New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: The Subway Series kicks off tonight in Queens with both the Yankees and Mets finding themselves out of sorts. The Metropolitans are no longer the worst team in baseball, proudly ahead of the Astros, Rockies, and Angels, but still need to get back on track quickly if they want to salvage a playoff run. The Yankees meanwhile have been a Jekyll and Hyde team, with a stellar starting rotation among the best in the game, but an offense that can best be described as inconsistent. Finding that consistency, from the words of Captain Aaron Judge himself, is the key to a successful series in Queens, and we’ve seen how well the team can play once they get hot.
NJ.com: ESPN senior reporter Buster Olney stopped by Michael Kay’s radio show yesterday, and gave his thoughts on the trials and tribulations of Anthony Volpe. It’s only been one game of course but Volpe had a bad one on Wednesday, with media members starting to ask whether he should move off of shortstop completely. With how eager José Caballero seems to be to return, that decision may need to be made quicker than we think.
MLB.com | Sam Dykstra: MLB Pipeline has updated its top prospect list after the graduation of Konnor Griffin earlier this year. The new list features four Yankees, with George Lombard Jr. in the top spot of the org at 21 overall. Elmer Rodríguez, Dax Kilby, and Carlos Lagrange round out the foursome. This highlights how the Yankees continue to produce strong pitching in-house, even if their position player development leaves some things to be desired.
New York Post | Matt Ehalt: We close with a bit of a fun one. Former Atlanta stalwart and Hall of Famer John Smoltz reportedly demanded to sign with the Yankees as part of the 2001 free agent class, but a promise his agent made to Braves exec John Schuerholz that Atlanta would have the right of final bid meant that that dream never came to pass. Smoltz is pretty famous for the way he talks about the Yankees on national broadcasts, and you wonder how much of that is sour grapes from losing in the 1990s, and losing again in free agency.
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