Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below the decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken are doing what they do best …
Wonder if they’d be willing to switch places. Yeah, probably not.
At the present time, namely October 16, 2024, New York City is as much the center of the sports world as it believes itself to be the center of the universe period. The Polo Grounds … er, Citi Field will be rattling to the rafters as the New York Mets host games three through five of the 2024 National League Championship Series against their crosstown … um, cross-country rivals the Brooklyn Los Angeles Dodgers.
Meanwhile, the other team that still plays in New York, namely the Yankees, is off to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, where on October 17, they will resume their league championship series against the Indians Guardians. The Mets and Dodgers are tied at a game apiece, while the Yankees enjoy a 2-0 series lead over the Guardians.
The 2024 edition of the Yankees is not the irresistible behemoth of a force that was the Bronx Bombers in decades past, but they are a very good club. The previously napping bats at the heart of the Yankees order, namely Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, are beginning to awaken from their postseason somnolent state, each mashing a homer in the LCS. New York heavily relies on the long ball, which is easy to do when you lead the league in same.
The Yankees scare only themselves defensively, and while the pitching is okay, it is anything but automatic. Still, the Guardians, who are by no means a bad team, face a very uphill struggle to get back into this series.
Meanwhile, in Queens, the Mets and Dodgers have set themselves up as must-see TV for even the most casual baseball fan. Los Angeles has a lineup loaded with firepower, starting with Shohei Ohtani and moving on to Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and less well-known but nevertheless potent bats such as Miguel Rojas and Teoscar Hernández. Like the Yankees, the Dodgers lean on the home run for offense, which is understandable when you lead the league in same.
Defensively, the team is nothing to write home about. Pitching-wise, Los Angeles runs hot and cold, with a staff riddled by injury — for example, Clayton Kershaw is unavailable — and prone to giving up home runs. Yet, this same staff has put together impressive multi-inning stretches of being nearly unhittable in the present postseason.
The Mets … where do you start? New York began the season looking like they were prepping for 2025 in April 2024. Then, the Milkshake Miracle arrived. Grimace, of McDonaldland fame (look it up online, kids), threw out the first pitch at Citi Field on June 12, 2024. At the time, the Mets were nine games below .500. To put it as mildly as possible, the team has been better since then, as it is presently within three wins of reaching the World Series. It’s not like New York is a collection of whodats; they have Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte, and Pete Alonso.
The Mets have decent, albeit not overpowering, starting and relief pitching. They are below-average defensively. Yet they keep bringing the heroics, and they keep winning.
The two teams who should be the most thankful for the Yankees and Mets occupying top space in New Yorkers’ minds are the New York Jets and Giants. The Giants are flat-out terrible, and the Jets are a soap opera masquerading as a professional football franchise.
An overage and clearly declining Aaron Rodgers can only hope that Davante Adams stops by the nearest fountain of youth in between Las Vegas and the Big Apple, as acquiring his services at wide receiver pretty much eliminates all excuses as to why the team can’t win. So yes, New York’s NFL teams should be very grateful for their MLB teams diverting attention.
Hope your Wednesday has been and will continue to be wonderful.
