New York Yankees: Subway Series wins still matter regardless of records

The annual two borough matchup between the New York Yankees and New York Mets will always hold high significance regardless of the team’s records.

The crosstown rivalry between the New York Yankees and New York Mets has always created an extra buzz in the city during the summer. Pride for both organizations is on full display at Yankee Stadium and Citifield as fans jockey for New York baseball bragging rights.

The often trend for these matchups has been the state of each franchise coming in and their respective pennant races. The Yankees are currently sitting nicely atop the American League East while Mets are struggling to get to .500 as we approach the All-Star break. Both teams heading in opposite directions always begs the question of whether the Yankees feel pressure heading into these matchups?

The answer should always be an emphatic “Yes” as the fanbase still wants to see the “Bombers” triumph over the “Amazins” as many times possible. The teams split their two games in Yankee Stadium last month as another two-game set opens up in Queens tonight. The series is still very competitive as the Yankees held a 70-50 regular season record over the Mets along with the infamous World Series victory back in 2000.

The rivalry was so crucial to the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner who consistently wanted his team to rule the back pages of newspapers in hopes of dwarfing the Mets press. The Yankees have acquired many former Mets greats like Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry as a way of rubbing in their rivals’ faces. Current YES Network commentator and former Mets pitcher David Cone told a story about pranking Steinbrenner during the 2000 World Series while starting for the Yankees.

"“During the 2000 Subway Series, George Steinbrenner was sitting in the clubhouse at Shea Stadium, and there were a bunch of cable wires running down on the ground for obvious reasons. It was the World Series,” Cone recalled. “And I talked George into thinking those wires weren’t supposed to be there, that the Mets were bugging us, they were stealing our signs – and George fell for it hook, line, and sinker. He got down on his knees, he was yanking at these cables – and then he looked back at me and he saw me red-faced and he got mad because he knew I was pranking him.”"

It doesn’t matter the stipulations or records each team has come into the matchup it’s always going to be necessary. New York fans are arguably the most honest fanbase in the world, and the Yankees know their level of dominance in baseball still needs to be understood, especially at home.