Yankee-Mets Preview of Tonight’s Subway Series Opener and a Peak Ahead to October Play
July 26, 2022
The Houston Astros and N.Y. Metropolitans have replaced the Boston Red Sox as the opponents that generate the most pregame hype for the N.Y. Yankees. Tonight’s match-up between the Yanks and Mets kicks off what may prove to be the most memorable combined year for those two teams since 2000 when they met in the World Series. The pitching match-up tonight favors the Mets. Taijuan Walker for the Mets is 7-2 with a 2.55 ERA and has given up just 4 home runs in 92 innings. This year’s Yankees rely even more heavily on the home run than typical bomber teams. The Mets also have home field advantage in tonight’s games. Yankee starter Jordan Montgomery’s earned run average of 3.24 isn’t shabby either, but he tends to get terrible run support. Montgomery has started 19 games previously in 2022 and averaged just under six innings per start, but he has only 5 decisions and a 3-2 record to show for that fine effort. The Yankees are just 10-10 in July, well below their April, May and June performances, and the team has lost 8 of its last 13 games.
Meanwhile, the Astros have become the Yankees primary nemesis, eliminating them from post-season play in several recent years. The Astros have only two more overall losses than the Yanks so far this season and would gain home field advantage if they can overcome that thin deficit and meet the Yankees in the 2022 playoffs. The Yankees had a team batting average of just 0.151 in the seven games that they played against the Astros in the regular season. That constitutes the worst team average in any season series against an opponent with seven or more contests in team franchise history and the second lowest batting average in a season series between any two teams that played at least seven games against one another. With such an ignominious distinction, it’s hard to consider the Yankees of 2022 in the same elite class as the 1927, 1936, 1961, or 1998 renditions of this storied franchise.
That being said, the 2022 Yankees and their crosstown rival New York Mets have been awfully good, fun to watch, and a much-needed distraction in a city with a lot of bad stuff on its mind. It would be wonderful if the two teams met in the 2022 World Series, but first the Yankees will likely have to slay their main American League rival Astros, and the Mets have a lot of work ahead as well to make such a scenario possible.
Copyright 2022, Larry Greenberg. All rights Reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
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