NEW YORK — The Mets, en route to Game 1 of the Subway Series, got stuck in traffic.
Even with a police escort, it took the team bus around 80 minutes to inch the 10 miles between Citi Field and Yankee Stadium. More than $1 billion in ballplayers, crawling through Friday afternoon gridlock, headed to the most anticipated game of their season so far.
Such is life in the Big Apple. Often, money can reroute that reality, overcoming life and the city’s pesky inconveniences. It can skip lines, craft shortcuts and open doors.
That’s what Mets owner Steve Cohen has done, using his billions to usher in a new era of Mets baseball. A lifelong fan of the club, Cohen has transformed his organization into one of the game’s best. Signing Juan Soto away from the crosstown Yankees over the winter for $765 billion was a flag in the ground, a loud reminder that the Mets have aspirations of one day chipping into the Yankees’ cultural dominance in the Big Apple.
But that project, given baseball’s beautiful unpredictability, will take time. This sport doesn’t always reward the largest wallet. Sometimes, there is a limit to what cash can do, as evidenced by what happened to the Mets this weekend.
Soto, the centerpiece of Cohen’s vision, was cast as the main character of this Subway Series. After spurning the Yankees last winter, Soto was treated to a hailstorm of boos each time he strolled to the plate over the weekend. The vitriol was as loud as it was expected.
But when the dust settled, the jilted pinstripe faithful had much to cheer about. That was thanks, in large part, to Soto’s direct replacements. Back in December, after Soto shocked the industry by joining the Mets, Yankees GM Brian Cashman and his front office commenced Plan B. Cashman and Co. traded for Cody Bellinger, signed Max Fried and traded for Devin Williams in less than a week. On Dec. 30, Paul Goldschmidt joined on a free-agent deal as well.
That quartet, that Great Bronx Pivot, propelled the Yankees to a thrilling Subway Series win on Sunday. Fried, the early AL Cy Young favorite, posted six strong innings. Williams, whose early struggles led to his removal from the closer role, tossed a perfect top of the eighth. In the bottom, after a wayward Pete Alonso throw gave the Yanks the lead, Goldschmidt laced an RBI single to pad it.
That’s when Bellinger delivered the knockout blow; a lofting, star-tickling, pandemonium-inducing Subway Series-clinching grand slam over the right-field fence. Soto gave it a courtesy leap at the wall, but the ball — and the moment — sailed just beyond his reach.
It was a fitting kicker to a hyped, high-energy series between two of baseball’s best teams. The games themselves lacked a certain crispness, but the atmosphere and the drama most certainly delivered.
“I think these games along the way that are, quote-unquote, a little bigger, or feel a little bigger, are good experiences for our guys as you go into bigger games as the season unfolds, or certainly, if you get a chance to play in October,” Yankees skipper Aaron Boone said before Sunday’s game.
As the Yankees showered, dressed and filed out of the locker room after Sunday’s win, 50 Cent’s “I Get Money” happened to come on the team’s postgame playlist. As the tune oozed from the clubhouse speakers, no players sang along to the background noise or even seemed to notice. Still, the convenient symbolism of the moment fit perfectly: “I run New York.”
They still do, at least for now.
Here are three other takeaways from the weekend’s series.
The Mets’ pitching prowess is no fluke, but …
In spring training, questions swirled about whether the big-money Mets had done enough to bolster their pitching staff. President of baseball operations David Stearns spent ample time in the hopeful Florida air warding off inquiries about what appeared to be an undermanned rotation. Those concerns only grew after Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas hit the IL.
But almost eight weeks into the season, the Queens staff leads baseball in ERA, FIP, SLG and, most importantly, home run rate. The club’s pitching development apparatus, led by big-league pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and director of pitching Eric Jagers, has done a superb job. That magnificence was on display again against the Yankees, with offseason reclamation project Griffin Canning and lean lefty David Peterson both turning in quality starts.
However, one blip is emerging: Tylor Megill had his worst start of the year in the Subway Series opener, in which a cataclysmic third inning derailed his evening.
At this point, the gigantic righty certainly qualifies as the rotation’s weakest link. Most teams, including the Yankees, would love to have a No. 5 starter like Megill, but barring injury, he’s the likeliest candidate to move to the Mets’ bullpen when Montas or Manaea gets back at some point in June.
There was no big moment for Soto
The star of the show didn’t.
Soto, the boo vortex, the main character, failed to craft a signature moment this weekend. In his highly anticipated return to the Bronx, Soto turned in a relatively lackluster performance, going 1-for-10 with 3 walks. On the surface, he didn’t appear fazed by any of the hubbub. If he was feeling any frustration or disappointment or discomfort, he didn’t show it.
But at the plate, where Soto makes his millions, he looked sluggish, out of sorts. Known for his in-box intensity and swagger, Soto was decidedly subdued. Besides a few hard-hit outs, he didn’t feel dangerous. His trademark unrelenting focus on every pitch seemed absent.
From here, things won’t get much easier for the four-time All-Star. The Mets begin a series in Boston on Monday, in front of another fan base that might feel somewhat slighted by Soto’s free agency.
Judge has his quietest series of season
Soto wasn’t the only superstar with a sleepy Subway Series showing. Aaron Judge ended the weekend with a 3-for-12 line with three walks. On Saturday, the Yankees captain went 0-for-5 with three punchouts. He managed just one extra-base knock against the Mets, a flared ground-rule double down the right-field line on Sunday. Just before Bellinger’s colossal clout, No. 99 struck out with the bases juiced. It was, by Judge’s Goliathan standards, his least impressive series of the 2025 season to date.
The Mets’ approach to limiting Judge was not about bombarding him with one specific pitch. Instead, Mets arms kept him guessing all weekend. That was most on display in Judge’s first at-bat Saturday against Griffin Canning. The Mets’ starter attacked the two-time MVP with three straight fastballs in the strike zone. Judge, clearly sitting on breaking balls, whiffed through the first two before meekly flying out to right. It was the first time this season and just the ninth time since the start of 2020 that Judge swung and missed at consecutive fastballs inside the zone.
What does it mean? Almost certainly nothing at all, besides being evidence of the Mets’ continued pitching prowess. This will prove to be a three-day blip for the world’s best hitter.
Read the full article here