NEW YORK, NY – We’re in the thick of the dog days now. The Yankees may never win another game and the Mets are doing all they can to keep the Braves at bay. It’ll be a fun run-in to MLB Playoffs. That’s if the Yankees even make the playoffs.
The Bombers still have a healthy-looking 8-game lead in the AL East. But that lead is shrinking every day. The Yanks have the worst record in baseball since the All-Star Break. The rest of the AL East haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire, which has been good for maintaining the Yankees’ [comfortable] lead in the division. We all knew the Yankees would come back down to Earth after their record pace setting start to the season. But their return to terra firma has been more of a crash and burn than a soft landing. The bats have gone completely cold and the pitching has left a lot to be desired.
The strange trade of Jordan Montgomery and the injuries to Matt Carpenter and Giancarlo Stanton before him have left the Yankees sputtering. Hopefully they can sort things out before their 8-game lead dwindles to nothing. It has the makings of being the most epic regular season collapse ever. But it’s tough to think that the Yankee bats will stay that cold for that long.
On the other side of town…
The New York Mets are doing what they can to keep the charging Atlanta Braves in the rear view mirror. They’ve been bitten by the injury bug also with Taijuan Walker becoming the latest injured Mets pitcher. The Mets have been scoring runs though, and have gotten some timely hitting including a home run from Brett Baty in his first Major League at-bat.
The Amazins have been getting some great pitching from Chris Bassitt, who went 28 innings without giving up a run. His team will need Bassitt to stay hot as both Walker and Carlos Carrasco could be on the shelf for a bit. Walker may be back sooner, but Carrasco is set to miss a few weeks with an oblique strain. The Mets will need to lean on deGrom, Mad Max, and Bassitt in the run-in.
Nothing is settled yet.
The regular season could end with both the Mets and Yankees winning their respective divisions comfortably. Or it could end with the Mets settling for a Wild Card and the Yankees missing the playoffs entirely. It’s all to play for.
