Yanks & Mets: Two teams and two directions…
By A. Mazzolini
While the National Basketball Association gets back into the swing of things, March Madness approaches for all the college basketball fans, NASCAR revs up once again and the PGA begins to head towards the Master it’s time for another sport to begin it’s pre-season: Major League Baseball. Which means that both the
and the
will be showing off their new line ups in the days to come. And it’s ironic that in the same city you might have two teams on the opposite side of the spectrum, with the Yanks being among the best in the sport and looking for another championship run and the Mets needing to stay out of the cellar in their division.
I guess the only thing that both teams have in common is a pretty new stadium, other than that the comparisons might be little to none for the clubs that call New York city their home. Within a week both teams will begin to play their pre-season games and while that won’t show much, I am sure the difference between the two squads will show up very quickly into the season.
Last season the Mets were not as bad, even with the injuries they had, as their record might have shown, their bullpen was the problem, and a big one, losing 24 games for them. But this season, with the loss of Jose Reyes, the team is in rebuilding mode and will have to work off their young players. The front office will have to realize this early on and give the coaching staff a chance to bring along the talent they have without putting pressure on anyone. To do so, which would mean canning the manager, would just make a season that won’t be so good into a purely bad one, which won’t bode well for anyone, be it the team or the fan base. I guess my prediction for this team is that the best thing about the 2012 season will be they will be closer to the following year and getting back into the swing of things.
For the Yankees, who last played in and won the World Series in 2009, once again will be headed to the post season. On the other hand that is nothing new, as the Bronx Bombers have done this in 17 out of the last 18 seasons. And as the old saying goes, you have to be in it to win it, and when it comes to the Yanks, they will be in it and when October comes around who knows who will win it all. The one thing that this squad has is talent, and as anyone knows, with that and some luck, a team can always win it all. My prediction for this squad is that they will make the run at the World Series, but will once again fall short as they have in the past years.
In the end the question one could pose to the metro baseball fans is: which is easier to happen, the Yankees being atop of their division or the Mets staying out of the bottom of theirs? In a season that for me is way too long it might be even longer for one team and might not be long enough for the other, but one thing is sure, being that they are in the Big Apple what they will both share is the main stream media as well as blogs like this one!