New York Mets manager Buck Showalter has presided over 678 regular-season games for New York teams, but Tuesday’s game will be different. The Mets will face the New York Yankees in the 2022 Subway Series.
Showalter has never participated in the Subway Series, which did not exist until interleague play began in 1997. Showalter managed the Yankees from 1992 to 1995. He returned to the team earlier this year and has overseen 96 games so far.
“We’re getting ready to face a real good baseball team,” Showalter said ahead of the two games at Citi Field. Part 2 of the series will take place at Yankee Stadium on August 22-23. The pitching matchups for the upcoming games are Jordan Montgomery vs. Taijuan Walker and Domingo German vs. Max Scherzer.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said he was prepared for the series.
“It’s a moment where New York City gets to come together,” he said.
“I think it’s gonna be a hell of a contested series two great teams going at it.”
The Mets struggled in the All-Star break against playoff-caliber opponents such as the Sandiego Padres and Atlanta Braves.
Mets have the upper hand
Yankees fans are particularly concerned about the second matchup between Domingo German and Max Scherzer. Scherzer has been one of the league’s best pitchers this season, with a 2.28 ERA. Domingo German, on the other hand, has pitched only three innings this season. Last Thursday, in the second game of a doubleheader at Houston, German allowed five runs on six hits, including two home runs, in a 7-5 loss.
Mets starters have now gone 14 games in a row with two or fewer runs allowed, the longest streak since the Milwaukee Brewers starters went 15 in a row in 2019.
During that time, the Mets rotation’s ERA was 1.58. However, no team has scored more runs than the Yankees, who are averaging 5.36 runs per game this season, so Walker and Scherzer will be put to the test.
The Yankees still have Aaron Judge to rely on. With four home runs in five games since the All-Star break, Judge is well on his way to breaking Roger Maris’ franchise record of 61 home runs in 1961.
“They’ve got a great offense, a great pitching staff over there and so do we,” said Judge.
Mets vs. Yankees Subway Series records
Since 1997, the term Subway Series has referred to interleague play between the Yankees and Mets. The Mets and Yankees also met in the World Series in 2000, in which the Yankees won.
The last time the Mets and Yankees were more than ten games above .500 entering the Subway Series was in 2015 when the Mets won the NL pennant and the Yankees advanced to the AL Wild Card Game but lost to the Houston Astros.
The Mets will have a lot of new faces in the 2022 Subway Series, including Max Scherzer, All-Star Starling Marte, Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar, and the newly acquired Daniel Vogelbach. The Yankees, with players like Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and All-Star Jose Trevino, are in the same boat.