubs by doing what they had to do in a four-game sweep of the Pirates. They struck out 20 hitters with 13 of those coming from deGrom’s right arm and scored four in the eighth to keep pace with Atlanta in the great race in the NL East.

When the baseball teams contributed to the previous four-team win parlay, it was quite a contrast.

The 2009 four-team parlay was highlighted by the Yankees clinching their first AL East title since 2006 with a 4-2 win over the Red Sox that also clinched homefield throughout the postseason which proved important since the Yankees were 7-1 at home in their run to their 27th championship. That day the Yankees were at 100 wins, a mark many figured this year’s group would be at by now when they stormed to a 64-28 record at the All-Star break. It also featured a go-ahead RBI single from Hideki Matsui, who would be World Series MVP in his final act as a Yankee.

As for the Mets, their contribution to that four-team parlay was a routine 4-0 win in Miami where Pat Misch pitched an eight-hitter for his only career complete game and wrapping it in two hours, 25 minutes. Instead of Misch’s performance inching the Mets closer to a playoff berth or a division title, it merely improved their record to 67-89 in a season where everything went wrong from an injury perspective in the wake of two September collapses in the final years of Shea Stadium.

While the baseball teams were doing their part, the Jets beat Tennessee to improve to 3-0 with rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, who did the color commentary for the Giants’ miracle win in Tennessee in the first game under Brian Daboll era. The Giants contributed with a 24-0 win over Tampa Bay when they allowed 22 passing yards to Byron Leftwich, who is now Tom Brady’s offensive coordinator in Tampa.

The teams have been through a lot since their last four-team parlay. The Jets have cratered since the Rex Ryan era, failing to make the playoffs since their appearance in the 2011 AFC title game and failing to win more than eight times.

The Giants played out the string in the Coughlin era, failing to make the playoffs after the 2011 season. They made one playoff appearance since their last Super Bowl, awkwardly tried to usher out the Eli Manning era in 2017 with Geno Smith, who contributed to the Jets’ lack of success in 2013 through 2014.

The Mets gradually rebuilt their team when Sandy Alderson took over following the 2010 season and hired Terry Collins, who guided the Mets through the revelations of former owner Fred Wilpon losing his money to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Despite that, the Mets reached the World Series in 2015 thanks to a strong second half and their young pitching. After that, the Mets reached the 2016 wild-card game, mistakenly hired Mickey Callaway to succeed Collins as manager, then hired Brodie Van Wagonen to be the GM before billionaire Steve Cohen bought the team.

After a rough first season under Cohen, the Mets hired Buck Showalter, signed Max Scherzer along with Starling Marte and embarked on their best season since 2006 that may get them the second seed in the NL when the postseason begins next month.

The week after the four teams won on the same day, the Giants did their part by winning in Kansas City but the Jets lost at eventual Super Bowl champion New Orleans. The Mets wrapped up their 92-loss season with a 4-0 win over NL foe Houston while the Yankees ended their 103-win season with a blowout win in Tampa.

Since Sept, 26, 2009, there have been 31 chances for the four teams to win on the same day. The most notable of instances of coming close occurred Oct. 3, 2021 when Judge’s game-winning hit beat the Rays 1-0 while the Jets pulled off an overtime win over the Titans and the Giants did the same in New Orleans.

The next chance for this scenario will be in two weeks when the Yankees host Baltimore, the Mets visit Atlanta, the Giants host Chicago and the Jets visit Pittsburgh.

Maybe the teams won’t wait another 13 years for the scenario unfold again.