New York Mets and Yankees Have A Message For Their Competition

The New York Mets and New York Yankees have a message for their competition in the National and American Leagues for that final spot in the race for the Wild Card – “Don’t look back because someone may be gaining on you.” (Satchel Paige)

The New York Mets and New York Yankees are taking a page from the inimitable Satchel Paige who added that quote to the lore of baseball, and never could it be more true than it is today with the Mets and Yankees in the Wild Card race. While neither team has the explosiveness that scares the daylight out of their competition on any given day, both the Mets and Yankees are demonstrating their peskiness and never give up style of play.

And what’s interesting is that with 28 games left to play, the Mets and Yankees each have been getting it done differently.

For the Yankees, they’ve been winning series after series throughout the month of August. They’ve gone from one over .500 on August 1st to six over as the final month begins. Series against the Indians, Red Sox, Tampa Bay, Angels, Mariners, and Royals have all been won by the Yankees. Only the Blue Jays (1-2) prevented the month from being a complete sweep. More importantly, with the exception of the Rays and the Angels, all of these teams are in the thick of the competition to finish the season with a berth in the playoffs.

 For the Mets, their record for August was not as dramatic in terms of winning series and they only improved their record from three over (.500) to five over to begin the month of September. But what’s important for the Mets is how they finished the month with successive series wins against the Giants, Cardinals, Phillies, and Marlins.

The Mets and Yankees are separated in other ways too. While the Yankees have been riding the hot bat of Gary Sanchez and decent starting pitching, the Mets have found ways to win with a revolving door of players who step up on any given night and a overworked, but still effective, bullpen.

In some other ways though, both the Mets and Yankees seem so agree on strategy. Each team has not gone overboard with call ups when the rosters expanded on Thursday. Since both Terry Collins and Joe Girardi have issues with roster expansion, this is probably by design as opposed to need. Too many new faces means more for them to deal with in terms of getting everyone playing time, plus it plays with team chemistry in ways that can become tricky.

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Instead, both the Mets and Yankees have taken some baby steps to acquire stop-gap talent from other organizations. With the possible exception of Eric Young Jr. ,who was picked up by the Yankees for cash from Milwaukee, none of these players would seem to have that “lightning in a bottle” possibly attached to them. Nevertheless, none of the moves made by either team cost a lot in terms of who was given up to make the moves and any or all of them could make a contribution or two during the month of September.

So in sum, both the Mets and Yankees seem to be on the same path regarding team composition saying, “I’m going with what got me here “. Because at this point in the season, the last thing you want to do is corrupt what you’ve spent all season building in the clubhouse.

At the same time though, Terry Collins has informed his team that he’s going with the hot hand from here on in, and not to expect playing time if you are not delivering. This might spell difficulty for someone like Jay Bruce (17 strikeouts and only one home run in his last 51 plate appearances). But in the same way that Brian McCann moved aside for Sanchez, a veteran like Bruce shouldn’t present a problem if Collins decides to sit him for a game or two.

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At the very least, New York is fortunate to be playing games in September that matter. After all, there’s no reason to check tomorrow’s box score if you live in Philadelphia or Milwaukee. For both the Mets and Yankees, the challenge remains the same. Keep those teams above you hearing your footsteps behind them.