The Big Apple gets a big surge in April

 The MLB season is young and fresh, especially considering the delay in opening day due to the lockout. This led to many teams coming out sloppily with no spring training and bullpens being relied on more with lightened loads for star starters. However, 2 teams have stood out amongst their peers as the strongest starters. They happen to share the city that never sleeps.

Following a disappointing 77-85 campaign in 2021, The New York Mets sought out to change their fortunes and make the contending push their fans were clamoring for. They were the biggest spenders in the Free Agency class as they signed Mark Canha (2/$26.5M), Starling Marte (4/$78M) and 2021 All-Star Eduardo Escobar. (2/$20M) Their marquee signing came when they signed star Ace Max Scherzer to add to their dominant rotation led by the most effective pitcher in Baseball, Jacob DeGrom. The Mets seemed to be heavy favorites with a healthy DeGrom and retooled offense. Unfortunately, DeGrom was sidelined before Opening Day with a stress reaction in his shoulder.

 This didn’t stop the Mets however as they have jumped out to a league-leading 15-7 record as of May 1st. Their dominance has been shown in no better fashion than when they pitched a combined no-hitter on the Philadelphia Phillies in a 3-0 win. This is the same Philadelphia Phillies team that added Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber in the off-season and boasts the 4th most RBIs in the young campaign. Tylor McGill has started the season off with a 1.93 ERA and a 4-0 record to lead the best pitching staff in the Majors while DeGrom sits and headlining 2020 Free Agency signing Francisco Lindor has bounced back from a turbulent first season with the organization and is currently slashing .284/.366/.478 with a stellar 155 OPS+. As DeGrom projects towards a loose return date of mid June, the Mets don’t seem too desperate to rush their 2 time Cy Young winner back.

 Moving over to the Bronx, The 27 time world champion New York Yankees are coming off of a disappointing, injury-riddled season that ended at the hands of their bitter rival Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild Card. Their $324 million dollar man, Gerrit Cole crumbled in said game as he couldn’t muster more than 2 innings of 3 earned run baseball before he was pulled and forced to watch his team lose from the dugout. As always, the Bronx’s finest were rumored to be huge free agency spenders as they were linked to names such as Trevor Story, Carlos Correa, and Corey Seager to fill their hole at shortstop. They failed to splash on a big free agent and instead sent Gary Sanchez and a package to Minnesota for former MVP 3B Josh Donaldson and SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa. They also resigned 1B Anthony Rizzo who they traded for at the 2021 Trade Deadline. The projections for the Yankees varied as they are in a heavily loaded and talented AL East that houses the Blue Jays, Rays, and Red Sox amongst New York.

 New York won their first season series against the same Boston squad who sent them home in October and didn’t look back from there as they currently hold a league-leading 15-6 record. The Bronx Bombers are living up to the nickname as they sit at top 10 in RBIs, HRs, BA, and SLG. Rizzo is more than living up to his new contract as he slashes .284/.391/.703 and an astronomical 219 OPS+. Teammate Aaron Judge isn’t far behind with a 182 OPS+ being the overwhelming “runner-up” in this blistering hot lineup. On the bump, Nestor Cortes Jr. seems to be emerging as a legitimate core piece in the Yankees rotation as he has a 1.31 ERA and a 287 ERA+ through 4 starts. Gerrit Cole has actually struggled the most out of their regular rotation as he sits with a flat 4.00 ERA but one can only expect that the 2021 runner-up in Cy Young Award voting will bounce back in the weeks that follow.

 As the season progresses, these teams only seem to be getting stronger. The club in the Queens is relying on nearly automatic defense and pitching to get the job done while the club in the Bronx relies on a flaming hot offense. Could we be looking at the first World Subway Series come October? If the Mets get healthy and the Yanks stay healthy, it’s more than possible.