Destruction, meet Despair.
Two weeks into this season it might have seemed improbable the first installment of the 2018 Subway Series would have included a Yankees team near a franchise-record pace for victories, with the Mets clinging for baseball relevancy.
But the Yankees’ 6-7 start was evidently a mirage. So too was the Mets’ franchise-best 11-1 start, which might as well have occurred while Mookie Wilson was still patrolling center field for the team.
Teams at the opposite end of the baseball universe will compete for the next three nights at Citi Field, with the games probably carrying more significance for the Mets, just desperate to have something left to play for once the Yankees leave.
“They are an awesome team and are going to come in here and give us a good series for sure,” the Mets’ Jay Bruce said. “But I think we are capable of beating anybody, and I don’t really care who we are playing or who comes in or who is pitching or anything like that. We have to play good baseball.”
The Mets (27-32) have played none of that lately, losing six straight games, choked by a lineup that has scored only twice over its last 42 innings. If the Mets have anything going, it’s the alignment of their three best starting pitchers, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard, to take their best shot.
Syndergaard will be returning from the disabled list after missing two weeks with a strained ligament in his right index finger. DeGrom leads the National League with a 1.49 ERA, but the Mets have lost five of the last six games started by the ace right-hander.
“Facing deGrom and Syndergaard in two out of three games in a series, you have to play pretty good to win,” said Neil Walker, set to face the Mets for the first time since he was traded from the club last August.
Walker added he has kept in touch with deGrom through text.
“I told him he better bring his ‘A’ game,” Walker said. “You know him, he’s going to be good.”
The Yankees (40-18) will unleash a high-power lineup that leads the major leagues with 98 homers. Aaron Judge (17), Giancarlo Stanton (14), Gary Sanchez (12), Didi Gregorius (11) and Gleyber Torres (10) have already reached double figures in homers. Asdrubal Cabrera is the only Mets player in double figures, with 10.
“The way we have been pitching I feel like we can match up with anybody,” said manager Mickey Callaway, whose Mets have received a 2.36 ERA from the starting rotation over the last 18 games. “We have the arms, we have the ability to spin the ball, we have the ability to elevate, so I feel we match up rather well against their lineup.”
Like Callaway, Yankees manager Aaron Boone will be calling the shots in his first Subway Series game. Bruce, who got to know Boone in Cincinnati when the latter was a spring-training instructor for the Reds, said the Yankees’ decision to hire the former third baseman and ESPN broadcaster was more shocking than their trade with the Marlins for Stanton last winter.
“Not to discredit Aaron at all, he has done a good job and he’s going to be a very good manager,” Bruce said. “But I feel that was going out on a limb more than going to get Stanton. [Boone] had never done it, and I think everybody knew he wanted to do it and he had some experience in New York, so that helped. But I would say that was more of a mind-blowing move than getting Stanton.”
The Yankees might not seem like they have much to gain over the next three days, but the veteran players appreciate the buzz and pageantry the series brings to the city.
“We want to beat the Mets as bad as we want to beat Boston,” Brett Gardner said. “Make no mistake about it.”
— Additional reporting by George A. King III