With former batting leader Jeff McNeil now in top form after previously struggling, the Mets have a chance to field one of the deepest lineups in baseball, and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza can write in a bona fide threat at any spot in the lineup, from No. 1 through No. 9, at least on the days when Jose Iglesias isn’t singing.
This is what sets them apart from the Yankees, whose well-known truth-teller Luis Severino, in a typical tirade against a former Yankee teammate, memorably pointed out that the Yankees currently “only have two good hitters.”
(As an aside, I had the rare opportunity to edit rather than write, and I pointed out to the ever-sportsmanlike Severino that, while he was right about the other seven in the Yankees’ lineup, it was fair to call Aaron Judge and Juan Soto not just “good” but “the greatest of all time.” He agreed. “Yes, they’re great,” Severino admitted to me.)
Criticisms aside, the Mets are the deeper and better team right now. OMG, they’re so awesome! (With a nod to Jose Iglesias’ stage name, Candelita)
McNeil’s performance led the Mets to a 3-2 victory over the Yankees on Tuesday night in a sold-out Subway Series game at Yankee Stadium, improving their record to 3-0 against their city rivals.
In fairness, the game saw a ninth-inning crisis that was barely surviving, with previously struggling Jake Diekman striking out two superstars (closer Edwin Diaz was absent). The plucky veteran walked Judge in each of the Mets’ first four at-bats, then walked Soto and struck him out — one intentional and three near-intentional. (Mendoza served as the Yankees bench coach for six of Judge’s seven-plus seasons, so he probably knows better than most to avoid Judge.)
The Yankees hold a 6¹/₂ edge over the Mets on the record, but the Mets’ mood is much more positive now: Their flight from Miami didn’t land until 6 a.m. Tuesday, and they were playing generally alert baseball, save for a bizarre baserunning play by McNeil two innings before he became a Subway Series hero.
McNeil’s game-winning homer, which broke a 1-1 tie and was 6 for 15 after the break, came off former Mets pitcher Michael Tonkin, who has been cruelly treated by a Queens team that has called him off (a gentle way of saying he’s been fired) twice before.
“I [McNeil’ is] “He’s back to his roots, but now he’s hitting the ball,” Mendoza said.
Both hometown teams are in the wild-card position and both need some help, but it’s the Yankees, who are 10-21 in their past 31 games, who are in dire need of a major addition at the trade deadline.
For weeks, even months, nobody saw this coming, even when the Yankees were riding the best record in baseball at 51-22 and the Mets were 11 games below .500 and deep in the deep end.
The Mets have played like a playoff underdog for the past month, but they’re still a lot better than the Yankees, who were just awful. Since their decline began over a month ago, every team except one has outperformed them: the White Sox, of course, who are taking on the historic 1962 Mets.
With just a week to go until the deadline, it’s clear which team needs filling holes, and it’s not the team in Queens. What’s truly impressive about the Mets’ current situation is that they already have the exact two things most teams lack: starting depth and lineup depth.
Their only immediate need is clear: They must bolster a bullpen that has had players placed on the season IL (Brooks Raley, Drew Smith), temporary IL (Reid Garrett, Sean Reid-Foley), or moved to low-leverage situations (Adam Ottavino, Diekman). It was a shocker that Mendoza took a gamble on Diekman (though he wouldn’t say whether he had his eyes closed during Judge’s at-bat, which was strike-called on a fastball).
As for the Yankees, a miracle will need to happen at the deadline — or maybe two.
The starting rotation that was the best in baseball for over two months became one of the worst in one month. The batting lineup that was the best in baseball for those same two months became one of the worst in the same month.
The Yankees have said for weeks that they only need one or two bullpen additions. Sure, they still need bullpen reinforcements, especially in the strikeout department. Their starting pitching isn’t bad either. But the Yankees’ most glaring problem is an offense that doesn’t look like it will work with two superstars heading into the playoffs.
I won’t get into all the ugly numbers here, but in short, it’s hard to imagine a lineup comprised of two of the best hitters in the game and seven struggling players getting anywhere in October.
Giancarlo Stanton doesn’t seem too far off, and up-and-coming leadoff hitter Jason Dominguez should be an option, but those two superstars need help now. Third base seems a must, with Luis Rengifo, Jonathan India, Matt Chapman and Isaac Paredes all on the list of candidates.
They need to do something about the current situation. As it stands, the Yankees simply aren’t good enough.
