Only one team in the AL East is over .500.

The Orioles are 15-29 and 10.5 games out of first place.

What's going on with the Orioles?

I'm sure his first at-bat will raise a ruckus.

There will also be plenty of Mets fans in attendance ... it's the Subway Series!

They won't boo Soto; quite the contrary. They will be wearing #22 jerseys trying to bait Yankee fans.

I don't detect any major animus towards Soto, or sense of betrayal. It's just the typical, "You are a prominent player who plays for the other team and I know who you are. Boo!"

"Soto knows how to hit at Yankee Stadium, delivering a career-high 41 home runs last year with New York. Now facing them as the enemy, he’ll have the chance to put those skills to good use with his new team."

He sure will have the chance to do that.

Put his baseball-playing skills to good use with his new team while playing baseball against his former team.

Wait ... was I duped by a chatbot article?

 

 

If you're not plugged into the Yankee fanbase, you probably think Juan Soto is a big story.

Juan Soto's Bronx story began over a year ago. Opening Day 2024. So even the headline is wrong.

"It’s always a good show, and big fun, when the Mets and Yankees play for the city championship in another Subway Series -- the first of which is at Yankee Stadium this weekend."

Is it, though?

"It will be even a better show than usual this time because both teams are in first place."

"Usually," the Yankees and Mets are both good teams. The 2025 Subway Series is more less the exact same thing as it always is.

A long time ago, it was interesting. "Dave Mlicki" and all that. 

I remember Mariano Rivera walked with the bases loaded one time. Here you go. How ridiculous was that?

A Korean pitcher who insisted being called Mr. Koo got a couple of hits off Randy Johnson. 

Shawn Estes saying he was going to plunk Clemens, but he didn't, but he won the game ... and he hit a home run off Clemens. Crazy! It was "the one where Estes hit a home run off Clemens." The Mets took over the city that day in 2002, they surely did, but now they'll have to try again to take it over this weekend.

I totally remember a garbage umpire call setting up Matt Franco for a garbage game-winning hit off Mariano Rivera. They don't show the whole at-bat, so you can't see the umpire blow the two-strike call which would have ended the game. The Mets won! They won! Put it in the books!

There is no need to hype the 2025 Subway Series. You're forcing it. It is as tired as the fifth ining YMCA dance.

"When 'Friends' was one of the biggest hits on network television, the episode titles always began this way: 'The one where ...' For the Mets and Yankees this weekend, the episode title could be this: 'The One Where Juan Soto Comes back to the Stadium as a Met.' "

I mean ... it's self-parody. It's a "Friends" reference.

I was right about the Soto signing the whole time. It made waves when it happened and now no one cares. Soto played one season for the Yankees and had a great season and an unforgettable moment in the playoffs. He then signed with another team. He's more Chris Chambliss than Reggie Jackson in Yankee lore.

"It just isn’t likely to be a lot of laughs for Soto when he starts hearing it from his old friends in the Bronx".

The anger directed towards Soto will be insincere and muted.

It's going to be from people wearing Jeter jerseys who couldn't name one player in the Yankees' starting rotation other than Cole.

I hope they enjoy the game. Boo Soto all you want if you really want to. Leave after Judge's third at-bat to beat traffic. I'm not judging. You're living your best life. In fact, I admire fans who can't name one player in the Yankees' starting rotation. It is I who needs to get a life.

"The games this weekend are going to be saltier than usual -- and that is saying plenty -- because of the flashpoint that Soto has become for Yankees fans since he went with the other guys."

This is made up.

I'm always put in the position of diminishing the Subway Series because it's not that big of a deal. It's two good teams playing each other. Anyone paying attention to the recent series vs. the first-place Mariners saw an intense three-game series between two teams who have dreams of making it to the World Series.

If the Mets fans crave bragging rights, they already have bragging rights. They keep beating the Yankees head to head in the regular season and no one cares.

 

 

 

 

 

Clutch fielding is a thing.

I am just repeating myself.

It seems as if I'm the only one who is noticing this.

For one thing, I don't see how Volpe won a gold glove and I don't really buy the defensive WAR stats which had him as the highest defensive WAR in MLB the last time I checked.

More importantly, he makes defensive misplays at the worst times.

For this particular sequence, I don't really think it made a difference. The leadoff single was a single. The run-scoring fielder's choice was probably not going to be a GIDP anyway.

Paired with his atrocious offensive clutch stats and I have to conclude this guy is a legit choker.

 

"We all know how good Judge is."

I got a laugh when I checked out baseball-reference.com this morning and Fried was listed as #4 in the Yankees' 2025 WAR ratings. Just shows that WAR is not always reliable, as if you didn't know that already.

At this early stage of his Yankee career, I can give Fried one of the highest compliments I can pay a starting pitcher. He's a stopper.

The "pleasant surprise" factor of Fried and the relative state of the Yankees' starting staff isn't nearly enough to elevate him above Aaron Judge.

Just to casually dismiss Judge's first 100 at-bats because we knew already doesn't really account for a staggering .406 batting average and 1.217 OPS.

He might just be a choker.

The sample sizes are short with the Yankees and in the postseason, but his ERA with the Yankees is 11.25 and his ERA in the postseason is 23.14.

Volpe is still a choker and no one seems to notice.

RISP: 29 AB, .172 BA and 14 Ks.

Two outs RISP: 19 AB, .158, 10 Ks.

It's also, like, the fan base ran Clay Holmes out of town and I remember that.

I think a demotion is coming soon enough and the question in October will not be whether or not Williams is the closer, it will be be whether or not Williams is on the playoff roster.

I like this guy.

Just hit better in the playoffs.

When a pitcher is mediocre, it's alway "one pitch."

“ 'But then the walk ahead of the homer, it’s that small of a separator between him being in a dominant position right now to — the reality is he’s throwing the ball incredibly well. It’s that next level of avoiding that ball that today is one ball.' ”

The walk ahead of the homer, though.

That batter didn't walk himself.

"Rodón has given up 51 homers in 50 total starts for the Yankees. That figure leads the majors since his Yankees debut on July 7, 2023."

That's a lot of "one pitches," huh?

Sounds disgusting.

Is it difficult to play left field?

It comes with the territory.

I mean, I understand the story line.

It's opening day and that's what happened in his Mets debut.

I also think that this type of scrutiny just doesn't comport with baseball.

What happened in this particular at-bat? I swung and missed on a 99 MPH slider. I had 1/100th of a second to make up my mind. It looked like a strike for the first 1/1,000th of a second, so I started to swing.

Babe Ruth, Shohei Ohtani, and this guy.

He will soon realize that it's difficult to get major league batters out. To be more specific, major league batters who aren't himself.

I propose a Presidential executive order to elect Lou Whitaker to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Bonus: As far as I know, Whitaker has never been accused of statutory rape.

That's the thing with Pete Rose. You have to be more specific when granting him a pardon.

While we're at it, maybe Congress should get over the whole "you're gambling with World War III" thing and discuss Tommy John's HOF credentials.

Why not take this to the next level?

At the next general assembly of the UN, all the world's delegates should be presented with a dossier explaining that the mostly forgotten Bobby Grich has one of the highest non-steroid career WARs amongst those not elected to the HOF.

Grich has a higher career WAR than Andruw Jones.

That's surprising, right?

Right?

Hello?

Are the translators working today?

 

The Orioles must not exist.

The article is behind a firewall, so I can't say for sure if Madden is ignoring the Orioles. But the headline is funny either way.