The most hyped up series in all of baseball, the subway series between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets that took place this past weekend, definitely lived up to its historic rivalry. The meaning of “Subway Series” is the series between the two New York teams, the Mets and Yankees. The term originated because fans from both teams can travel to each other’s stadiums via the New York City subway system, connecting the teams’ home stadiums.
The Yankees won the series 2-1, defending their home stadium in the Bronx. The three game series was marked not just only by the Yankees dominance on the field, but also the intense drama swirling around superstar Juan Soto, who recently was signed by the Mets this offseason. Soto is now the highest paid player in all of professional sports across the globe. He ripped Yankees fans’ hearts out, including mine, when he moved across the city.
Soto played a pivotal role in the Yankees 2024 World Series run, making it the most magical year in a long time for Yankees fans. The Yankees made a World Series last year for the first time since 2009.
As a result, Soto faced relentless boos and chants from the right field bleacher creatures throughout the whole subway series. Yankees fans definitely got the best of him, as he went 1-10 with no RBIs the entire series.
Here’s a breakdown of each game of the series.
Game 1: Yankees win 6-2
The Yankees opened the Subway Series with a bang, with a commanding 6-2 victory over the Mets Friday night. Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón had a solid performance on the mound, throwing 5 strong innings with 1 earned run, striking out 5 batters. Offensively for the Yankees, Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, and Paul Goldschmidt each had multi-hit games. Bellinger went 3-5 with a double and two singles. Judge went 2-4 with two singles and a walk. Goldschmidt also went 2-4 with two singles and two RBIs. Young Yankees prospect Jorbit Vivas also tallied a hit, going 1-4 on the day. On the flip side for the Mets, Francisco Lindor, and Brandon Nimmo tallied the only RBIs on the day, but it wasn’t enough to hang with the Yankees offense. The Yankees bullpen shut it down for 4 innings, only giving up 1 run. Mets starting pitcher Tylor Megill didn’t have the best day, to say the least. He only pitched 2 innings, letting up 4 runs and walking 5. Soto walked 3 times, and went 0-2 on the day. Yankees fans let him know how they felt early, as he ran out to right field they all turned their backs on him and booed relentlessly. The game was solely won by the Yankees’ hot offense, capitalizing on Tylor Megill’s mistakes by walking batters and playing good defense.
Game 2: Mets win 3-2
The Mets weren’t going down easy, answering back quickly the next day, winning game 2 of the series. Mets starting pitcher Griffin Canning had a solid day, limiting the Yankees red hot offense. Canning tossed 5.1 good innings, only giving up 2 runs striking out 4 batters. At the plate for the Mets, Pete Alonso had a good day, going 2-4 with an RBI. Soto had his only hit of the series. The Yankees capitalized early though, as DJ Lemahieu hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 3rd inning to make it 1-0. The Mets were to answer quickly though, as in the top of the fourth, Pete Alonso’s 1 run double and Mark Vientos sacrifice fly gave the Mets a 2-1 advantage. It would take the Yankees until the bottom of the sixth inning, where Cody Bellinger hit a 432 foot no doubt home run to center field to tie the game 2-2. That was it until the bottom of the ninth inning, where with the bases loaded, Francisco Lindor hit a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 3-2. The Mets superstar closer Edwin Diaz ended the game, striking out two in the bottom of the ninth for a 3-2 Mets victory. The Yankees hit ok, as Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez had multi-hit games. But it wasn’t enough to beat the Mets’ good pitching. This game was a pitching duel, as Clarke Schmidt had a good day for the Yankees, tossing 6 innings with 2 earned runs and 5 strikeouts.
Game 3: Yankees win 8-2
With the series on the line, on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, The Yankees played their best. Game 3 racked up the most total viewers of all the games of the series, and the Yankees racked up the most runs they’ve had all series. The game started in the bottom of the first inning, with Cody Bellinger hitting a 2 run double down the right field line to give the Yankees a quick 2-0 lead. The Mets answered back right away, with Jeff McNeil hitting an RBI single, making the score 2-1. Then a Max Fried wild pitch in the top of the fifth inning led to a run being scored, which made the score 2-2. The game was quiet until the 8th inning, when Jorbit Vivas of the Yankees hit a groundout fielder’s choice, which led to a run scoring to make it 3-2 Yankees. Then in the same inning, Paul Goldschmidt had a 1 run single to right center to extend the lead to 4-2. Then with the bases loaded and 2 outs, Cody Bellinger stepped in the box and hit a grand slam to right center to make it 8-2, to put the nail in the coffin. Bellinger has been red hot recently, with a 15 game hit streak. He is the forefront of this Yankees offense getting hits left and right. Both Mets and Yankees starters had very identical performances, Max Fried and David Peterson both pitched 6 innings, let up 3 hits, and gave up 2 runs. Fried struck out 8 batters though, while Peterson only struck out 4. Cody Bellinger was the clear cut MVP of this series, tallying 7 hits and 7 RBIs.
The Yankees and Mets meet again July 4th to July 6th, but this time it’s in the Queens. Can the Mets get their sweet revenge, or is New York under the Yankees control?