Yankees and Mets Take Early Focus Off Jets and Giants

 

 

 

Shouldn’t we be hearing more about the Jets and Giants?

 

Yes, there have been the share of pieces discussing issues involving both teams, giving the Jets a little bump ahead of their MetLife neighbors.

 

It is mid-July, and the football burners are usually turned on full by now with the site of training camps on the horizon.

 

Jets’ fans have their continuing love affair with Zach Wilson and the anecdotes about him allegedly sleeping with his mother’s best friend has lifted the second-year quarterback into a new social realm.

 

Wilson has been busy working out with football rather intensely, and he has been a high profile on that front. 

 

Giants’ fans have plenty on their plate with Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll as the new boys in town, and the sagas of Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones.

 

But the Giants have been flying under the radar this summer. There’s plenty of issues that could be magnified, but Shoen and School have gone quietly to reshape the franchise. Barkley has pained a positive image of a comeback, and Jones has followed in lockstep with Daboll. 

 

There’s plenty of optimism and anticipation from both fan bases here, and with good reason, too. Both the Jets and Giants looked better constructed than in recent years. That’s saying a lot from teams that in realty didn’t get past the five-win mark last season. 

 

Yet, there hasn’t been loud sounds comparable to a Santana concert coming out of Florham Park and the Meadowlands.

 

Maybe baseball has something to do with it. Yes, those Yankees and Mets.

 

It’s obvious this summer that the streaming success of the Yankees and Mets have stolen the summer. Their surging starts out of the gates fueled a series of new highlights that they ahd achieved each week.

 

For the Yankees, they haven’t experienced their usual rash of injuries that raised their durability and trade questions. It also lowered their favorability and popularity on the fan-o-meter.

 

Over the past few summers, one of the biggest questions that faced the Yankees was the state of Aaron Judge, who was in and out of the lineup due to injuries. This season, Judge has been having a banner year, and he hasn’t let his contact issues get in the way. 

 

There has been the new-look starting pitching staff with Nestor Cortes, Jameson Taillon, and Jordan Montgomery have teamed with Gerrit Cole. Michael King and Clay Holmes have been effective new additions to the bullpen. 

 

For the Mets, they haven’t experienced their slow and inconsistent starts that watched their usual high expectations plummet quicker than the stock market. The negativity would then begin to stir.

 

Pete Alosno, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil, and Starling Marte are the Mets’ new core four that has rocketed them to the top of the NL East. 

 

Carlos Carrasco and Max Scherzer are the front runners for a potentially loaded starting staff, and Edwin Diaz is finally showing the All-Star stuff the Mets believed he had when they acquired him. 

 

Remember Jacob DeGrom likely will be back in August or even earlier.

 

The Yankees’ and Mets’ ascents have turned down the usually hot burners under the Jets and Giants at the point of the summer. 

 

After the All-Star break, the baseball spotlight could be shared with the football teams with the clock to the start of training camps beginning to tick.

 

The Yankees and Mets haven’t shown any signs of dropping it into a lower gear in late July and August. If they can stay healthy, you’ll hear plenty of subway World Series talk.

 

That’s good news for the Jets and Giants, who both will take the first official steps in two weeks.

 

Baseball is hot in New York, and football can ease its way in.   

 

About the Author

Jeff Moeller

Jeff Moeller has been covering the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and college football and basketball as well as high school sports on a national and local scene for the past 39 years. He has been a Jets and Giants beat reporter for the past 13 years.

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