Photo courtesy of FOX Sports.
It’s here. Today officially marks the beginning of the 2022 playoffs.
Both New York teams placed in top seedings in their respective leagues and were considered to be destined to have a Subway Series at the World Series.
As the postseason begins, each team reaching the World Series has some roadblocks ahead of them.
The Yankees finished the season with a record of 99-63, finishing second in the American League behind the Houston Astros.
Under the new postseason format, the Yankees have a first round bye, and await the winner of the Tampa Bay Rays-Cleveland Guardians series.
The Yankees are led by AL MVP front runner Aaron Judge, who is the story of all of baseball.
HE DID IT
All Rise Home Run Number 62 for Aaron Judge!
The 7th most HRs ever in a season! @short_porch pic.twitter.com/r0jJvBAHYo
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 5, 2022
Judge hit 62 home runs, breaking the previous American League record set by Yankee great Roger Maris, who hit 61 home runs in 1961.
The supporting cast around Judge include Giancarlo Stanton, who was the All-Star Game MVP, hitting 31 home runs on the year, and Anthony Rizzo, who hit 32 home runs. The pitching rotation is led by Gerrit Cole, who threw 257 strikeouts on the year, and Nestor Cortes, who posted a 2.44 ERA.
After a 10-18 record in August, the team played significantly better as the season concluded. The Yankees are looking to win their 28th championship this year.
The New York Mets went 101-61 this year.
Despite being in first place of the NL East most of the year, tiebreakers led to the defending champions Atlanta Braves to win the division.
Under the new postseason format, the Mets will host the San Diego Padres at Citi Field. The Wild Card series is a best of three, meaning the first team to win two games advances to the next round.
The Mets pitching rotation is led by Jacob DeGrom, who posted a 5-4 record with 102 strikeouts during an injury plagued season, and Max Scherzer, who posted an 11-5 record with a 2.29 ERA, and 173 strikeouts. The bullpen is led by closer Edwin Diaz, aided by his walk-up song “Narco,” had 32 saves on the year, posting a 1.31 ERA.
There is arguably a lot of solid production in the Mets offense.
Francisco Lindor had 26 home runs and 107 RBIs. Pete Alonso had 40 home runs and 131 RBIs. Jeff McNeil led all of baseball with a .326 batting average.
While the Mets are playing in the wild card round, the team is built to have a deep postseason run, hoping to take a trip to the World Series for the first time since 2015 and to win the first championship since 1986.
Both the Yankees and Mets had the baseball world’s attention with Aaron Judge’s pursuit of 61 home runs, and Edwin Diaz going viral for his “Narcos” walk-up song.
Sound 'em. 🎺🎺🎺 pic.twitter.com/wPv2R0GDxt
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 7, 2022
The attention for both teams now is on winning a World Series. A Subway Series between the New York teams is still in play, the last one taking place in 2000 with the Yankees winning the series 4-1 to win their 26th championship.
