This time, there really is no time for pomp, no place for circumstance. This time, when New York’s rival baseball factions inevitably try to ho-hum the second half of the Subway Series that will open at Yankee Stadium on Monday (if Mother Nature allows), that won’t just be fans wearying of what was once a novelty, or players showing immunity to the intramural baseball carnival.
This time, there really are more pressing matters, both sides of the Triboro.
“No secret what we’re going through,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees beat the Blue Jays in the Bronx, 4-2, thanks to Andrew Benintendi’s first signature moment in pinstripes, a tie-breaking two-run blast in the seventh. “That was a big moment.”
Ninety minutes to the south, after seeing his team slog their way through one of the longest weekends ever, capped by three different improbable comebacks that broke the Phillies’ spirit, 10-9, Buck Showalter had a similar sentiment.
“It’s about competing every day, and if you can maintain it,” the Mets manager said. “We have a good group of competitive people who play the game right.”
The Yankees desperately need to get right, and the Mets, while not as distressed, understand they have zero margin for error whether they’re facing the Yankees, the Braves or the Nationals. This is the pressing business at hand. Earlier in the season — even late July, the last time these two teams meet — you can split your attention, and still enjoy the unique reality of the Subway Series, even in its 26th year.
Not now. Not in the third trimester of August, with September officially beckoning. Not with both the Rays and Blue Jays having come to The Bronx this past week and serving notice that there will be no early concession speeches for the AL East. Not with the Braves winning seemingly every day and every night, forbidding the Mets from feeling even a little bit comfortable.
The Mets and Yankees have never co-authored a baseball summer quite like this one going back to the beginning, back to 1962. There have been years where both teams were good, even excellent, and years where they both made the playoffs, and of course there was 2000, the year that ended with both teams playing in the World Series.
But these last 140 days or so have been something else, something different. Both teams have spent significant amounts of time when they weren’t just first-place teams (a spot both have occupied since April) but worthy of recognition as the best team in the sport. Neither is there now — and won’t be as long as the Dodgers remain in business — but we know what we’ve seen. And we’ve seen plenty.
Maybe the Yankees were never really a 119-win team, and maybe the Mets have never been a 105-win team, the way their peak paces insisted. But they’ve still spent an awful lot of time playing some terrific baseball, both teams. If the Yankees’ recent struggles aren’t quite an aberration — and the Mets’ inability to put away the Braves something more than mere annoyance — the good times haven’t merely been imagination. They’ve been real.
And now comes the home stretch. For the Mets, it’s a chance to throw their co-aces against the Yankees and maybe generate some positive vibes as we inch toward the season’s bell lap. And for the Yankees, it’s a chance to parlay the good feelings from Sunday’s win in a way they weren’t able to seize after Wednesday’s dramatics against Tampa Bay.
This time, the fact that the next two nights will feature New York, New York sharing a baseball field for the last time this year (excepting October) really will be incidental. There remains much to be done, in Queens and The Bronx. There remains a splendid shared storyline to figure out.
Sunday was a good day in New York, no matter your baseball orientation. Benintendi reached the second deck. The Mets turned in one of the craziest wins of the year — and the Braves even managed to lose (no, that wasn’t a typo). It’s a good place to start, both teams, both seasons. They will share a ballfield the next 48 hours. We’ll wait till next year to resume our fascination with all things subway. There is pressing business at hand.
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