Intracity rivals will open up a highly-anticipated two-game series on Tuesday night when the New York Yankees visit the New York Mets at Citi Field. The Yankees have the best record in the AL at 66-31 after taking two of three from the Baltimore Orioles including a 6-0 win on Sunday as a -164 favorite. Across town, the Mets lead the NL East at 59-37 after avoiding a three-game sweep against the San Diego Padres with an 8-5 victory on Sunday as a -133 favorite.
These Subway Series rivals met six times last year, with the Mets holding a 4-2 advantage. The teams had split the season series each of the previous three years.
Following a hard-fought first two games in Baltimore, the Yankees managed to secure a series victory with a complete team performance in Sunday's rubber match en route to a shutout win. DJ LeMahieu opened the scoring with an RBI double in the top of the third before Aaron Judge launched a two-run shot later in the inning, while Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino both provided run-scoring hits in the sixth.
All-Star Nestor Cortes earned the win with six shutout innings, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out seven. Clarke Schmidt covered the remaining three innings for his first career save. Judge, Aaron Hicks and Gleyber Torres all reached base three times to pace the offense.
“There’s going to be a lot of ups and downs in the season. If this is our bad part, I’ll take it,” Cortes said to MLB.com about a slight recent slump for the Yankees. “We’re grinding. I think people should expect the same things that they saw in the first half [during] the second half.”
The Yankees remain very profitable on the run line for the season although they are just 47-50 on the run line even with the gaudy overall record. Overs are 48-47-2 for New York after Sunday's game snapped a run of three straight unders.
This is baseball's top scoring offense at 5.36 runs per game on a .776 OPS that is tied atop the leaderboard with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It has gone almost as well on the pitching side with the Yankees ranking third at a 3.15 combined ERA including a mark of 2.97 from an elite bullpen.
Judge is in MVP discussion with a .294/.376/.650 line, MLB-high 37 homers, 81 RBI and 80 runs scored. LeMahieu is also enjoying a nice bounce-back campaign with a .283/.388/.413 line, nine homers and 61 runs scored.
Jordan Mont gomery will take the hill for the 20th time having turned in a career year so far, going 3-2 with a 3.24 ERA across 108.1 total innings. The 29-year-old went 6.1 innings against the Houston Astros last Thursday, allowing two runs on seven hits and one walk while piling up eight strikeouts.
Catcher Ben Rortvedt is yet to play this year after undergoing knee surgery in the spring. Starting pitcher Luis Severino is sidelined by a strained lat. Most of New York's injuries are in the bullpen with Zack Britton (Tommy John surgery), Miguel Castro (strained shoulder), Chad Green (Tommy John surgery), Michael King (Tommy John surgery) and Stephen Ridings (shoulder impingement).