New York has and always will be a baseball town. Every April, the Mets and Yankees fans in this city come to life after a long offseason of watching their football teams lose.
For some, this season brings a new hope, while for others, the disappointment continues.
The two New York teams couldn’t have gotten out to more opposite starts. The Yankees swept their rival Houston Astros in four games and took the first in Arizona. The Mets were swept in embarrassing fashion by the Milwaukee Brewers and were shut out by the Detroit Tigers at home.
For the Yankees, their offseason moves have already paid off. Juan Soto is on fire at the plate showing incredible discipline, already drawing five walks. Marcus Stroman came in and threw six shutout innings in his first start. Anthony Volpe, the young shortstop they stuck with last season, has gotten off to a roaring start with an OPS of 1.667. In the field, every single player looks inspired and happy to be there, giving 110% effort on every play.
Across the East River, things are looking more bleak. The team on the field looks absolutely lifeless. They’re making errors in the field, chasing bad pitches, striking out, and three of their top hitters are batting under .100 to start the season. This includes Francisco Lindor, the “leader” of this team, who will get out to his typical slow start and then turn it on when the team is 15 games under .500. That’s unacceptable when you’re being paid $300 million.
As bad as the players have been, the problems start with rookie manager Carlos Mendoza. In 2024, who knows the responsible party for creating the lineups, but they have been horrid. The team can’t seem to figure out the cleanup spot, and relies too heavily on alternating righties and lefties.
Every single game presents a situation where the lineup comes back to haunt them. On Saturday, Mendoza had to pinch hit for Tyrone Taylor in the 4-spot because there were runners in scoring position! That same game, the 4-hitter came up to bat down one in the ninth, when a home run would’ve tied it. Last night, DJ Stewart was hitting above Starling Marte in the order and came up to bat with a runner in scoring position and two outs. He got jammed on an inside fastball 3-0, and I guarantee Marte would’ve put up a better at-bat.
Lineup issues aside, this manager let his team be embarrassed by Rhys Hoskins over the weekend. They put their tail between their legs and then threw behind him after he had 3 hits, including a home run.
It has been a frustrating start for the team in Flushing, and fans are looking toward ownership. Anything other than admitting to tanking will not be accepted.
Tough Money Sports 