Breaking down five key Yankees-Mets season matchups and who has edge

DJ LeMahieu and Jeff McNeil each hit a homer Saturday and if you were looking at it as a sign of the apocalypse, sure, why not?

That duo had not homered on the same day since April 8, 2022 and, heck, they had only driven in a run of any kind on the same day this season on June 28. These were two former batting champs — LeMahieu twice, once in each league — who had fallen, couldn’t get up, couldn’t hit the ball hard (or out of the infield much, especially LeMahieu), were hurting their lineups and were albatrosses on their team’s payrolls through (looking this up to confirm) 2026.

So any nuggets of positivism are cherished — and McNeil has had a moment of revival. He has begun to both swing the bat and hit the ball hard , notably to the pull side and out of the stadium. He had four homers in five games going into the 2024 Subway Series regular-season finale Wednesday night.

McNeil was still only hitting .225 with an 84 OPS-plus. But can the Mets dream on him surging now to steadily offer impact to a lineup whose strength is the quality length even without McNeil? The Mets had eight players with at least 175 plate appearances and over a 100 OPS-plus and Jose Iglesias and Luis Torrens over 100 OPS-plus with 164 combined plate appearances?

Conversely, a Yankees weakness is the lack of length in their lineup, which LeMahieu has exacerbated with a .183 average and 45 OPS-plus, which was the lowest for a Yankee with at least 150 plate appearances since Stephen Drew’s 39 in 2014. LeMahieu turned 36 this month and still does not appear to be able to generate consistent power after a couple of seasons wrecked by foot injuries.

Aaron Boone spitting out expletives after Yankees’ latest ugly loss

So in the matchup of the former batting champs, it is currently advantage Mets.

How about:

The walk-year stars, Pete Alonso vs. Juan Soto

It is currently no contest. Alonso was hoping to galvanize a perception like Aaron Judge — the homegrown, power bastion beloved by a fan base. But it is Soto having a pre-free agency season in the conversation with Judge’s historic 2022 walk year.

Alonso was on pace for a 30- rather than a 40-homer season and his 122 OPS-plus was good, but also matched his career-low. He went into Wednesday with just two July homers. He continues to insist that the looming free agency and potential that his time in New York is dwindling is not impacting him.

Sean Manaea fails to last five innings in Mets’ blowout win

If anything, New York is energizing Soto. He was on a 39-homer and 112-RBI pace, which would both be career-highs while again leading the league in walks. He has been durable and clutch and formed with Judge a 1-2 dynamism that has helped cover up a good deal of the ineptitude of the rest of the lineup. Advantage: Yankees.

The protege and the mentor, Carlos Mendoza vs. Aaron Boone

The Mets were a season-low 11 games under .500 (24-35) through June 2. Boone’s former bench coach, Mendoza, helped guide the Mets through the early doldrums and the best record in the majors (28-13) since. Not bad for a rookie manager.

Boone had the Yankees an MLB-best 50-22 through June 14. But too often in Boone’s now seven-year tenure this team takes a punch and it takes a long time (if ever) to recover. They were 10-21 since — the majors’ second-worst record in that time. Advantage: Mets.

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The sophomores, Francisco Alvarez vs. Anthony Volpe

Alvarez went into the 2023 season ranked as the majors’ third-best prospect by MLB.com. Volpe was fifth. Both were thought to have offensive games ahead of their defense, but both were better in the field than at the plate, where both hit .209 as rookies.

Both have continued to be strong on defense this season. Alvarez, due to a thumb injury, had been limited to 48 games through Tuesday. Durability has been an asset for Volpe, whose 907 ¹/₃ innings in the field were the most by any major leaguer this season.

Volpe’s offense has vacillated from on-the-rise to unplugged — it was on the rise early in the season again. Alvarez has more power to give, but overall his offense has been strong. Because of the games played, the slight advantage goes to the Yankees.

The $162 million men

That is the amount Scott Boras clients Brandon Nimmo (over eight years) and Carlos Rodon (over six years) signed for following the 2022 campaign. Nimmo has followed with a strong year-plus to date of rising power and familiar patience and late-in-the-career durability.

Rodon was a disaster in 2023. Positively, a lefty with an injury-ravaged history has made all of his starts and for the first eight weeks he was stellar. But his plummet before his last strong start mirrored that of the Yankees. He still feels like a guy learning to pitch rather than just throw. So in their mutual age-31 seasons for Nimmo and Rodon, it is advantage, Mets.

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