PORT JEFF, NY – The current St. John’s Red Storm, the 2026 versions of the New York Mets and New York Yankees don’t have a lot in common, other than the words “hot” and “cold.” And with that real reach, we have today’s headlines: St John’s Dream Goes Cold, Mets Dream Lives in Cold, Yankees Stay Hot
St John’s Dream Goes Cold
St. John’s historic season came to came to a screeching halt on Friday night against the top seeded Blue Devils. Going into this season expectations were high, but I don’t think even the most optimistic fans would’ve envisioned a Sweet 16 appearance, featuring back-to-back Big East regular season and tournament championships, both beating UConn in the process. The most larger questions remain with St. John’s being set to move on from cornerstone piece Zuby Ejifor for and starters Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell. Perhaps the even larger question is whether or not Rick Pitino will return for this fourth season with the Johnnies. I’d be very surprised to see Pitino walk away after rebuilding this program from the bottom up, but I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion he’ll be back.
Mets Dream Lives in Cold
Okay, it’s early. But it couldn’t have been a better start to the 2026 season, as the Mets beat the Pirates Saturday to move to 2-0 on the season. Really, you could argue that these Amazins have been hot and cold, literally and figuratively. Thursday’s game was played in 75 degree, late June temps. Yesterday afternoon’s/evening’s win was in more realistic, frigid March, sub-40 (with the wind chill) climes. In the balmy win Freddy Peralta was hot and cold in his first start. He struggled to keep the ball in the park. However, the strikeouts were still there and Peralta generated plenty of swings and misses. Even more encouraging is one of the key offseason acquisitions – Luis Robert. He has shined early, going 3-8 including the walk-off HR in yesterdays game. If what were seeing from Robert early on can stick, this lineup becomes incredibly deep. While it’s still early I think another key takeaway is how patient this lineup has been in first two games of the year. They’ve generated a league leading 14 walks, five of which have come from Jorge Polanco.
Yankees Stay Hot… Behind Judge’s Greatness
As much as it pains me to say it, the Yankees look like the clear class of the American League to begin the season. It’s been a really impressive start. Max Fried and Cam Schlittler looked dominant in their outings., Giancarlo Stanton finally seems healthy and Aaron Judge continues to be the best hitter on Earth. Seeing Judge continue to play at such a high level has me pondering where Judge ranks all time as it currently stands. For each of the last four seasons, he’s had an OPS north of 1000, hit 50 HRs in three of those seasons, and batted over .310 three of those seasons. On top of his offensive dominance, Judge is one of the premier outfielders in baseball. It’s truly hard to contextualize how incredible of a player he is, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this is the best hitter since we’ve seen since Barry Bonds – and is already a Hall of Famer if his career ended today.
Agree?
Comment below and come back tomorrow for Sports Rain Man, Junoir Blaber.
