Subway Series Set to Take Place in Queens

(Mike Stobe | Getty Images)

This weekend the New York Yankees will head over to Flushing and take on the New York Mets in a battle for the city.

Usually it’s simple, the Yankees own the city, and their fans take over Queens with Pinstripes and interlocking blue and white NY hats, but this series will be a little different. The Mets are rolling. They’re eight games in front of the second place Washington Nationals and prime for a playoff spot.

This is the first time the Yankees and Mets have both been in contention this late in the season since 2007. The Yankees lost to the Indians in the ALDS that year while the Mets infamously blew the NL East on the final day of the season. They were up seven games on the Phillies with 17 games to play.

Mets fans are believing that their team is ready for a playoff run, with trade deadline acquisitions of Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, Tyler Clippard and who could forget Yoenis Cespedes.

Cespedes has been a huge factor in the Mets offense which is averaging 5.65 runs per game since the trade deadline. Cespedes is hitting .295 with 17 homers and 42 runs batted in since coming to New York. He has been brilliant, but isn’t the only reason the Mets are scoring runs. Since August 1 the Mets have had some impressive performances. Travis d’Arnaud is hitting .301, David Wright after returning from injury is hitting .289, Oregon State product Michael Conforto is hitting .312, and Wilmer Flores is hitting .304.

So sure Cespedes has obviously been the headline, but the Mets seem to be clicking on all cylinders.

The Yankees on the other hand come into the series 3 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East, and sit four games up on the Houston Astros in the first Wild Card spot.

It’s easy to say that these next three games mean a lot more to the Yankees than they do to the Mets. The Yankees open a three-game series against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Monday. New York wants to knock as many games off Toronto’s lead as possible this weekend to give themselves the best chance of passing the Blue Jays for the division title.

At the same time, the Yankees always want to increase their lead for the first wild-card spot. They won’t want to play the wild-card game, but, if they have to, they want it to be in their ballpark.

The Mets have a comfortable lead and can relax a little down the stretch. The Yankees? They need every win possible.

The pitching matchups look like this:

Friday (7 p.m. ET): RHP Masahiro Tanaka vs. LHP Steven Matz
Saturday (1 p.m. ET): RHP Michael Pineda vs. RHP Noah Syndergaard
Sunday (8 p.m. ET): LHP CC Sabathia vs. RHP Matt Harvey

My prediction is that the Yankees will take 2-of-3 this weekend winning Friday, and Sunday. The Mets will go on to win the division, and the Yankees will head to Toronto for yet another crucial series.

Whether you’re a Yankees, Mets, or just a fan of baseball it’s safe to say all eyes will be on New York tis weekend.