Heat Advisory in Queens
August 8, 2022
Written by: Jay Looch
Throughout history, NYC has always been known as a sports city and a city of champions. As it has been a bit since a championship was won in New York in any sport. With that said, the summer of 22’ has brought some light back to the beautiful Big Apple. In the first half of the baseball season, both the Yankees and Mets had starts for the ages. As the All-Star break approached, the Yankees had the best record in baseball and the Mets were not far behind. Now after the trade deadline passed last week, we found ourselves coming to the late stages of the season with the big picture being painted. One team in New York has kept their foot on the gas, where the other recently had their worst week of the year thus far.
Over in the Queens the Mets mean business. Many thought they would make some serious noise at the trade deadline with mentions of a big bat and an extra arm for the bullpen. No matter how good your season is going, teams always look to better themselves at the trade deadline to put them in an even better position for an October run. Teams like the Yankees, Astros, and Padres all made some serious noise, while some teams sat back and made some minor adjustments. The Mets were one of those teams who were looked at as “losers” of the deadline for not making a ton of moves. With that being said, the “minor” moves made had a big impact this weekend on the biggest series for the Mets this season.
Recent acquisitions of Daniel Vogelbach, Tyler Naquin, and Darin Ruf had Mets fans happy this weekend. Those three players combined for 8 RBI’s and 10 hits in the biggest 4 game set of the season for the boys. They took 3 of 4 games from 2nd place division rivals the Braves. Things are clicking for the Mets and it's clear they are a team others should be worried about. They made some moves this offseason that had fans more than excited to start the year than ever before. Bringing in one of the best pitchers of the decade in Scherzer, one of the best center fielders in the game in Marte, and another stud outfielder in Mark Canha. On paper, some thought this was the best team the Mets had going into the year in recent history. As we are in the mix of August baseball, you can say that those people may have been right.
All-star talent is not something that is hard to find at Citi Field. Like mentioned before, maybe they didn’t acquire any all-stars at the deadline, but they did get one back. Jacob Degrom, looked at as the greatest pitcher in baseball over the last few years, made his return this week. Getting him back is proven more valuable than every trade made at the deadline besides the Soto to San Diego deal. Having Degrom and Scherzer in the same rotation feels very videogame-esk. In the bullpen, Ediwn Diaz is having an historic season. He has now gone 18 straight appearances without allowing a single run. He has 18 innings pitched, only 7 hits given up, 1 walk, and 38 strikeouts over that span. The Mets now sit 6.5 games ahead of the Braves in the NL East, and are now tied with the Yankees for the second most wins in baseball.
As the Mets continue to thrive and the Yankees find recent struggles, the trash talking is alive and well in NYC. There is nothing like the Yankees/Mets banter between fans. As we head deeper into the season, emotions will rise and friendships will be tested.
Can the Mets keep this up and take the crown as the kings of NY?