Mets or Yankees: Which team should be more worried in September?
Fans of the New York Mets and New York Yankees have each had their stressful moments over the past several days as their teams have seen their once-large division leads shrink like the amount of room left in the waistlines of your pants after Thanksgiving dinner.
After winning a doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, the lead in the American League East for the New York Yankees stands at 5.0 games over the Tampa Bay Rays. Compare that to the 12.0-game lead the Bronx Bombers had on August 1.
Mets fans, however, have seen their team have even more stressful times fending off the Atlanta Braves for the spot at the top of the National League East. On August 1, the Mets had a 3.5-game lead over Atlanta. That edge is now just a half-game after the Mets took a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.
So is it the Mets or Yankees that will have the more stressful September as the race for the postseason enters its final month?
New York Mets
On the surface, it’s likely that the Mets will have the more stressful September, both with the slight lead in their division and Atlanta being the defending World Champions and holding a nearly insurmountable edge as the lead NL Wild Card team after a blistering few weeks of play.
The Braves and Mets also have three games left against each other, with New York traveling to Truist Park in the next-to-last series of the regular season. All eyes will likely be on that series with plenty of postseason implications involved.
So what does the Mets schedule look like the rest of the season?
September 9-11 at Miami
September 12-14 vs. Chicago Cubs
September 15-18 vs. Pittsburgh
September 19-21 at Milwaukee
September 23-25 at Oakland
September 27-28 vs. Miami
September 30-October 2 at Atlanta
October 3-5 vs. Washington
New York Yankees
The Yankees have the bigger cushion of the two Big Apple squads, but have also gone just 19-26 since the All-Star break. While the Mets have seen their division lead shrink, it’s more a case of the Braves being red-hot than New York struggling (the Mets are 29-16 since the All-Star Game).
So what does the Yankees schedule look like the rest of the season?
September 8 vs. Minnesota
September 9-11 vs. Tampa Bay
September 13-14 at Boston
September 16-18 at Milwaukee
September 20-21 vs. Pittsburgh
September 22-25 vs. Boston
September 26-28 at Toronto
September 30-October 2 vs. Baltimore
October 3-5 at Texas (four games)
The New York-Tampa Bay series this coming weekend will be a barometer for just how much Yankees fans will need to worry the rest of the season.
Next. Where both teams land in our most recent MLB power rankings. dark
So which fanbase should be more worried? Is it the Mets with a smaller margin for error or the Yankees who have been struggling in the second half? With the way Atlanta has been playing, we are predicting the stress level in Queens to be higher than in the Bronx as the month of September rolls along.