Did Mets' Luis Severino give Yankees extra motivation for Subway Series?

Current New York Mets starting pitcher Luis Severino generated headlines late last week when he revealed he had teased former New York Yankees teammates in a group chat about that club having only "two good hitters" in captain Aaron Judge and All-Star outfielder Juan Soto.

Soto indicated following the Yankees' 9-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday that he and others in the clubhouse need no extra motivation for the two-game Subway Series versus the Mets (51-48) that gets underway in the Bronx on Tuesday night.

"It is what it is," Soto said in reference to Severino's comment, per Robert Sanchez of SNY. "They can think whatever they want. At the end of the day, we trust and believe in every single guy in here and I think we have everything that we need to show them that we can do it."

The Yankees ended June 14 at 50-22 but then limped into the All-Star break at 58-40 before they lost two of three home games to the Rays (50-50). While Soto hit a pair of home runs in Monday's thrashing of Tampa Bay, it's perhaps more noteworthy that three other Yankees players not named Judge also went deep.

"I mean, we did it in the first half," Soto said about the overall success the Yankees enjoyed until the official start of summer. "We dominated most of the first half so I think when a team does that I don’t think it’s only about one or two players — it takes every single guy in the lineup and our relievers, bullpen, everything. So I think it’s not only a two-player team, it’s a really good team right now."

Severino acknowledged last week that his words in the group chat were about a "friendly competition with players I’ve already played with," and the truth of the matter is that the Yankees already had something to prove heading into Tuesday night considering they suffered a two-game sweep at the Mets last month.

Severino won't face his former club on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

"We’re just gonna try to win games," Soto added during his comments. "Whatever happened in the past is in the past. We’re focused on what’s gonna happen in this series, we’re gonna try to win that series and keep it rolling."

The Yankees began Tuesday trailing the first-place Baltimore Orioles (60-39) by a game-and-a-half in the American League East standings.