The Mets and Yankees are both in first place. Juan Soto is returning to the Bronx. Aaron Judge is still there. New York baseball is about to get ramped up with the most anticipated Subway Series in years. Still, attention will be divided on Friday.
About 46,000 fans are expected to fill Yankee Stadium for the annual, regular-season, intracity baseball clash, where fans trade chants and barbs in support of their respective teams. But don’t be surprised to hear cheering at odd moments, too, or to see people in the stands staring down at their phones during key pitches.
Aaron Judge leads all players in batting average (. 412) and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (1.279), and is tied in home runs with 15.Credit…Steph Chambers/Getty Images
A few miles to the south, the Knicks will be playing an even more important game. They will host the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of their second-round N.B.A. playoff series, with a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000, making New York City the center of a Friday night sports extravaganza.
It starts at 7:05 p.m. in the Bronx, where the Yankees, who lead the American League East division with a 25-18 record, host the Mets, who lead the National League East with a 28-16 mark. It could be a preview of the 2025 World Series, but there are four months of baseball left to determine that. And just to highlight any possible celestial powers at play, the only time the Yankees and Mets played in the World Series was in 2000, the year the Knicks last advanced to the conference finals.
There was also a time last year when another October Subway Series seemed possible, if not likely. That was until the Los Angeles Dodgers intruded to trash the dreams of both teams by beating the Mets in the National League Championship Series and the Yankees in the World Series.
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