Recent Results Potentially Set Up A Fun Autumn For The Yankees And Mets

Elimination occurred on a rainy and windy day at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 24, putting the final nail in a season that cratered into a disaster in the middle of August and one that saw the New York Yankees barely avoid finishing with their first losing record since 1992.

Nearly a year later, the Yankees were engaging in a late night celebration on the East Coast for clinching a playoff berth that seemed inevitable when they raced out to a 45-19 start and a 50-22 record through the middle of June.

For most of the year, the Baltimore Orioles were keeping pace, setting the stage for a dramatic race and good scheduling of having them visit the Yankees in the last week of the season but when the Yankees wildly celebrated Wednesday night in the visiting clubhouse in Seattle, they were dousing each other with champagne as holders of a five-game division lead, which seemed unthinkable a month ago as they middled through a supposedly easy scheduled in August and were unable to put away the Orioles.

Now it seems like they are moving extremely close to putting away the Orioles, whose pitching concerns grow by the day while the Yankees pitching concerns seem to diminish by the day.

In the three games since Gerrit Cole’s super questionable and bizarre decision to intentionally walk Rafael Devers with one out in the fourth, Yankee pitching other than Clay Holmes’ MLB-worst 13th blown save has been up to task and even with Holmes allowing a homer and a blown save last week, has three scoreless outings since allowing the game-ending grand slam in Texas on Sept. 3.

The Yankees are not perfect but no team is and the 12-team field creates many more potential impediments to a title but getting the playoff spot is in the first step and a team has to start somewhere on its way to potentially winning the World Series and a team with the duo of Judge and Juan Soto is highly intriguing in the postseason, especially given Soto’s experience from helping the Washington Nationals win the World Series in 2019 when he was 21.

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It is that realization along with a reminder of what the last month a year looked like is why the Yankees celebrated and also acknowledged what lies ahead in a playoff format increasingly becoming more like hockey with its randomness in certain teams emerging to win a series.

“Getting an opportunity to punch our ticket back in the postseason after last year missing out, it means a lot,” Aaron Judge told reporters “We’ve got a special group here. The boys are definitely excited, but they know the mission ahead of them.”

For Judge, the mission is doing way better in the postseason after another historic season. While 61 or 62 homers may not be on the table anymore, getting to 140 and beyond with his RBI total is a high possibility but those numbers get put aside in the postseason where two years ago Judge was 5-for-36 and made the final out in the ALCS sweep by the Houston Astros.

The Yankee celebration occurred long after the Orioles designated Craig Kimbrel for assignment ahead of another loss to the San Francisco Giants. Other than Sept. 3-6, the Yankees have been ahead in the division since Aug. 21 – the day Jesse Winker helped out the Yankees with a walk-off homer to beat the Orioles and give the Mets a win.

In that span since Aug. 21, the Yankees are 16-10 while the Orioles are 10-15. While the Yankees are getting that separation from a team who dominated them by winning five of the first seven meetings, the Mets are even hotter, creating the potential for a fun New York scene in October.

A year after winning 75 games and ending the season with the likes of Rafael Ortega and Jonathan Arauz getting at-bats, the Mets are on a 19-7 tear heading into a four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies. While probably too late to actually catch the Phillies, the wild-card is in play and not just the first one.

The Mets reeled off a nine-game winning streak to cement their status as wild-card contenders and went past the Atlanta Braves on Monday. They will get a chance to possibility avenge what unfolded in the final weekend of the 2022 season when they lost the division in Atlanta and seemingly lost their momentum in a wild-card series loss to the Padres, who enjoyed it immensely.

Their biggest concern is the condition of Francisco Lindor’s back though the last two nights Luisangel Acuna has more than capably filled in and created a strong what if. Since Acuna was acquired for Max Scherzer in July 2023, the Mets can wonder if they ever get him if Scherzer is healthy and they played well enough to not pull the plug. It is a long way to classify it as a win but certainly possible if Acuna lives up to his billing.

In the meantime as the Yankees close in a division title, the equally as interesting Mets will spend the final 10 games tracking down a wild card spot while attempting to get wins over the Phillies and in Atlanta and Milwaukee.

“I’m pretty much convinced now, we’re not in the regular season anymore,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “We’re in playoff baseball. Every win is extremely important. It decides whether we keep playing or not.”

And following the misery of 2023, observers and fans of the New York baseball scene want this to go on for as long as possible.