As the year 2023 comes to an end, looking back at the state of Major League Baseball (MLB) reveals quite a disastrous streak of performances from the fan-favorite teams of “the Big Apple,” specifically the New York Yankees and the New York Mets.
With two teams that had grown to be even more dominant than the ones who faced off in a close five-game series in 2000, the Mets and Yankees provided enticing hints of a potential second Subway World Series in the year 2022.
These occurred because both teams finished the season in first place, with the Yankees leading by a sizable margin until significant setbacks in August. These hopes, however, were dashed by the Yankees’ lackluster postseason play, as they were swept out of the ALCS by the Houston Astros following their narrow victory over the Cleveland Guardians in a five-game division series.
On the other hand, the Mets were defeated by the San Diego Padres in MLB’s first-ever wild-card series even after blowing the division in the final weekend.
It looked like a small bump in the road to both teams’ eventual return to prominence when outfielder Aaron Judge had to be put on the 10-day injured list due to a right hip strain. Fans prayed that 2023 would bring better fortunes for the New York baseball season.
Quite to the contrary, 2023 went on to rank among the worst seasons in New York baseball history as neither team was able to put out any noteworthy performance due to a variety of reasons.
2023 Was Bad for New York Baseball
The Mets never got close to the ideal .500 (winning half of their games) after June 4, and then a month and a half later, their strategy changed towards trading established players—most notably Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander—for more highly rated prospects, as they were willing to assist Texas and Houston in covering the costs associated with their separate payrolls.
Even with 75 victories, the Mets finished with a losing record, their second in three years under owner Steve Cohen and their 11th in fifteen seasons since leaving Shea Stadium.
The Yankees, meanwhile, did not fare much better; they narrowly avoided their first losing season since 1992 with a victory in game 161. Over three decades ago, when their last losing season occurred, the Yankees were finishing off four straight losing seasons — a period of time when Buck Showalter was the team’s first manager and Derek Jeter was a first-year pro.
There are numerous reasons why both clubs were struggling during August, one of the major issues being both parties’ poor performance.
Among the Yankees’ top offenders was Giancarlo Stanton, who, after batting, finished with a .191 average in 101 games after his .211 in 110 games in 2022. Stanton also missed two months due to a hamstring issue. To his credit, he was hard on himself for his lengthy injury history and worst season of a 14-year career spanning 1,535 regular-season games.
Second baseman Jeff McNeil was one of the main contributors to the Mets, who performed below expectations. A year after hitting .326 to win the batting title, he finished with a respectable .270 after hitting .303 in his final 52 games, which was thought to be the beginning of a pattern of alternating strong years with uneven seasons.
The Bright Side Towards 2024
For both sides, there were positive aspects in their 2023 runs despite all their difficulties.
Pitcher Gerrit Cole, who plays for the Yankees, was often very close to achieving a no-hitter. He also earned the Cy Young Award, reduced the number of home runs allowed from 33 to 20, and won 15 games (though he may have won a few more if their offense had batted .231).
First baseman Pete Alonso became the highlight for the Mets, as he finished with 46 home runs despite playing with a .217 batting average. However, this is a 64-point decline from his 2022 season, in which he hit 40 home runs and drove in 131 runs.
There is still much to learn about the compositions of the Yankees and Mets going into the 2024 season. With the addition of Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo, and Trent Grisham through trades, the Yankees have slightly improved their roster, but they still need more depth in the rotation beyond Cole unless they believe that Nestor Cortes will return to form and Carlos Rodon will perform noticeably better in his second year of a six-year contract.
Since their most significant pitching move is taking a chance on Luis Severino, whose Yankee stay ended with a 6.88 ERA and an oblique injury, the Mets could need some additional pitching depth behind Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana. The Mets are also missing a couple of batters in their lineup.
