New York, New York: Yankees and Mets Hold Baseball’s Best Records After One Month
All roads lead to New York. At least, that’s the case so far in the Major League Baseball (MLB) season. Both teams that call the Big Apple their home sit atop their respective leagues for the first time in nearly 40 years. The last time the Mets and Yankees finished April with their league’s best records was 1986, when the Mets brought home the most recent of their franchise’s two World Series trophies. Things are looking up for a city that hasn't had much baseball luck in the last decade.
The Yankees are king in the American League at 16-6, having won nine straight behind some hot hitting from Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge. The power slugging pair are lighting it up early on and either one could be the MLB’s first player to reach ten home runs this season. Rizzo, the former Chicago Cub, leads the majors in home runs at nine, while Judge is a stitch behind him and tied for second with eight four-baggers.
The shortened spring training doesn’t seem to have done much to slow down the Bronx Bombers’ bats as the Yankees lead the MLB in homers and are fifth in overall batting average. Both Judge (1.027) and Rizzo (1.061) have excellent on base plus slugging percentage (OPS) marks of over 1.000 and are in the MLB’s top ten for that category. When you add in super swingers like Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson, it’s easy to see why opposing pitchers dread facing this dugout.
This Yankee team, however, isn’t just an offensive juggernaut content to go into a slugfest with their opponents. They also have some of the best arms in baseball manning the mound, including last year’s AL wins leader, Gerrit Cole. Cole and company have combined for a 2.72 earned runs average (ERA), the best earned-run mark in the AL this year.
The Yankees are notorious for their loaded lineups, habitually raiding the free agent market and strong-arming teams into trades with their massive budget and cache of top prospects. Despite a payroll that would make Elon Musk shudder, results have been fleeting as the Yankees have spent the last twelve seasons on the outside of the World Series looking in. For once, this 2022 squad looks as good on the diamond as they do on paper and are without a doubt one of baseball’s best as we move to the season’s second month. There is no debating whether the Yankees are the best team in the AL. But are they the best in the five boroughs?
Across the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in Queens, the Mets have been putting together a pretty impressive resume of their own. Pacing the National League (NL) at 16-7, the New York Mets won a franchise record seventh straight series on Sunday, taking two of three against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets faithful have to be optimistic about their team’s hot start this spring.
After missing the playoffs for the fifth straight season in 2021, the Metropolitans overhauled their roster this off season, adding marquee names like two-time gold glove outfielder Starling Marte and three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. Scherzer, who signed a three-year, $130 million deal, has been erasing batters all month long, chalking up 42 strikeouts so far. His 42 punchouts place him just one behind the MLB’s strikeout leader this season, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes. He’s not alone as a standout pitcher for the Mets.
In fact, the Mets just came off throwing a team no-hitter in Friday’s game against Philly where five pitchers took the hill. Scherzer leads a pitching unit that boasts the third-best ERA in baseball at 2.99, just one spot behind the rival Yankees. And they don’t even have their best ace on the mound yet.
The MLB’s best pitcher in 2021 was the Mets’ Jacob deGrom, at least until he was placed on the injured reserve list in June of last season, never to return in 2021. Until that point, the two-time Cy Young winner had posted a 7–2 record in 15 starts and recorded a 1.08 ERA with 146 strikeouts. With deGrom’s return potentially sooner rather than later, as promising reports have made their way to the media from the Mets’ camp, expect the team to proceed with caution considering their success in his absence.
Ranking 19th in homers this season, the Mets may not have the long-ball prowess of their crosstown counterparts, but the Mets are doing damage on the bases. They’ve totaled the majors’ most hits so far and the big leagues’ second-best batting average at .262. The league’s new baseball being used this season has seemingly taxed some would-be home runs, leaving them just short of the wall. This will likely change for teams like the Mets that have been slow to get going from a power perspective. If their strong pitching continues, some additional offense could make them an early favorite to win the National League.
If these New York nuclear powers can triumph over their respective fields, we could be looking at the second ever postseason Subway Series. The only other was in 2000 when the Yankees took the World Series 4-1 over the Mets. There’s a lot of baseball between now and October, so how this season unfolds is still a mystery.
New Yorkers and baseball fans across the country will get what could be a World Series preview when the Yankees come to Shea Stadium at the end of July for their first 2022 meeting with the Mets. Although they won’t be battling for the Commissioner’s Trophy in that July meeting, city supremacy will be on the line and everyone will be watching to see who really is the King of New York.
