Peter Hyatt - Mets V Yankees: Why It Matters

When competitive baseball is played, the fans win.  

It is the most exciting baseball to watch, at the highest level in the world and it is terrific. 

The Yankees v Mets 2017 is not meaningless in spite of the standings where the Mets are all but done.  We learned just how important this rivalry is to Sandy Alderson when he gave a weak statement about trading with his cross town rival.  Likening it to trading with a division rival is called an "incongruence"; meaning, hey, it doesn't fit and you're not fooling anyone. 

Alderson recognizes what we all do:

There are Mets fans;

There are Yankee fans;

and there are those who will buy tickets to whichever one is winning.  It also helps to have the most press, which creates buzz, which can create ticket sales.  The most efficient buzz is in winning. 

So in this sense, Alderson is competing for ticket sales with the New York Yankees.

Now, the GM takes this series very seriously, so the manager is going to as well.  Then, there is the trickle down to the club house:  these are professional athletes; some of whom have professional athlete pride. Not all, but most do.  You see this when they run hard, dive for a ball, or take even meaningless standings games seriously.  

The intensity is felt by the owners, management, players and fans. 

It produces some exciting baseball to watch. 

Aaron Judge. 

Question:  What's not to like about this monster sized kid?

Answer:  that he doesn't play for us.  

That's it, though, as even in his rookie year, he has established a reputation as a power hitting, team first, stand up guy...all at the ripe age of 24.  He has little interest in Page Six, supermodels, fettuccine, and beer; he just wants to win. 

On the other side is sweet all-field hitting Michael Conforto, another mature and respected  young man who has established himself, against the wisdom of the New York Mets, as an All Star.  

As Judge has been in a horrific slump, he has Joe Girardi behind him; a player who knows what it means to be able to work through them.  Girardi leads hard and seeks to win. 

Behind Conforto?  Not so much.  Terry Collins' "surprise" that Michael Conforto made the All Star team, itself, came as a surprise to the rest of us.  Terry Collins leads softly and seeks to placate veterans. 

When this schedule was first made, the thought of sending Matt Harvey to the mound at Yankee Stadium likely caught the attention of more than a few baseball executives.  Harvey's longing to be Dereck Jeter, outside the base paths, is well known.  

Let's hope if he's not pitching for us, he's serving up gopher balls in the thin atmosphere of Colorado, rather than with our rivals.  


The rivalry matters.  

Ask Jake DeGrom.  

Ask Yoenis Cespedes. 

We might even ask Amed Rosario.  My guess is that not only does he know the rivalry, but he's loving it.  

Let's hope that the 2018 rivalry will be more than just professional pride, but a war between two exciting teams, competing for both the post season and for filling seats.