Stamford, CT: I’m back to check in on my two favorite teams, the New York Giants and the New York Yankees. The Giants season may be already in trouble and the Yankees are on a collision course with the red hot Indians.
A Must Win Game 2
I am writing before the game on Monday Night Football, but the Cowboys Broncos made me feel worse about the Giants. The Broncos, with heretofore middling QB Trevor Simian, merrily exposed the Cowboys secondary with four TD passes. That’s what the Giants offense was supposed to the Cowboys last week. CJ Anderson and company also gashed the ‘Boys on the ground, running for 178 yards and another score.
When the Cowboys defense took apart the Giants in week 1, we hoped the Cowboys’ defense was better than advertised. But the Broncos slapped us back to reality, pushing the Cowboys around like they were Zeke Elliott’s/Greg Hardy’s/Jourdan Lewis’s (pick your favorite Cowboys’ domestic abuser) girlfriend. By the time you’re reading this, hopefully Odell Beckham suited up and the Giants found some semblance of offense. With road games at the improved Eagles and Bucs coming up next, the season could be on life support in a flash if the Giants start 0-2.
Rookie Kicker Blows Two Straight Game Winners
Speaking of seasons being over in a flash, Chargers’ rookie kicker Younghoe Koo missed another game winning FG at the end of regulation. But it’s not all bad news for Koo, as he was immediately inducted into the MTM Pantheon of Fantastic Sports Names. But the Chargers need a kicker they can trust, as they had nine games decided by seven points or fewer last year and they lost eight of them. And if I learned anything from Short Matt, you never trust a Younghoe, always go with experience.
Yankees Might Have a Tough Playoff Road
Switching gears, it looks like the Yankees are going to come up short of catching the Red Sox in the division. This is bad news, not just because it means they have to win an anything-can-happen, win-or-go-home, wildcard game, but because the juggernaut Cleveland Indians will be awaiting for the winner. The Indians just won a ludicrous 22 straight baseball games, which included a sweep of the Yankees. They have lost one game since August 23rd. They’ve already won the AL Central and they’re getting Andrew Miller and Jason Kipnis back. Yikes. The Yankees have taken out regular season behemoths before, I’m looking at you 2001 Seattle Mariners, but it will be an uphill climb. I think Custer had a better chance against a group of Indians.
Yankees, 25 Straight Years of Winning
On the bright side for the Yankees, they just clinched their twenty fifth straight winning season. This is the longest in professional sports, now that the Detroit Red Wings’ streak is history. For context, the New England Patriots are at 16. For those of us who suffered through the instant gratification years of the Boss, this is an impressive accomplishment. (I know the Yankees have more re$ources than most teams, but credit is due.) The man most responsible for bringing stability to the organization was Gene Michael, who died of a heart attack a few weeks ago. RIP Stick, a class act by all accounts. Thanks for the memories.
Brian Cashman, his protégé, was paying attention. The way he rebuilt this team on the fly, and turned a bunch of aging dead money contracts into a new group of young stars has been stunning. The Yankees have a potentially frightening middle of the order for years to come with Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Clint Frazier. And in Luis Severino, they have found their ace. This is a team that looks set up for years to come. But you never know with baseball, or so says John Sterling, the Mets looked pretty set up as well.
That’s my time. Come back tomorrow for Angry Ward, unless MTM management is able to trade his dead money contract for cap room. Follow us on Twitter at @benwhit, @MeetTheMatts, @Matt_McCarthy00, Instagram @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
